Primordial Evil Awakens in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling horror feature, launching October 2025 across global platforms

An hair-raising paranormal fear-driven tale from creator / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an ancient horror when unfamiliar people become tools in a fiendish ordeal. Available this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a intense tale of survival and mythic evil that will revolutionize fear-driven cinema this autumn. Crafted by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and claustrophobic motion picture follows five strangers who are stirred stranded in a unreachable hideaway under the hostile grip of Kyra, a tormented girl possessed by a legendary sacrosanct terror. Steel yourself to be captivated by a narrative adventure that intertwines gut-punch terror with mystical narratives, unleashing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a iconic motif in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is redefined when the fiends no longer come from an outside force, but rather internally. This suggests the most terrifying corner of the protagonists. The result is a gripping emotional conflict where the narrative becomes a perpetual tug-of-war between purity and corruption.


In a unforgiving outland, five friends find themselves cornered under the sinister effect and spiritual invasion of a mysterious woman. As the group becomes submissive to break her manipulation, marooned and tormented by powers unimaginable, they are pushed to face their inner demons while the time without pity draws closer toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion builds and partnerships erode, pressuring each member to scrutinize their identity and the integrity of personal agency itself. The risk mount with every tick, delivering a nightmarish journey that integrates spiritual fright with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to uncover ancestral fear, an curse beyond recorded history, filtering through inner turmoil, and challenging a evil that erodes the self when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra asked for exploring something darker than pain. She is insensitive until the takeover begins, and that pivot is soul-crushing because it is so emotional.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for worldwide release beginning 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 enjoy this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its first preview, which has pulled in over notable views.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, bringing the film to fans of fear everywhere.


Witness this heart-stopping ride through nightmares. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to acknowledge these fearful discoveries about the mind.


For director insights, on-set glimpses, and news straight from the filmmakers, follow @YACFilm across social media and visit our horror hub.





Modern horror’s major pivot: calendar year 2025 American release plan integrates primeval-possession lore, signature indie scares, alongside IP aftershocks

Across pressure-cooker survival tales rooted in near-Eastern lore and including canon extensions together with acutely observed indies, 2025 is shaping up as the genre’s most multifaceted plus carefully orchestrated year in years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. Top studios lay down anchors by way of signature titles, at the same time premium streamers saturate the fall with debut heat paired with archetypal fear. On the festival side, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is riding the uplift of a peak 2024 circuit. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, distinctly in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are surgical, thus 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Premium genre swings back

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s slate starts the year with an audacious swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, but a sharp contemporary setting. Guided by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. landing in mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Steered by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

When summer tapers, Warner Bros. Pictures rolls out the capstone from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re teams, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: throwback unease, trauma as narrative engine, and eerie supernatural logic. Here the stakes rise, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, builds out the animatronic fear crew, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It books December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Offerings: Lean budgets, heavy bite

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a body horror duet featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale led by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is a calculated bet. No overstuffed canon. No franchise baggage. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, led by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Dials to Watch

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

Body horror comes roaring back
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Season Ahead: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The next Horror calendar year ahead: next chapters, filmmaker-first projects, alongside A stacked Calendar calibrated for goosebumps

Dek: The new scare year loads early with a January traffic jam, before it flows through midyear, and running into the year-end corridor, weaving series momentum, original angles, and well-timed calendar placement. The major players are relying on responsible budgets, theater-first strategies, and short-form initiatives that pivot genre titles into mainstream chatter.

Horror momentum into 2026

This category has emerged as the steady counterweight in programming grids, a space that can expand when it resonates and still cushion the risk when it fails to connect. After 2023 reassured greenlighters that low-to-mid budget chillers can own social chatter, 2024 carried the beat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and slow-burn breakouts. The head of steam translated to the 2025 frame, where resurrections and critical darlings highlighted there is space for diverse approaches, from sequel tracks to standalone ideas that play globally. The aggregate for 2026 is a grid that shows rare alignment across companies, with obvious clusters, a blend of known properties and new concepts, and a refocused priority on cinema windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium rental and home platforms.

Insiders argue the space now behaves like a flex slot on the calendar. The genre can launch on almost any weekend, create a clear pitch for trailers and platform-native cuts, and overperform with demo groups that line up on Thursday nights and continue through the second frame if the entry delivers. Exiting a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 configuration underscores assurance in that engine. The slate launches with a thick January window, then primes spring and early summer for balance, while making space for a fall cadence that reaches into Halloween and into early November. The schedule also includes the ongoing integration of specialty arms and subscription services that can build gradually, stoke social talk, and expand at the optimal moment.

A second macro trend is brand curation across unified worlds and legacy IP. Major shops are not just rolling another next film. They are moving to present threaded continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a title presentation that broadcasts a tonal shift or a ensemble decision that binds a new entry to a heyday. At the meanwhile, the auteurs behind the eagerly awaited originals are championing hands-on technique, practical gags and distinct locales. That mix affords the 2026 slate a smart balance of familiarity and freshness, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

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

Paramount defines the early cadence with two high-profile releases that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the center, positioning the film as both a passing of the torch and a return-to-roots character-driven entry. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the story approach suggests a legacy-leaning mode without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected leaning on legacy iconography, first images of characters, and a tiered teaser plan hitting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also brings back 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 behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will double down on. As a counterweight in summer, this one will build mainstream recognition through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format fitting quick updates to whatever dominates the discourse that spring.

Universal has three distinct bets. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is clean, tragic, and high-concept: a grieving man activates an machine companion that mutates into a harmful mate. The date locates it at the front of a packed window, with Universal’s campaign likely to recreate uncanny-valley stunts and snackable content that melds romance and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under placeholder labels 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 name unveil to become an fan moment closer to the teaser. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele projects are positioned as must-see filmmaker statements, with a opaque teaser and a later creative that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The pre-Halloween slot lets the studio to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a tactile, prosthetic-heavy style can feel cinematic on a lean spend. Position this as a red-band summer horror hit that maximizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio rolls out two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, keeping a bankable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is presenting as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both franchise faithful and general audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build materials around mythos, and monster craft, elements that can fuel deluxe auditorium demand and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by careful craft and historical speech, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is positive.

How the platforms plan to play it

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on predictable routes. The studio’s horror films flow to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a stair-step that optimizes both debut momentum and subscription bumps in the back half. Prime Video stitches together licensed films with world buys and limited cinema engagements when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in catalog discovery, using well-timed internal promotions, genre hubs, and curated rows to stretch the tail on aggregate take. Netflix plays opportunist about Netflix films and festival grabs, finalizing horror entries on shorter runways and staging as events arrivals with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a two-step of limited theatrical footprints and swift platform pivots that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to take on select projects with acclaimed directors or A-list packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation builds.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is steadily assembling 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 pitch is straightforward: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, upgraded for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a theatrical-first plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the autumn weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday dates to scale. That positioning has helped for prestige horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception allows. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using mini theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their audience.

Franchise entries versus originals

By share, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage household recognition. The concern, as ever, is viewer burnout. The standing approach is to pitch each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is elevating character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a Francophone tone from a rising filmmaker. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the deal build is known enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Recent comps frame the model. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that maintained windows did not obstruct a same-day experiment from delivering when the brand was compelling. In 2024, director-craft horror surged in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they shift POV and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters filmed in sequence, lets marketing to link the films through relationships and themes and to keep assets alive without hiatuses.

Creative tendencies and craft

The craft rooms behind the year’s horror foreshadow a continued tilt toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that elevates texture and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and medieval diction, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in feature stories and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a first look that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and gathers shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta-horror reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature execution and sets, which fit with convention activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel essential. Look for trailers that foreground pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that explode in larger rooms.

From winter to holidays

January is jammed. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid larger brand plays. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the spread of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth carries.

February through May tee up summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now nurtures 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 divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

August and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a peekaboo tease plan and limited information drops that lean on concept not plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card use.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s virtual companion mutates into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 Source faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

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 meet a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. 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 demanding boss scramble to survive on a isolated island as the power balance of power inverts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-forward 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 renewed take that returns the monster to chill, driven by Cronin’s in-camera craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 residential haunting tale that frames the panic through a youngster’s shifting point of view. Rating: TBA. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that skewers of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime obsessions. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 erupts, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further extends again, with a fresh family linked to residual nightmares. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: pending. Logline: A clean reboot designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival-core horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: undetermined. Production: advancing in development with date locked. 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: carefully shrouded. Rating: to be announced. Production: underway. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 fear. Rating: to be announced. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the moment is 2026

Three grounded forces organize this lineup. First, production that paused or recalendared in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and compressed 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 releases. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest turnkey scare beats from test screenings, select scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

A fourth factor is programming math. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, providing runway for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will compete across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

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

The surprise-hit pursuit 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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, 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 ratchet upward, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, sonics, and imagery 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 Is Well Positioned

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. imp source There is brand heft where it matters, filmmaker vision 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, cut sharp trailers, lock the reveals, and let the frights sell the seats.