Primordial Evil Returns within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on top digital platforms

A haunting supernatural shockfest from writer / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an archaic malevolence when unfamiliar people become victims in a diabolical ritual. Airings begin this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching chronicle of continuance and archaic horror that will reshape terror storytelling this cool-weather season. Helmed by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and gothic suspense flick follows five individuals who regain consciousness locked in a far-off dwelling under the menacing manipulation of Kyra, a young woman haunted by a timeless religious nightmare. Ready yourself to be captivated by a motion picture journey that unites bodily fright with timeless legends, coming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a legendary narrative in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is subverted when the demons no longer originate outside their bodies, but rather from their core. This represents the grimmest element of the players. The result is a riveting inner struggle where the events becomes a constant confrontation between right and wrong.


In a desolate outland, five young people find themselves trapped under the unholy grip and haunting of a unknown apparition. As the survivors becomes paralyzed to escape her power, left alone and hunted by terrors impossible to understand, they are thrust to battle their inner demons while the doomsday meter unceasingly runs out toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease intensifies and teams fracture, compelling each person to challenge their essence and the nature of autonomy itself. The intensity accelerate with every short lapse, delivering a terror ride that harmonizes otherworldly panic with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to draw upon raw dread, an threat that existed before mankind, feeding on human fragility, and examining a presence that tests the soul when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra was centered on something more primal than sorrow. She is uninformed until the entity awakens, and that transformation is haunting because it is so intimate.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for streaming beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring watchers around the globe can dive into this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its original promo, which has collected over a viral response.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, giving access to the movie to viewers around the world.


Mark your calendar for this bone-rattling exploration of dread. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to survive these fearful discoveries about the mind.


For featurettes, production insights, and reveals from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across platforms and visit our horror hub.





The horror genre’s inflection point: calendar year 2025 U.S. calendar fuses legend-infused possession, independent shockers, alongside tentpole growls

From last-stand terror infused with primordial scripture and extending to canon extensions plus surgical indie voices, 2025 is tracking to be the most textured as well as strategic year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. studio powerhouses set cornerstones with familiar IP, in parallel digital services pack the fall with debut heat alongside ancestral chills. In parallel, indie storytellers is riding the backdraft from a record 2024 festival run. As Halloween stays the prime week, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A fat September–October lane is customary now, but this year, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are precise, and 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The top end is active. If 2024 set the base, 2025 accelerates.

the Universal camp fires the first shot with an audacious swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, in a clear present-tense world. Led by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. landing in mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Guided by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

By late summer, Warner’s slate drops the final chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Though the formula is familiar, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson again directs, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: 70s style chill, trauma as narrative engine, with ghostly inner logic. Here the stakes rise, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The follow up digs further into canon, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, bridging teens and legacy players. It opens in December, holding the cold season’s end.

SVOD Originals: No Budget, No Problem

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a two hander body horror spiral anchored by Alison Brie and 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 lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Also rising is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable with Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is a calculated bet. No bloated mythology. No sequel clutter. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, guided by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

What to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror ascends again
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.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Projection: Fall stack and winter swing card

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The new Horror Year Ahead: entries, standalone ideas, alongside A loaded Calendar aimed at chills

Dek: The new genre calendar packs early with a January pile-up, from there spreads through peak season, and deep into the winter holidays, mixing franchise firepower, novel approaches, and tactical counterplay. Studios with streamers are focusing on cost discipline, box-office-first windows, and shareable marketing that pivot these films into water-cooler talk.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

This category has grown into the steady counterweight in studio slates, a lane that can spike when it resonates and still protect the risk when it misses. After the 2023 year reassured buyers that efficiently budgeted pictures can drive social chatter, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with auteur-driven buzzy films and surprise hits. The trend translated to 2025, where revivals and festival-grade titles made clear there is space for a spectrum, from ongoing IP entries to standalone ideas that translate worldwide. The result for 2026 is a roster that seems notably aligned across the market, with strategic blocks, a combination of marquee IP and untested plays, and a renewed strategy on box-office windows that increase tail monetization on PVOD and OTT platforms.

Executives say the space now acts as a fill-in ace on the schedule. Horror can bow on a wide range of weekends, generate a quick sell for trailers and vertical videos, and lead with ticket buyers that lean in on opening previews and sustain through the second frame if the feature satisfies. After a work stoppage lag, the 2026 pattern signals confidence in that logic. The year launches with a thick January band, then taps spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while saving space for a fall cadence that carries into Halloween and into the next week. The layout also includes the increasing integration of specialty distributors and digital platforms that can nurture a platform play, build word of mouth, and expand at the strategic time.

A reinforcing pattern is brand management across interlocking continuities and veteran brands. Studio teams are not just releasing another continuation. They are setting up ongoing narrative with a headline quality, whether that is a graphic identity that conveys a new tone or weblink a casting choice that connects a new entry to a vintage era. At the concurrently, the creative teams behind the most buzzed-about originals are embracing real-world builds, on-set effects and location-forward worlds. That interplay delivers the 2026 slate a solid mix of comfort and shock, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

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

Paramount establishes early momentum with two prominent bets that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the heart, signaling it as both a lineage transfer and a back-to-basics character-centered film. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the artistic posture telegraphs a heritage-honoring strategy without replaying the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Expect a marketing push stacked with recognizable motifs, character spotlights, and a staggered trailer plan targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will play up. As a summer contrast play, this one will build broad awareness through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format inviting quick turns to whatever dominates trend lines that spring.

Universal has three defined bets. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is tidy, heartbroken, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man adopts an AI companion that evolves into a murderous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s team likely to echo odd public stunts and micro spots that interlaces intimacy and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a public title to become an PR pop closer to the first look. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele’s releases are framed as director events, with a teaser that reveals little and a next wave of trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date lets the studio to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a gritty, physical-effects centered method can feel deluxe on a lean spend. Look for a red-band summer horror shock that centers foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio mounts two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, continuing a dependable supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is presenting as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both franchise faithful and fresh viewers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build artifacts around world-building, and monster craft, elements that can accelerate premium booking interest and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains Eggers’ run of period horror driven by meticulous craft and dialect, this time driven by werewolf stories. Focus has already set the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is warm.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform windowing in 2026 run on tested paths. The Universal horror run head to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a stair-step that amplifies both FOMO and viewer acquisition in the downstream. Prime Video combines licensed titles with global originals and short theatrical plays when the data supports it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in catalog engagement, using editorial spots, spooky hubs, and programmed rows to lengthen the tail on aggregate take. Netflix plays opportunist about own-slate titles and festival acquisitions, finalizing horror entries toward the drop and turning into events launches with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a staged of targeted cinema placements and quick platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown appetite to acquire select projects with recognized filmmakers or star packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation spikes.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 lane with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is simple: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, upgraded for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the late-season weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, curating the rollout through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then working the Christmas corridor to broaden. That positioning has been successful for filmmaker-first horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception supports. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using small theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their community.

Series vs standalone

By tilt, the 2026 slate bends toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on household recognition. The potential drawback, as ever, is diminishing returns. The go-to fix is to frame each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is spotlighting relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a Francophone tone from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the assembly is comforting enough to build pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Three-year comps outline the plan. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that preserved streaming windows did not prevent a day-date move from paying off when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror surged in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they pivot perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to tie installments through character and theme and to hold creative in the market without long gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The director conversations behind these films signal a continued lean toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that leans on unease and texture rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in craft journalism and guild coverage before rolling out a tease that withholds plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and gathers shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta reframe that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature work and production design, which are ideal for booth activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that accent disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that land in premium houses.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is loaded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid big-brand pushes. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the variety of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Q1 into Q2 load in summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Late-season stretch leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder season window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a slow-reveal plan and limited teasers that lean on concept not plot.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can live 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 keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and card redemption.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s digital partner evolves into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, his comment is here 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 coalesces 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 travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. 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 tough boss scramble to survive on a desolate island as the power balance upends and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to chill, anchored by Cronin’s practical craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting scenario that refracts terror through a minor’s wavering personal vantage. Rating: TBA. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that satirizes in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fixations. Rating: TBA. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. 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 surges, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further reopens, with a unlucky family tethered to residual nightmares. Rating: forthcoming. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A new start designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in true survival horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: developing against a fixed date. 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: TBD. Production: active. 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 era-accurate language and elemental menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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

Why 2026 and why now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that paused or re-sequenced in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and shorter 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 beaten straight-to-streaming landings. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on clippable moments from test screenings, curated scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Calendar math also matters. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can control a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will share space across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where disciplined-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 surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, 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 dimensionality, audio design, and picture 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 Shapes Up Strong

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is recognizable IP where it plays, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the scares sell the seats.