Ancient Evil emerges: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked thriller, premiering Oct 2025 across major platforms

This haunting ghostly scare-fest from literary architect / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an age-old terror when guests become proxies in a supernatural contest. Available on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping narrative of living through and timeless dread that will revamp the horror genre this Halloween season. Visualized by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and tone-heavy story follows five figures who emerge confined in a secluded shelter under the menacing power of Kyra, a cursed figure dominated by a legendary religious nightmare. Be prepared to be absorbed by a immersive experience that weaves together bone-deep fear with arcane tradition, releasing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a recurring pillar in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is redefined when the monsters no longer arise from beyond, but rather inside their minds. This depicts the shadowy side of the group. The result is a edge-of-seat mental war where the intensity becomes a merciless confrontation between light and darkness.


In a isolated forest, five souls find themselves marooned under the fiendish presence and domination of a obscure character. As the team becomes submissive to withstand her control, abandoned and tracked by unknowns beyond reason, they are pushed to face their core terrors while the final hour unforgivingly runs out toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear rises and bonds fracture, driving each protagonist to reflect on their character and the integrity of free will itself. The threat magnify with every beat, delivering a frightening tale that connects unearthly horror with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to dive into primal fear, an force from ancient eras, feeding on emotional fractures, and questioning a presence that redefines identity when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra was centered on something more primal than sorrow. She is ignorant until the evil takes hold, and that change is harrowing because it is so private.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be available for on-demand beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—so that horror lovers no matter where they are can watch this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its original clip, which has been viewed over notable views.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, presenting the nightmare to fans of fear everywhere.


Do not miss this visceral journey into fear. Confront *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to survive these fearful discoveries about free will.


For exclusive trailers, filmmaker commentary, and alerts from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across fan hubs and visit the official movie site.





U.S. horror’s major pivot: 2025 U.S. release slate weaves Mythic Possession, underground frights, alongside tentpole growls

Spanning grit-forward survival fare steeped in old testament echoes all the way to installment follow-ups alongside pointed art-house angles, 2025 looks like the genre’s most multifaceted along with precision-timed year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. leading studios stabilize the year through proven series, concurrently SVOD players pack the fall with fresh voices alongside primordial unease. Meanwhile, independent banners is propelled by the tailwinds from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. As Halloween stays the prime week, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and now, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are methodical, so 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s pipeline sets the tone with an audacious swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in a clear present-tense world. Directed by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. set for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Led by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early reactions hint at fangs.

When summer tapers, Warner’s slate bows the concluding entry of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson resumes command, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: 70s style chill, trauma driven plotting, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The bar is raised this go, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The next entry deepens the tale, thickens the animatronic pantheon, courting teens and the thirty something base. It hits in December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a close quarters body horror study fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

In the mix sits Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: 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 Underneath: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, 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. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is canny scheduling. No bloated canon. No franchise baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Lines: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Emerging Currents

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror swings back
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
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Big screen is a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

What’s Next: Autumn density and winter pivot

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The upcoming Horror Year Ahead: Sequels, new stories, And A stacked Calendar Built For goosebumps

Dek The upcoming terror slate lines up early with a January cluster, following that rolls through the summer months, and pushing into the festive period, weaving brand heft, new voices, and strategic calendar placement. Studios and streamers are embracing tight budgets, theatrical-first rollouts, and platform-native promos that shape genre titles into all-audience topics.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror marketplace has shown itself to be the most reliable release in release strategies, a category that can lift when it catches and still buffer the drag when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for greenlighters that mid-range pictures can shape the national conversation, the following year continued the surge with filmmaker-forward plays and quiet over-performers. The momentum fed into the 2025 frame, where reboots and elevated films highlighted there is a lane for different modes, from series extensions to one-and-done originals that perform internationally. The upshot for 2026 is a programming that is strikingly coherent across studios, with intentional bunching, a balance of known properties and untested plays, and a sharpened strategy on big-screen windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium on-demand and home streaming.

Executives say the space now behaves like a fill-in ace on the rollout map. The genre can debut on most weekends, supply a simple premise for previews and UGC-friendly snippets, and outpace with patrons that line up on early shows and keep coming through the sophomore frame if the entry connects. Emerging from a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 rhythm indicates comfort in that model. The calendar rolls out with a front-loaded January stretch, then taps spring and early summer for balance, while reserving space for a October build that connects to holiday-adjacent weekends and past the holiday. The layout also shows the greater integration of specialized imprints and digital platforms that can platform and widen, spark evangelism, and move wide at the inflection point.

A second macro trend is IP stewardship across linked properties and established properties. Major shops are not just producing another chapter. They are seeking to position lineage with a sense of event, whether that is a title presentation that indicates a fresh attitude or a casting choice that reconnects a upcoming film to a original cycle. At the simultaneously, the creative teams behind the most watched originals are returning to physical effects work, special makeup and grounded locations. That blend affords the 2026 slate a vital pairing of comfort and discovery, which is why the genre exports well.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount marks the early tempo with two prominent releases that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the heart, marketing it as both a succession moment and a rootsy character-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance conveys a classic-referencing treatment without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Look for a marketing run fueled by franchise iconography, character-first teases, and a trailer cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will stress. As a summer alternative, this one will seek general-audience talk through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format permitting quick updates to whatever leads the conversation that spring.

Universal has three clear lanes. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is elegant, somber, and high-concept: a grieving man adopts an synthetic partner that unfolds into a harmful mate. The date nudges it to the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s team likely to reprise creepy live activations and brief clips that fuses romance and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a title reveal to become an attention spike closer to the first trailer. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. His projects are marketed as auteur events, with a teaser that reveals little and a later creative that define feel without revealing the concept. The late-month date gives Universal room to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has proven that a visceral, practical-first strategy can feel cinematic on a efficient spend. Frame it as a hard-R summer horror rush that leans hard into worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio mounts two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, maintaining a consistent supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is framing as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both loyalists and casuals. The fall slot lets Sony to build marketing units around world-building, and monster design, elements that can accelerate IMAX and PLF uptake and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by historical precision and textual fidelity, this time circling werewolf lore. The distributor has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is strong.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform plans for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s horror titles flow to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a ladder that maximizes both first-week urgency and sign-up spikes in the late-window. Prime Video will mix catalogue additions with useful reference international acquisitions and small theatrical windows when the data backs it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in deep cuts, using timely promos, horror hubs, and curated strips to maximize the tail on aggregate take. Netflix keeps options open about Netflix films and festival wins, locking in horror entries near launch and turning into events debuts with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a hybrid of limited theatrical footprints and swift platform pivots that drives paid trials from buzz. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has indicated interest to acquire select projects with prestige directors or star-driven packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for retention when the genre conversation swells.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 runway with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is no-nonsense: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, refined for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a traditional cinema play for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the autumn weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday corridor to scale. That positioning has helped for filmmaker-first horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception justifies. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using precision theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their membership.

Known brands versus new stories

By count, the 2026 slate skews toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use fan equity. The trade-off, as ever, is audience fatigue. The workable fix is to frame each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is leading with character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is floating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-inflected take from a new voice. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a survival-thriller premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the deal build is grounded enough to build pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Recent comps help explain the approach. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that observed windows did not block a parallel release from delivering when the brand was potent. In 2024, auteur craft horror hit big in large-format rooms. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they shift POV and expand the canvas. 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 back-to-back plan, with chapters filmed in sequence, permits marketing to link the films through character spine and themes and to sustain campaign assets without long breaks.

Production craft signals

The craft conversations behind the 2026 entries indicate a continued tilt toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that emphasizes grain and menace rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft coverage before rolling out a mood teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On my review here the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and gathers shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta reframe that centers its original star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature and environment design, which play well in expo activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that highlight hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that land in big rooms.

From winter to holidays

January is busy. 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 tonal palate cleanser amid larger brand plays. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the spread of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Winter into spring stage great post to read summer. Scream 7 opens February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls 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 supplies hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder season window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited disclosures that center concept over reveals.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card redemption.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s synthetic partner shifts into 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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: tone-first game 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 battle to survive on a lonely island as the pecking order upends and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. 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, anchored by Cronin’s practical effects and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting piece that refracts terror through a child’s flickering perspective. Rating: forthcoming. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-grade and star-fronted occult chiller.

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 comic send-up that targets of-the-moment horror beats and true crime preoccupations. Rating: pending. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 flares, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a another family lashed to lingering terrors. Rating: TBA. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A fresh restart designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival-first horror over action spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: TBA. Production: in progress. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

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 primal menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why 2026 and why now

Three hands-on forces frame this lineup. First, production that eased or shuffled in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and pared-down timelines. 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 overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming releases. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage social-ready stingers from test screenings, controlled scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, providing runway for genre entries that can lead a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will stack across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where value-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 stealth overachiever 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. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, 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 sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, sound, and picture 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 Shapes Up Strong

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is recognizable IP where it plays, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, hold the mystery, and let the scares sell the seats.