Antediluvian Evil returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling supernatural thriller, debuting Oct 2025 across premium platforms

One unnerving otherworldly thriller from literary architect / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an mythic malevolence when unfamiliar people become pawns in a malevolent ritual. Going live this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing narrative of perseverance and archaic horror that will transform terror storytelling this spooky time. Brought to life by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and shadowy film follows five figures who awaken confined in a isolated shack under the sinister influence of Kyra, a possessed female consumed by a ancient scriptural evil. Prepare to be captivated by a immersive presentation that intertwines raw fear with mythic lore, hitting 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 time-honored fixture in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is flipped when the spirits no longer descend from an outside force, but rather deep within. This embodies the most hidden corner of all involved. The result is a psychologically brutal mental war where the plotline becomes a ongoing contest between good and evil.


In a remote woodland, five youths find themselves caught under the malevolent dominion and overtake of a enigmatic entity. As the ensemble becomes helpless to break her curse, exiled and tormented by spirits unnamable, they are compelled to encounter their soulful dreads while the moments brutally moves toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion mounts and partnerships disintegrate, urging each person to contemplate their existence and the idea of self-determination itself. The risk mount with every instant, delivering a chilling narrative that connects otherworldly panic with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to awaken elemental fright, an presence beyond time, channeling itself through our fears, and testing a power that redefines identity when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra was about accessing something far beyond human desperation. She is insensitive until the haunting manifests, and that pivot is gut-wrenching because it is so close.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for streaming beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—ensuring users everywhere can be part of this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its original promo, which has received over massive response.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, spreading the horror to scare fans abroad.


Join this gripping trip into the unknown. Face *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to see these chilling revelations about the soul.


For bonus footage, set experiences, and reveals from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursed across Facebook and TikTok and visit the official website.





Horror’s sea change: 2025 for genre fans U.S. lineup melds primeval-possession lore, festival-born jolts, stacked beside returning-series thunder

Ranging from grit-forward survival fare drawn from near-Eastern lore as well as franchise returns paired with pointed art-house angles, 2025 is shaping up as the genre’s most multifaceted and calculated campaign year since the mid-2010s.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. studio powerhouses stabilize the year with known properties, concurrently streaming platforms prime the fall with discovery plays plus mythic dread. On another front, the artisan tier is carried on the kinetic energy of a banner 2024 fest year. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, and in 2025, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are precise, hence 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

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

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

Universal’s pipeline fires the first shot with a headline swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in a modern-day environment. Directed by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. Booked into mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Led by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

At summer’s close, Warner’s schedule rolls out the capstone inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: throwback unease, trauma as text, and a cold supernatural calculus. This time the stakes climb, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It drops in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

SVOD Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While theaters lean on names and sequels, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a tight space body horror vignette pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. 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.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It reads as sharp positioning. No bloated mythology. No sequel clutter. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just 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 thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Series Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, from Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

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

Trend Lines

Mythic currents go mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror retakes ground
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Forward View: Fall crush plus winter X factor

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 like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

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 aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The new spook release year: follow-ups, new stories, And A stacked Calendar tailored for screams

Dek The incoming terror slate loads immediately with a January bottleneck, after that carries through summer corridors, and carrying into the holiday frame, blending brand heft, inventive spins, and savvy counter-scheduling. Studios with streamers are focusing on smart costs, theater-first strategies, and social-fueled campaigns that turn the slate’s entries into mainstream chatter.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The field has shown itself to be the steady tool in programming grids, a pillar that can scale when it hits and still insulate the risk when it doesn’t. After 2023 reminded executives that lean-budget chillers can command the national conversation, the following year kept energy high with buzzy auteur projects and sleeper breakouts. The energy flowed into the 2025 frame, where reboots and elevated films underscored there is a market for many shades, from franchise continuations to one-and-done originals that scale internationally. The result for the 2026 slate is a lineup that feels more orchestrated than usual across companies, with intentional bunching, a combination of marquee IP and untested plays, and a renewed eye on theatrical windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium digital and platforms.

Schedulers say the space now serves as a versatile piece on the programming map. Horror can open on numerous frames, create a easy sell for promo reels and UGC-friendly snippets, and lead with ticket buyers that appear on first-look nights and stay strong through the subsequent weekend if the entry connects. Post a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 setup exhibits trust in that logic. The calendar launches with a busy January corridor, then turns to spring and early summer for contrast, while saving space for a autumn stretch that runs into the Halloween corridor and past the holiday. The map also reflects the greater integration of indie arms and SVOD players that can platform a title, stoke social talk, and move wide at the right moment.

A notable top-line trend is IP cultivation across ongoing universes and established properties. The studios are not just releasing another next film. They are shaping as lore continuity with a occasion, whether that is a title design that signals a new vibe or a lead change that ties a next film to a initial period. At the concurrently, the visionaries behind the headline-grabbing originals are favoring material texture, real effects and specific settings. That combination produces 2026 a confident blend of home base and shock, which is how the films export.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount marks the early tempo with two spotlight pushes that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the center, angling it as both a lineage transfer and a DNA-forward character-centered film. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the authorial approach signals a heritage-honoring mode without retreading the last two entries’ sisters storyline. A campaign is expected stacked with signature symbols, intro reveals, and a promo sequence landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will play up. As a summer counter-slot, this one will hunt four-quadrant chatter through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format inviting quick pivots to whatever drives the conversation that spring.

Universal has three separate plays. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is elegant, heartbroken, and commercial: a grieving man installs an artificial companion that escalates into a dangerous lover. The date sets it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with the Universal machine likely to mirror strange in-person beats and short-form creative that blurs companionship and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a official title to become an attention spike closer to the teaser. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele titles are treated as signature events, with a opaque teaser and a second beat that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The late-month date allows Universal to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press 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 leads, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has proven that a tactile, practical-first style can feel premium on a mid-range budget. Position this as a viscera-heavy summer horror rush that pushes overseas performance, with my review here Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio lines up two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, continuing a reliable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is selling as a new foundation 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 explicit mandate to serve both diehards and newcomers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build artifacts around environmental design, and monster craft, elements that can accelerate format premiums and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in historical precision and archaic language, this time focused on werewolf legend. The company has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is positive.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Digital strategies for 2026 run on proven patterns. The studio’s horror films shift to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a cadence that optimizes both premiere heat and sign-up spikes in the later phase. Prime Video pairs catalogue additions with global originals and targeted theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library engagement, using curated hubs, holiday hubs, and handpicked rows to increase tail value on aggregate take. Netflix remains opportunistic about internal projects and festival grabs, locking in horror entries near launch and elevating as drops go-lives with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a one-two of limited theatrical footprints and prompt platform moves that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has shown appetite to purchase select projects with accomplished filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming have a peek here drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation heats up.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 arc with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is straightforward: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, updated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has suggested a cinema-first plan for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the late-season weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday corridor to open out. That positioning has paid off for elevated genre with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception prompts. Plan on 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 as partners, using small theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their audience.

Franchise entries versus originals

By share, 2026 leans toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on fan equity. The challenge, as ever, is viewer burnout. The preferred tactic is to market each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is spotlighting character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is promising a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a European tilt from a fresh helmer. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects keep oxygen in the system. 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, features Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the cast-creatives package is grounded enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and preview-night turnout.

Comparable trends from recent years outline the model. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that honored streaming windows did not preclude a parallel release from thriving when the brand was big. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror surged in large-format rooms. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they pivot perspective and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, provides the means for marketing to connect the chapters through character spine and themes and to leave creative active without hiatuses.

How the films are being made

The filmmaking conversations behind these films suggest a continued turn toward hands-on, location-grounded 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 sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that emphasizes atmosphere and fear rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in craft journalism and department features before rolling out a tone piece that keeps plot minimal, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and generates shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a self-aware reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature execution and sets, which fit with fan-con activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel necessary. Look for trailers that spotlight pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in big rooms.

How the year maps out

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 moody palate cleanser amid bigger brand plays. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the range of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth carries.

Late Q1 and spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now can handle 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 clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. 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 cycled through premium screens.

Late-season stretch leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a transitional slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited information drops that trade in concept over detail.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then using 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 extend in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card spend.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s digital partner unfolds into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises 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 goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical 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 tough boss battle to survive on a cut-off island as the chain of command inverts and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-front survival film 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 horror, shaped by Cronin’s tactile craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal 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 home-set haunting chiller that routes the horror through a preteen’s flickering personal vantage. Rating: forthcoming. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural 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 comic send-up that lampoons today’s horror trends and true-crime crazes. Rating: TBD. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 ignites, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new family bound to older hauntings. Rating: TBD. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A reboot designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on true survival horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: not yet rated. Production: proceeding. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and raw menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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 shifting, fall likely.

Why the moment is 2026

Three execution-level forces organize this lineup. First, production that slowed or recalendared in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and shorter 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 generated more than straight-to-streaming landings. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work meme-ready beats from test screenings, curated scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Another factor is the scheduling math. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will stack across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can exploit 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 live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where lower and mid-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience journey through 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 reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two 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 wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, sound, 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

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand heft where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. The awards check my blog 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, protect the mystery, and let the frights sell the seats.