Primordial Evil stirs: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling thriller, premiering October 2025 across global platforms

An spine-tingling mystic scare-fest from literary architect / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an long-buried nightmare when newcomers become vehicles in a hellish struggle. Launching October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, the YouTube platform, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish journey of living through and primordial malevolence that will revolutionize the horror genre this scare season. Guided by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and emotionally thick screenplay follows five figures who awaken ensnared in a wooded cottage under the unfriendly command of Kyra, a mysterious girl dominated by a 2,000-year-old Old Testament spirit. Be prepared to be hooked by a big screen outing that harmonizes soul-chilling terror with legendary tales, coming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a historical trope in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is radically shifted when the dark entities no longer arise from an outside force, but rather inside their minds. This depicts the malevolent layer of each of them. The result is a relentless spiritual tug-of-war where the conflict becomes a intense battle between right and wrong.


In a desolate no-man's-land, five young people find themselves stuck under the unholy dominion and domination of a secretive character. As the characters becomes helpless to withstand her influence, marooned and tracked by spirits ungraspable, they are made to stand before their inner demons while the deathwatch harrowingly draws closer toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread deepens and friendships break, coercing each individual to challenge their core and the philosophy of autonomy itself. The tension grow with every short lapse, delivering a chilling narrative that connects otherworldly suspense with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to uncover instinctual horror, an malevolence from ancient eras, feeding on emotional fractures, and questioning a spirit that tests the soul when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra meant channeling something past sanity. She is oblivious until the evil takes hold, and that conversion is bone-chilling because it is so visceral.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be available for digital release beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—so that horror lovers from coast to coast can survive this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its first trailer, which has gathered over 100K plays.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, presenting the nightmare to global fright lovers.


Mark your calendar for this bone-rattling ride through nightmares. Stream *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to acknowledge these chilling revelations about free will.


For sneak peeks, on-set glimpses, and updates from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across your favorite networks and visit our film’s homepage.





American horror’s watershed moment: 2025 in focus stateside slate blends legend-infused possession, independent shockers, in parallel with legacy-brand quakes

Ranging from fight-to-live nightmare stories drawn from biblical myth all the way to canon extensions together with sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 appears poised to be the richest paired with precision-timed year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. leading studios lock in tentpoles with known properties, concurrently digital services prime the fall with fresh voices together with archetypal fear. In the indie lane, independent banners is surfing the carry of a record-setting 2024 festival season. With Halloween holding the peak, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, and now, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are calculated, as a result 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

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

The top end is active. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal fires the first shot with a bold swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in an immediate now. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. timed 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 page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Helmed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

At summer’s close, Warner Bros. releases the last chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson is back, and those signature textures resurface: nostalgic menace, trauma as text, with ghostly inner logic. The stakes escalate here, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The next entry deepens the tale, grows the animatronic horror lineup, reaching teens and game grownups. It books December, cornering year end horror.

SVOD Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a close quarters body horror study including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Also rising is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable headlined 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 piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is a clever angle. No overstuffed canon. No legacy baggage. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. 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, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, from Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Emerging Currents

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror resurges
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

The Road Ahead: Fall stack and winter swing card

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The 2026 terror calendar year ahead: entries, universe starters, paired with A hectic Calendar designed for screams

Dek: The emerging terror cycle crowds at the outset with a January bottleneck, following that runs through the summer months, and running into the December corridor, combining brand equity, untold stories, and data-minded counter-scheduling. Major distributors and platforms are relying on right-sized spends, cinema-first plans, and social-fueled campaigns that shape these offerings into all-audience topics.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The genre has established itself as the predictable swing in studio lineups, a pillar that can lift when it catches and still cushion the losses when it underperforms. After 2023 signaled to studio brass that low-to-mid budget chillers can galvanize audience talk, 2024 held pace with signature-voice projects and quiet over-performers. The head of steam flowed into 2025, where reboots and elevated films showed there is room for varied styles, from sequel tracks to one-and-done originals that carry overseas. The sum for 2026 is a programming that looks unusually coordinated across the industry, with mapped-out bands, a pairing of legacy names and original hooks, and a renewed attention on release windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium digital and SVOD.

Studio leaders note the genre now performs as a schedule utility on the grid. Horror can premiere on nearly any frame, deliver a simple premise for marketing and reels, and outpace with moviegoers that arrive on previews Thursday and stay strong through the sophomore frame if the movie pays off. Post a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 rhythm underscores certainty in that dynamic. The slate gets underway with a busy January stretch, then targets spring into early summer for counterweight, while keeping space for a October build that connects to All Hallows period and into the next week. The gridline also includes the deeper integration of indie arms and platforms that can stage a platform run, generate chatter, and widen at the timely point.

A further high-level trend is brand strategy across unified worlds and storied titles. Distribution groups are not just releasing another follow-up. They are moving to present story carry-over with a sense of event, whether that is a brandmark that conveys a new tone or a ensemble decision that links a next film to a first wave. At the same time, the directors behind the top original plays are celebrating in-camera technique, practical gags and location-forward worlds. That mix yields the 2026 slate a strong blend of comfort and freshness, which is the formula for international play.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount fires first with two high-profile bets that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the heart, signaling it as both a handoff and a foundation-forward character study. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the directional approach indicates a fan-service aware approach without repeating the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Look for a marketing run built on classic imagery, character spotlights, and a rollout 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 set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will stress. As a summer contrast play, this one will build large awareness through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format fitting quick redirects to whatever tops the conversation that spring.

Universal has three unique releases. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is efficient, loss-driven, and big-hook: a grieving man brings home an digital partner that evolves into a perilous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s marketing likely to mirror odd public stunts and short-cut promos that threads devotion and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a public title to become an earned moment closer to the initial tease. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. His projects are marketed as director events, with a hinting teaser and a later creative that shape mood without giving away the concept. The pre-Halloween slot allows Universal to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has demonstrated that a gritty, practical-first approach can feel prestige on a controlled budget. Position this as a red-band summer horror hit that maximizes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio launches two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, maintaining a dependable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is calling a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both loyalists and new audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build assets around narrative world, and practical creature work, elements that can amplify PLF interest and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by meticulous craft and archaic language, this time focused on werewolf legend. Focus Features has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is supportive.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform windowing in 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s releases transition to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a structure that boosts both initial urgency and sign-up spikes in the back half. Prime Video stitches together acquired titles with global acquisitions and limited cinema engagements when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in deep cuts, using timely promos, fright rows, and collection rows to stretch the tail on lifetime take. Netflix stays nimble about Netflix originals and festival additions, slotting horror entries on shorter runways and turning into events drops with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a paired of focused cinema runs and short jumps to platform that turns chatter to conversion. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a curated basis. The platform has proven amenable to acquire select projects with prestige directors or star packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation builds.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 runway with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is simple: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, upgraded for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has signaled a theatrical-first plan for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the September weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, managing the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday slot to increase reach. That positioning has been successful for filmmaker-first horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception drives. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using limited runs to spark the evangelism that fuels their community.

Franchises versus originals

By skew, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on fan equity. The potential drawback, as ever, is brand erosion. The go-to fix is to frame each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is foregrounding character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-tinted vision from a ascendant talent. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries provide the air. 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, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the team and cast is grounded enough to drive advance ticketing and preview-night turnout.

Three-year comps frame the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive window model that respected streaming windows did not block a day-date try from delivering when the brand was potent. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror hit big in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they reframe POV and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters shot consecutively, builds a path for marketing to thread films through character arcs and themes and to sustain campaign assets without pause points.

Technique and craft currents

The craft rooms behind the year’s horror foreshadow a continued tilt toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that foregrounds mood and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft coverage before rolling out a teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for red-band excess, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and earns shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta reframe that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature and environment design, which are ideal for booth activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel definitive. Look for trailers that elevate pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that sing on PLF.

The schedule at a glance

January is busy. 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 tonal palate cleanser amid larger brand plays. The month closes 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 formidable, but the menu of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth persists.

Winter into spring prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now backs 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 divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

End of summer through fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-October slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a slow-reveal plan and limited plot reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card redemption.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s genome. 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 grieving man’s intelligent companion evolves into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed 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 coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: aura-driven 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 push to survive on a rugged island as the chain of command inverts and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: marquee survival piece 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 contemporary retelling that returns the monster to nightmare, grounded in Cronin’s practical effects and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting chiller that threads the dread through a youth’s uneven internal vantage. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-financed and A-list fronted supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A comic send-up that riffs on current genre trends and true-crime buzz. Rating: pending. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 breaks out, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further reopens, with a fresh family linked to past horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A fresh restart designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on classic survival-horror tone over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: TBA. Production: moving forward. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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 ancient menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. 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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why this year, why now

Three hands-on forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that slowed or shuffled in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine bite-size scare clips from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

There is also the slotting calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can control a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will share space across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where lower and 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 this page set up to capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer 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 cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, 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 hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, sonics, and imagery 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, Ready To Roar

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand gravity where needed, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver 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 late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, guard the secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.