Primordial Evil Reawakens within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling feature, premiering Oct 2025 on major platforms

An spine-tingling spiritual scare-fest from storyteller / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an age-old malevolence when newcomers become puppets in a fiendish ritual. Going live this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing depiction of living through and primordial malevolence that will redefine genre cinema this scare season. Created by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and tone-heavy feature follows five lost souls who arise trapped in a secluded shack under the aggressive control of Kyra, a female presence controlled by a millennia-old religious nightmare. Prepare to be drawn in by a immersive venture that blends intense horror with folklore, dropping on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a recurring motif in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is reimagined when the forces no longer arise externally, but rather internally. This echoes the most hidden version of every character. The result is a harrowing moral showdown where the conflict becomes a unyielding battle between righteousness and malevolence.


In a desolate wilderness, five friends find themselves confined under the ominous rule and spiritual invasion of a unidentified person. As the characters becomes defenseless to break her influence, abandoned and followed by evils inconceivable, they are cornered to deal with their inner demons while the moments without pause runs out toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion builds and teams fracture, demanding each character to challenge their true nature and the principle of conscious will itself. The cost amplify with every instant, delivering a terror ride that connects mystical fear with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to dig into elemental fright, an threat that existed before mankind, emerging via our fears, and dealing with a curse that questions who we are when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra required summoning something darker than pain. She is clueless until the haunting manifests, and that turn is soul-crushing because it is so unshielded.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for digital release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—so that viewers globally can experience this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its release of trailer #1, which has received over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, bringing the film to fans of fear everywhere.


Make sure to see this gripping ride through nightmares. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to uncover these ghostly lessons about human nature.


For teasers, special features, and reveals directly from production, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across social media and visit our horror hub.





Contemporary horror’s major pivot: the year 2025 U.S. lineup interlaces biblical-possession ideas, independent shockers, alongside Franchise Rumbles

Kicking off with pressure-cooker survival tales rooted in near-Eastern lore and stretching into franchise returns paired with pointed art-house angles, 2025 is emerging as the most dimensioned and calculated campaign year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. leading studios stabilize the year through proven series, even as SVOD players prime the fall with fresh voices alongside old-world menace. On the festival side, the artisan tier is catching the carry of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the other windows are mapped with care. The fall stretch is the proving field, distinctly in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are disciplined, which means 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Premium genre swings back

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 set the base, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal banner opens the year with a marquee bet: a modernized Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Steered by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. targeting mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Helmed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early reactions hint at fangs.

When summer fades, the Warner Bros. banner unveils the final movement of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. While the template is known, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Scott Derrickson is back, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: throwback unease, trauma as theme, with ghostly inner logic. This time the stakes climb, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The new chapter enriches the lore, stretches the animatronic parade, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It books December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

With cinemas leaning into known IP, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a sealed box body horror arc pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Also rising is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, 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 threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No overweight mythology. No franchise baggage. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They are more runway than museum.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, with Francis Lawrence directing, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Trends to Watch

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror swings back
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forward View: Fall stack and winter swing card

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 such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The coming 2026 Horror lineup: returning titles, standalone ideas, as well as A busy Calendar designed for screams

Dek: The brand-new horror calendar loads immediately with a January crush, after that stretches through the warm months, and well into the December corridor, mixing marquee clout, fresh ideas, and well-timed counterprogramming. The major players are committing to mid-range economics, theatrical leads, and social-driven marketing that position these pictures into broad-appeal conversations.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The horror sector has become the steady option in studio lineups, a vertical that can grow when it resonates and still protect the drag when it doesn’t. After 2023 re-taught executives that mid-range pictures can shape the discourse, the following year held pace with festival-darling auteurs and surprise hits. The carry carried into 2025, where reawakened brands and premium-leaning entries signaled there is space for many shades, from legacy continuations to director-led originals that play globally. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a schedule that presents tight coordination across companies, with defined corridors, a pairing of familiar brands and new packages, and a tightened eye on cinema windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium home window and home platforms.

Studio leaders note the genre now functions as a plug-and-play option on the distribution slate. The genre can premiere on numerous frames, furnish a clear pitch for trailers and UGC-friendly snippets, and lead with demo groups that line up on first-look nights and sustain through the next pass if the offering pays off. Following a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 layout underscores certainty in that dynamic. The slate kicks off with a front-loaded January band, then turns to spring and early summer for alternate plays, while reserving space for a October build that runs into late October and past the holiday. The arrangement also spotlights the continuing integration of indie arms and digital platforms that can platform a title, fuel WOM, and grow at the strategic time.

A companion trend is IP cultivation across shared IP webs and storied titles. Big banners are not just pushing another entry. They are looking to package continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a typeface approach that conveys a new vibe or a casting pivot that connects a latest entry to a early run. At the concurrently, the auteurs behind the top original plays are returning to in-camera technique, makeup and prosthetics and grounded locations. That fusion hands the 2026 slate a vital pairing of home base and invention, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount plants an early flag with two marquee entries that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the spine, angling it as both a lineage transfer and a back-to-basics character-driven entry. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the story approach announces a classic-referencing campaign without going over the last two entries’ sisters thread. Count on a promo wave built on recognizable motifs, early character teases, and a promo sequence timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

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 set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will emphasize. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will drive broad awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick shifts to whatever shapes the discourse that spring.

Universal has three specific bets. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is simple, sorrow-tinged, and concept-forward: a grieving man onboards an intelligent companion that mutates into a perilous partner. The date slots it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s promo team likely to renew creepy live activations and brief clips that interlaces attachment and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under working names 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 proper title to become an attention spike closer to the first look. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. His entries are branded as must-see filmmaker statements, with a hinting teaser and a second beat that signal tone without plot the concept. The late-month date gives Universal room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has made clear that a flesh-and-blood, hands-on effects strategy can feel high-value on a tight budget. Expect a hard-R summer horror surge that emphasizes global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio deploys two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, keeping a trusty supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what Sony is calling a reimagined restart 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 sharper mandate to serve both core fans and fresh viewers. The fall slot gives Sony time to build materials around universe detail, and creature design, elements that can amplify IMAX and PLF uptake and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in minute detail and archaic language, this time orbiting lycan myth. The distributor has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a see here specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is positive.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform windowing in 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s genre slate flow to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a ladder that elevates both first-week urgency and subscriber lifts in the later phase. Prime Video stitches together outside acquisitions with global acquisitions and select theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in back-catalog play, using featured rows, Halloween hubs, and staff picks to keep attention on the 2026 genre total. Netflix retains agility about original films and festival pickups, scheduling horror entries near their drops and coalescing around rollouts with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a staged of precision theatrical plays and swift platform pivots that turns chatter to conversion. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a situational basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to buy select projects with established auteurs or star-led packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation heats up.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 sequence with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is tight: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, updated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the October weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then pressing the December frame to widen. That positioning has served the company well for arthouse horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception drives. Anticipate 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 tandem, using select theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their community.

Franchise entries versus originals

By share, 2026 skews toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on cultural cachet. The trade-off, as ever, is viewer burnout. The pragmatic answer is to frame each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is centering relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-accented approach from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles 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, places Rachel McAdams into a stranded survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the assembly is anchored enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Comparable trends from recent years clarify the approach. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that respected streaming windows did not deter a day-and-date experiment from hitting when the brand was big. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror popped in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they alter lens and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on 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, allows marketing to relate entries through personae and themes and to keep assets alive without doldrums.

Behind-the-camera trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind this year’s genre point to a continued shift toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that centers tone and tension rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and historically accurate language, 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 trade spotlights and technical spotlights before rolling out a teaser that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and drives shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a self-referential reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster aesthetics and world-building, which play well in convention activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel compelling. Look for trailers that emphasize pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that benefit on big speakers.

Release calendar overview

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 moody palate cleanser amid macro-brand pushes. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the menu of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Q1 into Q2 tee up summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on his comment is here early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can deliver 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.

Late-season stretch leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a bridge slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited advance reveals that put concept first.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card spend.

One-sentence dossiers

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 rethreads the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s synthetic partner unfolds into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: atmospheric 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 severe boss battle to survive on a isolated island as the power balance of power tilts and paranoia builds. 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 renewed vision that returns the monster to fright, anchored by Cronin’s physical craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting tale that routes the horror through a youngster’s volatile subjective lens. Rating: TBD. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A send-up revival that targets hot-button genre motifs and true crime fascinations. Rating: TBA. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a new family bound to long-buried horrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: not yet rated. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: pending. Production: underway. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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-specific language and primordial menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. 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: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three hands-on forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or migrated in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work repeatable beats from test screenings, metered scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

The slot calculus is real. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will trade weekends across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, 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 ideal band. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where lean-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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, sound field, 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 Promising 2026

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand power where it counts, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, guard the secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.