Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a spine tingling feature, rolling out October 2025 across premium platforms

One chilling spiritual scare-fest from dramatist / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an primeval fear when passersby become puppets in a dark ritual. Debuting this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching narrative of resilience and old world terror that will revolutionize terror storytelling this spooky time. Guided by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and moody thriller follows five individuals who arise caught in a off-grid dwelling under the oppressive grip of Kyra, a troubled woman inhabited by a biblical-era religious nightmare. Be prepared to be seized by a theatrical journey that combines bodily fright with timeless legends, coming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a enduring element in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is radically shifted when the forces no longer form from beyond, but rather from their core. This suggests the haunting part of the group. The result is a harrowing mind game where the conflict becomes a unforgiving face-off between innocence and sin.


In a haunting no-man's-land, five youths find themselves trapped under the fiendish force and domination of a enigmatic apparition. As the survivors becomes paralyzed to oppose her command, exiled and chased by creatures unimaginable, they are thrust to acknowledge their greatest panics while the hours coldly pushes forward toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia swells and links erode, compelling each member to reflect on their identity and the nature of independent thought itself. The danger surge with every short lapse, delivering a chilling narrative that connects spiritual fright with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to dive into pure dread, an entity that existed before mankind, feeding on mental cracks, and navigating a power that erodes the self when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra meant evoking something deeper than fear. She is insensitive until the possession kicks in, and that flip is bone-chilling because it is so personal.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be released for digital release beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—offering users worldwide can enjoy this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its release of trailer #1, which has received over strong viewer count.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, taking the terror to viewers around the world.


Experience this cinematic descent into darkness. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to face these dark realities about the psyche.


For exclusive trailers, director cuts, and press updates from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursed across platforms and visit our horror hub.





Modern horror’s tipping point: 2025 across markets U.S. Slate blends old-world possession, independent shockers, alongside IP aftershocks

Kicking off with survival horror steeped in ancient scripture through to installment follow-ups together with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 appears poised to be the most textured and strategic year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. studio powerhouses bookend the months with known properties, even as subscription platforms flood the fall with unboxed visions in concert with archetypal fear. On another front, indie storytellers is catching the momentum of a peak 2024 circuit. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and now, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are calculated, which means 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige fear returns

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 set the base, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s slate opens the year with a confident swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, but a sharp contemporary setting. With Leigh Whannell at the helm fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. timed for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. From director Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

When summer fades, Warner’s schedule drops the final chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson resumes command, and the tone that worked before is intact: period tinged dread, trauma foregrounded, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This run ups the stakes, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, speaking to teens and older millennials. It lands in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

SVOD Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a room scale body horror descent with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It reads as sharp positioning. No puffed out backstory. No legacy baggage. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

What to Watch

Mythic dread mainstreams
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Badges become bargaining chips
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

The Road Ahead: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The upcoming scare year to come: Sequels, non-franchise titles, alongside A packed Calendar aimed at frights

Dek The brand-new horror season stacks at the outset with a January logjam, thereafter unfolds through peak season, and straight through the festive period, weaving name recognition, untold stories, and smart counterplay. Major distributors and platforms are embracing responsible budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and platform-native promos that pivot horror entries into all-audience topics.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The genre has emerged as the steady lever in studio lineups, a pillar that can surge when it clicks and still limit the exposure when it misses. After 2023 showed executives that low-to-mid budget scare machines can galvanize mainstream conversation, the following year extended the rally with filmmaker-forward plays and sleeper breakouts. The tailwind rolled into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and prestige plays highlighted there is a market for a spectrum, from returning installments to standalone ideas that travel well. The combined impact for 2026 is a calendar that looks unusually coordinated across the field, with intentional bunching, a harmony of marquee IP and new packages, and a reinvigorated eye on cinema windows that drive downstream revenue on premium home window and SVOD.

Planners observe the genre now works like a utility player on the programming map. The genre can roll out on open real estate, provide a tight logline for ad units and TikTok spots, and overperform with fans that appear on preview nights and sustain through the next pass if the offering fires. Following a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 plan demonstrates comfort in that equation. The calendar commences with a weighty January schedule, then uses spring and early summer for alternate plays, while clearing room for a autumn stretch that flows toward the fright window and into early November. The map also highlights the greater integration of indie distributors and subscription services that can build gradually, spark evangelism, and move wide at the optimal moment.

A notable top-line trend is brand strategy across shared IP webs and legacy IP. Studios are not just releasing another sequel. They are seeking to position ongoing narrative with a sense of event, whether that is a typeface approach that telegraphs a recalibrated tone or a star attachment that reconnects a fresh chapter to a original cycle. At the in tandem, the directors behind the top original plays are championing on-set craft, in-camera effects and distinct locales. That mix provides the 2026 slate a smart balance of brand comfort and discovery, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount leads early with two spotlight projects that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the heart, marketing it as both a baton pass and a DNA-forward character piece. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach announces a memory-charged angle without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign centered on recognizable motifs, intro reveals, and a two-beat trailer plan targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also brings back 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 partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will emphasize. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will hunt mainstream recognition through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format enabling quick redirects to whatever leads the social talk that spring.

Universal has three differentiated lanes. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is simple, melancholic, and high-concept: a grieving man onboards an synthetic partner that grows into a perilous partner. The date locates it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s marketing likely to revisit off-kilter promo beats and snackable content that hybridizes attachment and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title drop to become an event moment closer to the initial tease. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. His entries are framed as signature events, with a minimalist tease and a second trailer wave that signal tone without plot the concept. The late-month date opens a lane to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has made clear that a gritty, makeup-driven execution can feel premium on a lean spend. Position this as a hard-R summer horror jolt that spotlights international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio books two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, preserving a evergreen supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what the studio is positioning as a fresh 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 diehards and new audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build artifacts around lore, and monster craft, elements that can amplify IMAX and PLF uptake and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror defined by textural authenticity and historical speech, this time orbiting lycan myth. The specialty arm has already locked the day for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is supportive.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s horror titles transition to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a ladder that elevates both launch urgency and sign-up momentum in the post-theatrical. Prime Video pairs acquired titles with worldwide buys and select theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library engagement, using curated hubs, fright rows, and featured rows to stretch my company the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix keeps options open about originals and festival buys, locking in horror entries closer to launch and turning into events drops with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a dual-phase of selective theatrical runs and rapid platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a discrete basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to take on select projects with award winners or name-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for sustained usage when the genre conversation peaks.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is curating a 2026 corridor with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is direct: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, reimagined for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the back half.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, piloting the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then leveraging the Christmas corridor to broaden. That positioning has helped for prestige horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception merits. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using select theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Brands and originals

By number, 2026 leans toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness name recognition. The question, as ever, is audience fatigue. The pragmatic answer is to market each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is centering character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-flavored turn from a fresh helmer. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and director-first projects keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a island-set survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the packaging is grounded enough to generate pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Three-year comps announce the logic. In 2023, a theater-first model that respected streaming windows did not block a parallel release from working when the brand was robust. In 2024, director-craft horror rose in premium screens. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they alter lens and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters shot consecutively, allows marketing to cross-link entries through protagonists and motifs and to keep assets alive without hiatuses.

Creative tendencies and craft

The filmmaking conversations behind the upcoming entries signal a continued turn toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that emphasizes mood and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft spotlights before rolling out a teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and drives shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta refresh that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature design and production design, which match well with convention activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel necessary. Look for trailers that foreground fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that sing on PLF.

Calendar cadence

January is packed. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid macro-brand pushes. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the palette of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth spreads.

Late Q1 and spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror have a peek here anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, news a pre-Halloween slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited plot reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card redemption.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s machine mate becomes something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 difficult boss battle to survive on a remote island as the pecking order flips and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to terror, anchored by Cronin’s on-set craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting chiller that frames the panic through a youngster’s unsteady perspective. Rating: forthcoming. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-crafted and toplined spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that pokes at present-day genre chatter and true crime fervors. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 detonates, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a another family caught in residual nightmares. Rating: TBA. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A restart designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-core horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: undetermined. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: undetermined. Production: moving forward. 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 era-accurate language and elemental menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why this year, why now

Three operational forces organize this lineup. First, production that stalled or shifted in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine turnkey scare beats from test screenings, metered scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, clearing runway for genre entries that can lead a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will jostle across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where midrange-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 left-field winner 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, lean footprints, 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 detail, aural design, and cinematography that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Looks Exciting

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand equity where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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 late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, keep the secrets, and let the frights sell the seats.