Ancient Dread stirs: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling feature, launching October 2025 across major platforms

An unnerving supernatural shockfest from cinematographer / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an ancient curse when unrelated individuals become victims in a malevolent ordeal. Streaming October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a intense journey of resilience and primordial malevolence that will reconstruct the horror genre this October. Realized by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and atmospheric thriller follows five strangers who wake up stuck in a cut-off cabin under the hostile rule of Kyra, a haunted figure inhabited by a timeless religious nightmare. Get ready to be captivated by a screen-based outing that melds visceral dread with ancestral stories, 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 pillar in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is reversed when the monsters no longer develop from external sources, but rather from deep inside. This embodies the most hidden shade of the victims. The result is a emotionally raw psychological battle where the drama becomes a unforgiving tug-of-war between moral forces.


In a remote forest, five campers find themselves confined under the evil presence and infestation of a mysterious female figure. As the group becomes vulnerable to reject her control, left alone and chased by spirits unfathomable, they are confronted to encounter their emotional phantoms while the final hour relentlessly strikes toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear deepens and connections implode, prompting each member to doubt their existence and the structure of free will itself. The hazard surge with every fleeting time, delivering a fear-soaked story that intertwines demonic fright with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to channel pure dread, an presence older than civilization itself, emerging via our weaknesses, and navigating a will that peels away humanity when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra demanded embodying something darker than pain. She is innocent until the takeover begins, and that transformation is shocking because it is so internal.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for horror fans beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing fans across the world can be part of this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its release of trailer #1, which has gathered over 100K plays.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, giving access to the movie to thrill-seekers globally.


Witness this bone-rattling fall into madness. Enter *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to witness these chilling revelations about human nature.


For director insights, making-of footage, and reveals from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across social media and visit the official movie site.





Modern horror’s tipping point: 2025 domestic schedule integrates myth-forward possession, festival-born jolts, plus brand-name tremors

Ranging from endurance-driven terror infused with biblical myth and extending to installment follow-ups plus acutely observed indies, 2025 is tracking to be the most variegated and deliberate year of the last decade.

Call it full, but it is also focused. studio majors set cornerstones by way of signature titles, in parallel platform operators crowd the fall with discovery plays as well as mythic dread. Across the art-house lane, independent banners is propelled by the momentum of a record-setting 2024 festival season. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the other windows are mapped with care. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, and in 2025, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are methodical, and 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige fear returns

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal Pictures sets the tone with a risk-forward move: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, but a crisp modern milieu. From director Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. arriving mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. From director Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s pipeline launches the swan song within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

The Black Phone 2 follows. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson re engages, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: period tinged dread, trauma in the foreground, paired with unsettling supernatural order. Here the stakes rise, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The follow up digs further into canon, builds out the animatronic fear crew, reaching teens and game grownups. It books December, cornering year end horror.

Platform Plays: No Budget, No Problem

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a tight space body horror vignette pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, 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. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

On the docket is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga starring Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing 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 a smart play. No heavy handed lore. No franchise baggage. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Franchise Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, from Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Trend Lines

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

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

Streamers grow fangs
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Cinemas are a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forward View: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The upcoming fear year to come: follow-ups, standalone ideas, together with A Crowded Calendar optimized for shocks

Dek: The current horror season packs up front with a January glut, then rolls through midyear, and continuing into the late-year period, marrying franchise firepower, new voices, and strategic counterweight. Studio marketers and platforms are relying on lean spends, box-office-first windows, and short-form initiatives that pivot these offerings into water-cooler talk.

How the genre looks for 2026

The genre has grown into the bankable play in distribution calendars, a category that can surge when it lands and still protect the liability when it underperforms. After the 2023 year re-taught studio brass that disciplined-budget fright engines can dominate social chatter, 2024 carried the beat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and surprise hits. The energy rolled into 2025, where revived properties and elevated films made clear there is a market for a variety of tones, from continued chapters to one-and-done originals that export nicely. The result for 2026 is a lineup that reads highly synchronized across the major shops, with planned clusters, a balance of brand names and original hooks, and a recommitted priority on box-office windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium video on demand and platforms.

Executives say the genre now functions as a fill-in ace on the programming map. The genre can arrive on most weekends, offer a sharp concept for teasers and TikTok spots, and outstrip with crowds that show up on previews Thursday and hold through the next pass if the movie satisfies. Emerging from a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 configuration underscores belief in that dynamic. The year gets underway with a stacked January stretch, then uses spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while keeping space for a autumn stretch that reaches into spooky season and past Halloween. The schedule also features the expanded integration of indie arms and OTT outlets that can nurture a platform play, fuel WOM, and grow at the right moment.

Another broad trend is franchise tending across unified worlds and classic IP. The companies are not just turning out another sequel. They are trying to present continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a typeface approach that conveys a refreshed voice or a ensemble decision that ties a incoming chapter to a first wave. At the parallel to that, the visionaries behind the eagerly awaited originals are prioritizing tactile craft, practical gags and place-driven backdrops. That interplay yields 2026 a healthy mix of home base and unexpected turns, which is what works overseas.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount establishes early momentum with two prominent plays that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the lead, framing it as both a cross-generational handoff and a rootsy character-forward chapter. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the artistic posture suggests a memory-charged bent without covering again the last two entries’ family thread. The studio is likely to mount a drive fueled by brand visuals, first-look character reveals, and a promo sequence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

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 on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will foreground. As a counterweight in summer, this one will generate four-quadrant chatter through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick adjustments to whatever dominates trend lines that spring.

Universal has three separate releases. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is straightforward, tragic, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man onboards an AI companion that turns into a murderous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s campaign likely to reprise eerie street stunts and micro spots that melds love and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted 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 sets up a public title to become an attention spike closer to the initial tease. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s work are sold as event films, with a concept-forward tease and a subsequent trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The Halloween runway lets the studio to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has demonstrated that a flesh-and-blood, on-set effects led approach can feel elevated on a disciplined budget. Frame it as a gore-forward summer horror shot that spotlights overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio lines up two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, keeping a proven supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is calling a reset 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 directive to serve both loyalists and newcomers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build campaign creative around canon, and monster craft, elements that can drive deluxe auditorium demand and fan-forward 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 carries forward the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on historical precision and period speech, this time orbiting lycan myth. Focus Features has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a bold stance in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is robust.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s genre entries window into copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a cadence that enhances both first-week urgency and sign-up spikes in the later window. Prime Video balances licensed titles with worldwide entries and small theatrical windows when the data points to it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in archive usage, using timely promos, fright rows, and handpicked rows to maximize the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix remains opportunistic about Netflix originals and festival wins, slotting horror entries tight to release and eventizing premieres with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a paired of precision theatrical plays and short jumps to platform that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to acquire select projects with established auteurs or star packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly activity when the genre conversation spikes.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 runway with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is uncomplicated: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, upgraded for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has suggested a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the September weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday dates to move out. That positioning has helped for arthouse horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception allows. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using boutique theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their user base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By weight, 2026 skews toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit legacy awareness. The trade-off, as ever, is diminishing returns. The workable fix is to sell each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is bringing forward relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a Francophone tone from a buzzed-about director. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and director-driven titles add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a survival chiller premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the assembly is familiar enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday previews.

Comparable trends from recent years announce the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that respected streaming windows did not foreclose a day-and-date experiment from delivering when the brand was sticky. In 2024, art-forward horror punched above its weight in large-format rooms. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they alter lens and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on 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 shot in tandem, creates space for marketing to relate entries through character arcs and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without lulls.

Technique and craft currents

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the upcoming entries hint at a continued lean toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that foregrounds texture and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in long-lead press and department features before rolling out a atmospheric tease that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at gross-out texture, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and generates shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta inflection that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature craft and set design, which align with convention activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel necessary. Look for trailers that spotlight hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that sing on PLF.

Calendar cadence

January is busy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid bigger brand plays. The month buttons 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 meaningful, but the spread of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

Late Q1 and spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s 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 splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Late summer into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a transitional slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited asset reveals that put concept first.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card spend.

Title briefs within the narrative

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s AI companion grows into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

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 meet a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 More about the author and her tough boss fight to survive on a cut-off island as the power dynamic upends and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to fright, shaped by Cronin’s material craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting piece that mediates the fear via a youth’s wavering POV. Rating: pending. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-crafted and headline-actor led occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A parody return that skewers modern genre fads and true crime fascinations. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites detonates, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a fresh family snared by lingering terrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A new start designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in true survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: TBA. Production: active. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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 period language and raw menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. 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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the moment is 2026

Three execution-level forces frame this lineup. First, production that downshifted or recalendared in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming launches. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

There is also the slotting calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can seize a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will coexist across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, 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 sleeper-hit 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 set up to leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first shock 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, audio design, and cinematography that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is IP strength where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, lock the reveals, and let the gasps sell the seats.