Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primeval horror, a pulse pounding shocker, debuting Oct 2025 on top streamers

This spine-tingling unearthly horror tale from cinematographer / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an archaic terror when passersby become tools in a cursed ceremony. Dropping on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing account of resilience and ancient evil that will reshape fear-driven cinema this spooky time. Guided by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and claustrophobic fearfest follows five figures who find themselves stuck in a secluded hideaway under the oppressive control of Kyra, a young woman occupied by a 2,000-year-old biblical demon. Steel yourself to be gripped by a big screen experience that combines raw fear with ancestral stories, arriving on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a enduring element in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is turned on its head when the dark entities no longer develop from beyond, but rather within themselves. This represents the shadowy element of each of them. The result is a psychologically brutal emotional conflict where the tension becomes a ongoing push-pull between innocence and sin.


In a desolate terrain, five friends find themselves confined under the unholy rule and control of a unidentified being. As the companions becomes defenseless to reject her power, exiled and attacked by evils indescribable, they are driven to wrestle with their greatest panics while the moments without pause counts down toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion rises and teams disintegrate, pressuring each individual to question their true nature and the concept of autonomy itself. The risk mount with every heartbeat, delivering a paranormal ride that merges spiritual fright with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to evoke deep fear, an darkness before modern man, channeling itself through emotional fractures, and challenging a force that questions who we are when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra demanded embodying something far beyond human desperation. She is clueless until the takeover begins, and that conversion is bone-chilling because it is so visceral.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be released for home viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring households worldwide can get immersed in this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its first trailer, which has been viewed over strong viewer count.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, making the film to a worldwide audience.


Avoid skipping this visceral ride through nightmares. Experience *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to survive these chilling revelations about the psyche.


For featurettes, set experiences, and social posts straight from the filmmakers, follow @YACFilm across Instagram and Twitter and visit youngandcursed.com.





Current horror’s inflection point: the 2025 cycle U.S. Slate braids together Mythic Possession, art-house nightmares, paired with Franchise Rumbles

Spanning fight-to-live nightmare stories saturated with biblical myth through to brand-name continuations paired with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 stands to become the most complex combined with intentionally scheduled year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. Top studios are anchoring the year with franchise anchors, at the same time streaming platforms saturate the fall with unboxed visions and old-world menace. At the same time, independent banners is surfing the echoes of a peak 2024 circuit. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the other windows are mapped with care. The fall stretch is the proving field, yet in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are targeted, thus 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The majors are assertive. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal Pictures sets the tone with a big gambit: a reimagined Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, in a clear present-tense world. Directed by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. dated for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Eli Craig directs anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

When summer tapers, Warner’s slate rolls out the capstone inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson is back, and the memorable motifs return: 70s style chill, trauma explicitly handled, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The stakes escalate here, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The follow up digs further into canon, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, courting teens and the thirty something base. It drops in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Platform Plays: Slim budgets, major punch

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a two hander body horror spiral anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend featuring Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It reads as sharp positioning. No overweight mythology. No IP hangover. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, led by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Trends to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror reemerges
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forecast: Autumn density and winter pivot

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The forthcoming 2026 scare calendar year ahead: continuations, fresh concepts, together with A jammed Calendar Built For nightmares

Dek The current terror year crams in short order with a January crush, then extends through the mid-year, and far into the winter holidays, fusing name recognition, novel approaches, and calculated calendar placement. Distributors with platforms are betting on mid-range economics, theater-first strategies, and viral-minded pushes that convert these films into mainstream chatter.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

Horror filmmaking has become the most reliable swing in studio calendars, a segment that can accelerate when it lands and still protect the drawdown when it misses. After the 2023 year reminded decision-makers that disciplined-budget fright engines can dominate pop culture, the following year continued the surge with high-profile filmmaker pieces and slow-burn breakouts. The carry pushed into the 2025 frame, where returns and filmmaker-prestige bets showed there is appetite for many shades, from franchise continuations to original one-offs that carry overseas. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a run that looks unusually coordinated across studios, with obvious clusters, a blend of familiar brands and new concepts, and a refocused emphasis on exclusive windows that fuel later windows on paid VOD and platforms.

Executives say the category now operates like a utility player on the rollout map. Horror can premiere on a wide range of weekends, offer a sharp concept for teasers and TikTok spots, and outpace with moviegoers that appear on advance nights and stay strong through the next weekend if the film pays off. In the wake of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 configuration telegraphs conviction in that setup. The calendar begins with a loaded January schedule, then exploits spring through early summer for off-slot scheduling, while making space for a fall run that flows toward holiday-adjacent weekends and into November. The map also illustrates the greater integration of specialty distributors and subscription services that can launch in limited release, create conversation, and grow at the timely point.

An added macro current is brand management across linked properties and storied titles. Studio teams are not just turning out another installment. They are looking to package threaded continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a brandmark that signals a tonal shift or a casting choice that ties a new entry to a classic era. At the same time, the visionaries behind the most anticipated originals are celebrating real-world builds, practical gags and grounded locations. That pairing gives 2026 a robust balance of brand comfort and shock, which is the formula for international play.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount fires first with two prominent bets that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, signaling it as both a passing of the torch and a foundation-forward relationship-driven entry. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture conveys a heritage-honoring approach without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Expect a marketing push driven by franchise iconography, character-first teases, and a trailer cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will spotlight. As a summer alternative, this one will pursue four-quadrant chatter through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format permitting quick switches to whatever rules pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three separate bets. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is elegant, melancholic, and high-concept: a grieving man activates an machine companion that turns into a perilous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to recreate eerie street stunts and snackable content that interweaves longing and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a official title to become an marketing beat closer to the first look. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. His projects are positioned as must-see filmmaker statements, with a mystery-first teaser and a later trailer push that signal tone without plot the concept. The prime October weekend affords Universal to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has established that a gritty, practical-effects forward treatment can feel elevated on a efficient spend. Expect a blood-and-grime summer horror shock that spotlights foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio deploys two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, holding a consistent supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is positioning as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both players and casuals. The fall slot hands Sony window to build campaign pieces around narrative world, and creature builds, elements that can increase large-format demand and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror driven by historical precision and period language, this time focused on werewolf legend. The label has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform strategies for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s horror titles land on copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a sequence that optimizes both launch urgency and trial spikes in the tail. Prime Video pairs library titles with cross-border buys and brief theater runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in deep cuts, using in-app campaigns, seasonal hubs, and staff picks to extend momentum on 2026 genre cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about Netflix films and festival additions, dating horror entries closer to drop and making event-like debuts with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a paired of precision theatrical plays and prompt platform moves that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a curated basis. The platform has shown appetite to secure select projects with top-tier auteurs or name-led packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for retention when the genre conversation surges.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 arc with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is clear: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, recalibrated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has suggested a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the October weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then using the Christmas window to broaden. That positioning has proved effective for director-led genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception allows. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using precision theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Franchise entries versus originals

By tilt, 2026 leans in favor of the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on name recognition. The potential drawback, as ever, is audience fatigue. The operating solution is to market each entry as a new angle. Paramount is leading with character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a Francophone tone from a fresh helmer. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the team and cast is anchored enough to build pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Three-year comps help explain the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that maintained windows did not obstruct a dual release from succeeding when the brand was powerful. In 2024, auteur craft horror punched above its weight in premium screens. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they rotate perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, permits marketing to cross-link entries through character arcs and themes and to sustain campaign assets without dead zones.

Creative tendencies and craft

The craft rooms behind the 2026 slate point to a continued move toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that foregrounds aura and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in long-lead press and craft coverage before rolling out a tone piece that leans on mood over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and creates shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a self-referential reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature execution and sets, which play well in fan-con activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel essential. Look for trailers that underscore surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that sing on PLF.

How the year maps out

January is packed. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a brooding contrast amid larger brand plays. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the tone spread creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth spreads.

Pre-summer months set up the summer. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Late summer into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a transitional slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited previews that prioritize concept over plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card spend.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s machine mate mutates into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: mood-led adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her abrasive boss struggle to survive on a desolate island as the chain of command turns and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to dread, rooted in Cronin’s hands-on craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting premise that interrogates the fear of a child’s tricky impressions. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven spectral suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A spoof revival that riffs on present-day genre chatter and true-crime obsessions. Rating: pending. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites ignites, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new household linked to older hauntings. Rating: undetermined. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A fresh restart designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-driven horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: TBA. Production: proceeding. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on antique diction and ancient menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why this year, why now

Three operational forces structure this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or shuffled in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify social-ready stingers from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Calendar math also matters. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can command a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will cluster across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The sleeper chase continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, audio design, and framing that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers this content to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is recognizable IP where it plays, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, guard the secrets, and let the frights sell the seats.