Primeval Evil Returns within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding thriller, landing October 2025 across major streaming services

One hair-raising occult nightmare movie from narrative craftsman / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an forgotten curse when outsiders become tokens in a cursed trial. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, the YouTube platform, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking journey of perseverance and primeval wickedness that will alter terror storytelling this scare season. Produced by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and shadowy thriller follows five individuals who emerge trapped in a cut-off cottage under the malignant command of Kyra, a troubled woman inhabited by a prehistoric religious nightmare. Get ready to be gripped by a immersive journey that weaves together intense horror with ancestral stories, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a classic fixture in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is radically shifted when the malevolences no longer emerge from a different plane, but rather through their own souls. This portrays the malevolent layer of the players. The result is a gripping emotional conflict where the intensity becomes a ongoing push-pull between righteousness and malevolence.


In a wilderness-stricken terrain, five figures find themselves caught under the sinister control and inhabitation of a unknown apparition. As the youths becomes incapable to escape her influence, isolated and tormented by entities ungraspable, they are pushed to face their greatest panics while the clock unceasingly edges forward toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension builds and partnerships fracture, demanding each figure to examine their being and the philosophy of independent thought itself. The cost amplify with every breath, delivering a nightmarish journey that integrates demonic fright with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to awaken instinctual horror, an power rooted in antiquity, influencing inner turmoil, and exposing a curse that forces self-examination when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra demanded embodying something darker than pain. She is unseeing until the entity awakens, and that metamorphosis is soul-crushing because it is so personal.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for audience access beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing subscribers anywhere can experience this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its initial teaser, which has earned over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, bringing the film to global fright lovers.


Do not miss this gripping ride through nightmares. Explore *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to face these fearful discoveries about human nature.


For film updates, extra content, and updates from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across platforms and visit the movie portal.





Current horror’s decisive shift: calendar year 2025 domestic schedule melds ancient-possession motifs, underground frights, set against Franchise Rumbles

From last-stand terror rooted in mythic scripture all the way to canon extensions paired with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is coalescing into the most textured combined with precision-timed year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. leading studios set cornerstones by way of signature titles, even as OTT services crowd the fall with debut heat as well as old-world menace. In the indie lane, the artisan tier is buoyed by the afterglow from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. With Halloween holding the peak, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, yet in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are calculated, therefore 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal lights the fuse with a headline swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a modern-day environment. From director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. timed for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Under Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Early reactions hint at fangs.

When summer tapers, Warner’s pipeline delivers the closing chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Despite a known recipe, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson returns, and those signature textures resurface: 70s style chill, trauma as narrative engine, with ghostly inner logic. This time, the stakes are raised, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The next entry deepens the tale, builds out the animatronic fear crew, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It books December, cornering year end horror.

Platform Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a body horror chamber piece featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend with Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

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.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, 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.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It is an astute call. No bloated mythology. No franchise baggage. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They are more runway than museum.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Franchise Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

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

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, guided by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

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

What to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
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 reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror reemerges
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival Hype Equals Market 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
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Forecast: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The 2026 chiller calendar year ahead: returning titles, fresh concepts, paired with A stacked Calendar optimized for goosebumps

Dek: The current horror year crams in short order with a January cluster, subsequently runs through the mid-year, and deep into the festive period, fusing franchise firepower, new concepts, and shrewd offsets. Studios with streamers are prioritizing responsible budgets, theatrical-first rollouts, and social-fueled campaigns that frame these films into broad-appeal conversations.

How the genre looks for 2026

This category has emerged as the steady counterweight in studio calendars, a genre that can spike when it connects and still limit the losses when it falls short. After 2023 reminded top brass that low-to-mid budget chillers can own social chatter, the following year sustained momentum with buzzy auteur projects and unexpected risers. The head of steam translated to the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and elevated films underscored there is a lane for a spectrum, from franchise continuations to non-IP projects that carry overseas. The aggregate for 2026 is a schedule that is strikingly coherent across the industry, with intentional bunching, a pairing of legacy names and new concepts, and a refocused emphasis on big-screen windows that drive downstream revenue on premium digital and digital services.

Buyers contend the space now works like a plug-and-play option on the distribution slate. Horror can open on numerous frames, deliver a quick sell for teasers and UGC-friendly snippets, and punch above weight with demo groups that turn out on Thursday previews and hold through the next pass if the feature lands. Post a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 setup reflects faith in that logic. The calendar kicks off with a thick January lineup, then leans on spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while leaving room for a fall corridor that reaches into All Hallows period and into early November. The grid also includes the expanded integration of specialized imprints and OTT outlets that can develop over weeks, stoke social talk, and move wide at the strategic time.

A parallel macro theme is brand management across brand ecosystems and established properties. The companies are not just turning out another return. They are looking to package connection with a occasion, whether that is a logo package that conveys a new tone or a star attachment that ties a next entry to a vintage era. At the parallel to that, the visionaries behind the eagerly awaited originals are embracing material texture, real effects and location-forward worlds. That fusion affords the 2026 slate a healthy mix of familiarity and freshness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount establishes early momentum with two big-ticket pushes that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the heart, signaling it as both a baton pass and a classic-mode character-centered film. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the directional approach hints at a throwback-friendly approach without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive rooted in brand visuals, character spotlights, and a promo sequence arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

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 behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will foreground. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will drive large awareness through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format allowing quick updates to whatever defines the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three clear pushes. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is straightforward, grief-rooted, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man sets up an AI companion that mutates into a murderous partner. The date slots it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s team likely to bring back uncanny-valley stunts and quick hits that mixes affection and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a official title to become an PR pop closer to the teaser. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. The filmmaker’s films are marketed as director events, with a mystery-first teaser and a subsequent trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The late-month date creates space for Universal to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a flesh-and-blood, in-camera leaning mix can feel top-tier on a mid-range budget. Frame it as a splatter summer horror shot that maximizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio deploys two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, preserving a reliable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is selling as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both fans and fresh viewers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build promo materials around narrative world, and monster design, elements that can amplify premium format interest and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in immersive craft and period speech, this time engaging werewolf myth. The distributor has already set the date for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is robust.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform strategies for 2026 run on familiar rails. The Universal horror run flow to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a ordering that elevates both premiere heat and sign-up spikes in the post-theatrical. Prime Video stitches together licensed titles with worldwide buys and brief theater runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library curation, using featured rows, seasonal hubs, and staff picks to stretch the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps options open about own-slate titles and festival buys, finalizing horror entries near launch and eventizing releases with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a paired of precision releases and short jumps to platform that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a discrete basis. The platform has indicated interest to secure select projects with recognized filmmakers or marquee packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for monthly engagement when the genre conversation spikes.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 track with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is straightforward: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, refined for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the fall weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the Christmas window to open out. That positioning has delivered for elevated genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception justifies. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using limited theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Balance of brands and originals

By skew, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness brand equity. The trade-off, as ever, is viewer burnout. The operating solution is to package each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is emphasizing character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-flavored turn from a fresh helmer. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a island survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the team and cast is known enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Recent-year comps help explain the logic. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that honored streaming windows did not preclude a parallel release from paying off when the brand was sticky. In 2024, precision craft horror rose in premium formats. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they reframe POV and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, enables marketing to tie installments through protagonists and motifs and to continue assets in field without lulls.

Craft and creative trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind these films signal a continued lean toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that emphasizes texture and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in feature stories and technical spotlights before rolling out a teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and spurs shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a self-aware reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will live or die on monster aesthetics and world-building, which work nicely for expo activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel essential. Look for trailers that spotlight hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that work in PLF.

From winter to holidays

January is jammed. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid heftier brand moves. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the menu of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

Pre-summer months prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

August and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited disclosures that lean on concept not plot.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift card usage.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s intelligent companion unfolds into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with 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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: fog-and-fear adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her severe boss push to survive on a far-flung island as the power balance of power upends and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top Check This Out cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to dread, founded on Cronin’s material craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting tale that plays with the fright of a child’s inconsistent impressions. Rating: not yet rated. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

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 genre lampoon that riffs on in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fascinations. Rating: undetermined. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites flares, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further extends again, with a different family bound to ancient dread. Rating: TBD. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A new start designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survivalist horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: not yet rated. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in progress. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on antique diction and elemental dread. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three hands-on forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or re-sequenced in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic 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 leverage social-ready stingers from test screenings, select scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will cluster across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 underdog chase 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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, 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 flow and breadth. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo 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 keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome 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 earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, soundscape, and image-making 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.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand heft where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, keep secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.