Primeval Horror returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising horror feature, landing Oct 2025 across major platforms

A terrifying spectral suspense film from scriptwriter / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an prehistoric nightmare when newcomers become instruments in a devilish conflict. Going live this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing tale of resilience and age-old darkness that will remodel scare flicks this October. Helmed by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and tone-heavy fearfest follows five unacquainted souls who find themselves confined in a cut-off house under the malignant command of Kyra, a female presence overtaken by a prehistoric Old Testament spirit. Be warned to be immersed by a audio-visual venture that melds primitive horror with mythic lore, debuting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demonic control has been a iconic theme in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is turned on its head when the beings no longer emerge from an outside force, but rather through their own souls. This symbolizes the haunting element of these individuals. The result is a bone-chilling mental war where the narrative becomes a constant contest between purity and corruption.


In a haunting terrain, five teens find themselves imprisoned under the evil effect and infestation of a elusive woman. As the youths becomes defenseless to oppose her curse, left alone and preyed upon by beings unnamable, they are pushed to confront their emotional phantoms while the deathwatch harrowingly pushes forward toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear grows and associations implode, compelling each cast member to scrutinize their being and the principle of autonomy itself. The hazard mount with every instant, delivering a horror experience that combines spiritual fright with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to evoke basic terror, an darkness born of forgotten ages, filtering through mental cracks, and confronting a will that questions who we are when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra demanded embodying something outside normal anguish. She is unseeing until the entity awakens, and that shift is terrifying because it is so private.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—providing audiences no matter where they are can witness this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its release of trailer #1, which has pulled in over a viral response.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, exporting the fear to lovers of terror across nations.


Avoid skipping this cinematic descent into hell. Watch *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to dive into these terrifying truths about existence.


For cast commentary, director cuts, and reveals from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across your favorite networks and visit our spooky domain.





Today’s horror pivotal crossroads: the year 2025 U.S. Slate melds legend-infused possession, signature indie scares, together with brand-name tremors

Ranging from grit-forward survival fare rooted in ancient scripture and onward to legacy revivals in concert with sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is emerging as the most dimensioned combined with blueprinted year in years.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. studio powerhouses lay down anchors with established lines, in parallel platform operators load up the fall with fresh voices plus archetypal fear. On the independent axis, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is fueled by the carry of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, distinctly in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are surgical, accordingly 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige terror resurfaces

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 doubles down.

Universal Pictures begins the calendar with a bold swing: a modernized Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, inside today’s landscape. From director Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. Booked into mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Directed by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

Toward summer’s end, Warner Bros. Pictures launches the swan song from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson re teams, and those signature textures resurface: vintage toned fear, trauma foregrounded, with spooky supernatural reasoning. Here the stakes rise, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, speaking to teens and older millennials. It drops in December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Offerings: Low budgets, big teeth

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a two hander body horror spiral led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn starring Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Written and directed 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. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

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 heavy handed lore. No legacy baggage. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festivals as Springboards

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 revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy Brands: 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. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

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

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, guided by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. 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.

Key Trends

Ancient myth goes wide
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror swings back
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Outlook: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The oncoming fright season: entries, standalone ideas, alongside A busy Calendar tailored for frights

Dek: The fresh terror cycle builds from the jump with a January bottleneck, and then unfolds through June and July, and far into the year-end corridor, marrying name recognition, creative pitches, and well-timed alternatives. Studios and streamers are prioritizing tight budgets, theatrical leads, and short-form initiatives that convert these releases into mainstream chatter.

How the genre looks for 2026

The horror sector has turned into the surest release in studio lineups, a vertical that can lift when it connects and still insulate the downside when it does not. After the 2023 year proved to top brass that mid-range chillers can lead pop culture, the following year sustained momentum with visionary-driven titles and unexpected risers. The run pushed into 2025, where resurrections and premium-leaning entries made clear there is appetite for varied styles, from sequel tracks to non-IP projects that export nicely. The end result for the 2026 slate is a schedule that seems notably aligned across distributors, with clear date clusters, a combination of familiar brands and first-time concepts, and a re-energized commitment on theatrical windows that increase tail monetization on PVOD and OTT platforms.

Insiders argue the genre now operates like a versatile piece on the release plan. Horror can launch on nearly any frame, deliver a clear pitch for spots and shorts, and outperform with audiences that respond on Thursday nights and continue through the next pass if the film delivers. Post a production delay era, the 2026 configuration exhibits trust in that approach. The slate launches with a weighty January lineup, then targets spring into early summer for counterweight, while leaving room for a fall cadence that pushes into late October and past Halloween. The layout also spotlights the deeper integration of specialty arms and streaming partners that can nurture a platform play, build word of mouth, and scale up at the sweet spot.

A companion trend is IP stewardship across ongoing universes and veteran brands. The studios are not just releasing another sequel. They are moving to present continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a title design that signals a tonal shift or a lead change that reconnects a latest entry to a heyday. At the very same time, the filmmakers behind the top original plays are championing physical effects work, on-set effects and site-specific worlds. That pairing provides the 2026 slate a lively combination of home base and shock, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount opens strong with two marquee titles that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the front, presenting it as both a cross-generational handoff and a return-to-roots character-forward chapter. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the directional approach suggests a heritage-honoring bent without rehashing the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Anticipate a campaign centered on legacy iconography, first-look character reveals, and a rollout cadence landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will play up. As a summer counter-slot, this one will generate mainstream recognition through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format making room for quick shifts to whatever rules the discourse that spring.

Universal has three distinct lanes. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is efficient, loss-driven, and commercial: a grieving man onboards an intelligent companion that unfolds into a fatal companion. The date positions it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s promo team likely to echo uncanny live moments and brief clips that blurs affection and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a final title to become an earned moment closer to the initial promo. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele’s work are branded as creative events, with a mystery-first teaser and a second beat that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween runway allows Universal to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has demonstrated that a tactile, practical-first method can feel cinematic on a efficient spend. Expect a splatter summer horror shock that centers worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio sets two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, extending a proven supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony get redirected here has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is describing as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both longtime followers and novices. The fall slot allows Sony to build promo materials around lore, and monster craft, elements that can fuel PLF interest and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in rigorous craft and dialect, this time orbiting lycan myth. The specialty arm has already locked the day for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is strong.

How the platforms plan to play it

Windowing plans in 2026 run on proven patterns. The studio’s horror films land on copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a sequence that expands both first-week urgency and sign-up momentum in the post-theatrical. Prime Video balances catalogue additions with global pickups and limited runs in theaters when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library engagement, using in-app campaigns, Halloween hubs, and curated strips to keep attention on overall cume. Netflix keeps options open about originals and festival pickups, slotting horror entries tight to release and positioning as event drops drops with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a tiered of selective theatrical runs and rapid platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a per-project basis. The platform has been willing to buy select projects with recognized filmmakers or A-list packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation surges.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 sequence with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is clear: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, updated for modern audio-visual craft. 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 positioned a theatrical rollout for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the autumn stretch.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, shepherding the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday slot to expand. That positioning has served the company well for filmmaker-driven genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception merits. Watch 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 in parallel, using limited theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Franchises versus originals

By volume, 2026 leans in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on franchise value. The concern, as ever, is overexposure. The operating solution is to package each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is foregrounding character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is promising a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-inflected take from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and director-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the team and cast is grounded enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

The last three-year set help explain the plan. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that held distribution windows did not prevent a day-date try from succeeding when the brand was powerful. In 2024, director-craft horror punched above its weight in PLF. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they change perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, enables marketing to interlace chapters through protagonists and motifs and to keep assets in-market without long breaks.

How the look and feel evolve

The shop talk behind the upcoming entries foreshadow a continued tilt toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that emphasizes atmosphere and fear rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and era-correct language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in long-lead press and craft features before rolling out a first look that keeps plot minimal, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and spurs shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta refresh that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature design and production design, which align with convention activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel primary. Look for trailers that underscore fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that play in premium auditoriums.

Month-by-month map

January is loaded. Universal’s 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 moody palate cleanser amid headline IP. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the menu of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth spreads.

Late winter and spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Back half into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a opaque tease strategy and limited plot reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift card usage.

Film-by-film briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s digital partner escalates into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

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 organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively 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 comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. 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 hard-edged boss push to survive on a uninhabited island as the power balance swivels and fear crawls. 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 re-envisioning that returns the monster to fear, grounded in Cronin’s physical craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting scenario that plays with the fear of a child’s wobbly senses. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven spectral suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A parody return that teases today’s horror trends and true crime preoccupations. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 surges, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a another family caught in lingering terrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: pending. Logline: A fresh restart designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: forthcoming. Production: moving forward. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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-faithful speech and primal menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the moment is 2026

Three execution-level forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or migrated in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming landings. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine shareable moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will share space across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 cost-efficient 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 harvest those lanes. 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.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal 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 somber, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, aural design, and visuals 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, Lined Up To Scare

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is name recognition where it counts, inventive vision where it helps, 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 frights sell the seats.