Primordial Dread returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling horror thriller, debuting October 2025 across global platforms

An eerie occult nightmare movie from storyteller / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an forgotten dread when newcomers become victims in a cursed ordeal. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching journey of staying alive and primordial malevolence that will reimagine genre cinema this harvest season. Brought to life by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and tone-heavy feature follows five young adults who wake up stuck in a remote hideaway under the malevolent grip of Kyra, a young woman claimed by a time-worn sacred-era entity. Anticipate to be drawn in by a motion picture journey that harmonizes visceral dread with spiritual backstory, arriving on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a historical fixture in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is radically shifted when the monsters no longer develop from an outside force, but rather internally. This mirrors the most hidden part of all involved. The result is a psychologically brutal mental war where the drama becomes a perpetual struggle between virtue and vice.


In a remote forest, five adults find themselves confined under the evil effect and grasp of a obscure spirit. As the protagonists becomes helpless to oppose her curse, detached and attacked by beings mind-shattering, they are thrust to deal with their raw vulnerabilities while the doomsday meter coldly pushes forward toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust deepens and ties erode, urging each individual to contemplate their personhood and the concept of free will itself. The hazard rise with every short lapse, delivering a nightmarish journey that harmonizes occult fear with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to extract ancestral fear, an curse that predates humanity, feeding on our fears, and testing a spirit that tests the soul when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra meant evoking something past sanity. She is clueless until the spirit seizes her, and that change is harrowing because it is so personal.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for horror fans beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—offering subscribers no matter where they are can get immersed in this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its initial teaser, which has seen over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, offering the tale to horror fans worldwide.


Join this unforgettable ride through nightmares. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to experience these unholy truths about the soul.


For exclusive trailers, director cuts, and promotions from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across fan hubs and visit youngandcursed.com.





The horror genre’s inflection point: 2025 U.S. calendar weaves biblical-possession ideas, festival-born jolts, alongside brand-name tremors

Running from last-stand terror steeped in old testament echoes and including franchise returns as well as keen independent perspectives, 2025 appears poised to be the genre’s most multifaceted combined with intentionally scheduled year in a decade.

Call it full, but it is also focused. Major studios set cornerstones via recognizable brands, concurrently subscription platforms stack the fall with unboxed visions in concert with mythic dread. On the festival side, horror’s indie wing is catching the backdraft of 2024’s record festival wave. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, yet in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are methodical, therefore 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: High-craft horror returns

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 set the base, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s slate opens the year with a confident swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. arriving mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Eli Craig directs starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer wanes, the Warner Bros. banner launches the swan song from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray 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 arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re engages, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: vintage toned fear, trauma in the foreground, with spooky supernatural reasoning. 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 property whose brand does the lifting. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, courting teens and the thirty something base. It posts in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streamer Exclusives: Tight funds, wide impact

While theaters lean on names and sequels, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger 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 looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a room scale body horror descent led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is destined for a fall landing.

On the docket is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Scripted and led 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 dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. 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.

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 clever angle. No heavy handed lore. No continuity burden. 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.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Long Running Lines: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, from Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

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.

Emerging Currents

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror comes roaring back
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Laurels convert to leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Big screen is a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

What’s Next: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

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 have to fight for oxygen. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The new fear Year Ahead: returning titles, filmmaker-first projects, together with A Crowded Calendar optimized for jolts

Dek The fresh genre calendar loads from day one with a January cluster, following that carries through peak season, and carrying into the festive period, balancing series momentum, new concepts, and well-timed calendar placement. The big buyers and platforms are committing to right-sized spends, box-office-first windows, and buzz-forward plans that shape horror entries into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror momentum into 2026

Horror filmmaking has established itself as the bankable swing in studio slates, a corner that can break out when it connects and still hedge the drag when it under-delivers. After 2023 signaled to strategy teams that lean-budget shockers can dominate social chatter, 2024 kept energy high with signature-voice projects and word-of-mouth wins. The carry fed into 2025, where reawakened brands and elevated films signaled there is space for many shades, from series extensions to fresh IP that export nicely. The end result for the 2026 slate is a lineup that shows rare alignment across distributors, with strategic blocks, a spread of familiar brands and untested plays, and a sharpened focus on exclusive windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium video on demand and home platforms.

Schedulers say the horror lane now works like a wildcard on the release plan. Horror can launch on virtually any date, deliver a grabby hook for teasers and reels, and outperform with audiences that respond on previews Thursday and sustain through the week two if the movie hits. After a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 cadence telegraphs conviction in that model. The slate opens with a crowded January window, then targets spring into early summer for audience offsets, while keeping space for a September to October window that runs into Halloween and beyond. The program also reflects the continuing integration of indie distributors and digital platforms that can platform a title, fuel WOM, and go nationwide at the strategic time.

A parallel macro theme is IP stewardship across brand ecosystems and veteran brands. Studio teams are not just rolling another installment. They are aiming to frame lore continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a brandmark that announces a new vibe or a casting pivot that binds a fresh chapter to a vintage era. At the parallel to that, the auteurs behind the most watched originals are this content favoring real-world builds, in-camera effects and place-driven backdrops. That fusion affords the 2026 slate a vital pairing of brand comfort and discovery, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount defines the early cadence with two prominent projects 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 focus, presenting it as both a relay and a back-to-basics character piece. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance suggests a fan-service aware treatment without retreading the last two entries’ family thread. Watch for a push centered on signature symbols, early character teases, and a tiered teaser plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

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 as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will play up. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will hunt mass reach through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format inviting quick switches to whatever tops pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three differentiated entries. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is elegant, heartbroken, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man adopts an AI companion that mutates into a murderous partner. The date slots it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s team likely to renew eerie street stunts and snackable content that melds longing and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be 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 leaves room for a official title to become an event moment closer to the first look. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. His projects are marketed as director events, with a hinting teaser and a later creative that signal tone without plot the concept. The prime October weekend creates space for Universal to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has proven that a in-your-face, prosthetic-heavy style can feel prestige on a moderate cost. Expect a grime-caked summer horror shock that maximizes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio places two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, holding a evergreen supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is presenting as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both franchise faithful and novices. The fall slot hands Sony window to build promo materials around canon, and practical creature work, elements that can amplify premium screens and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places 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 grounded in minute detail and textual fidelity, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus Features has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is strong.

Digital platform strategies

Platform tactics for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal titles flow to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a structure that optimizes both first-week urgency and platform bumps in the after-window. Prime Video balances library titles with world buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library pulls, using featured rows, seasonal hubs, and staff picks to prolong the run on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix stays opportunistic about originals and festival deals, scheduling horror entries on shorter runways and turning into events rollouts with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a laddered of precision theatrical plays and quick platforming that translates talk to trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has proven amenable to take on select projects with accomplished filmmakers or marquee packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for retention when the genre conversation swells.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is curating a 2026 slate 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 angle is uncomplicated: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, elevated for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the back half.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday frame to increase reach. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-driven genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception merits. Do not be surprised by 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 hand in hand, using targeted theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their community.

Franchise entries versus originals

By weight, the 2026 slate favors the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate name recognition. The watch-out, as ever, is viewer burnout. The pragmatic answer is to frame each entry as a new angle. Paramount is spotlighting core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French sensibility from a emerging director. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a survival shocker premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the configuration is anchored enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Three-year comps frame the approach. In 2023, a exclusive window model that preserved streaming windows did not preclude a simultaneous release test from winning when the brand was robust. In 2024, director-craft horror over-performed in large-format rooms. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they pivot perspective and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to tie installments through character web and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without pause points.

Creative tendencies and craft

The creative meetings behind 2026 horror indicate a continued move toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that spotlights mood and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and era-correct language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in trade spotlights and artisan spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and produces shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a self-referential reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster work and world-building, which lend themselves to fan conventions and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel necessary. Look for trailers that spotlight hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that sing on PLF.

The schedule at a glance

January is busy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid big-brand pushes. The month concludes 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 serious, but the variety 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 load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds 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 comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans franchise. 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 pre-October slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited disclosures that center concept over reveals.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can play the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and holiday card usage.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s artificial companion becomes something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot 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 collide with a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 hard-edged boss try to survive on a desolate island as the hierarchy tilts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to chill, built on Cronin’s practical effects and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting scenario that explores the terror of a child’s uncertain POV. Rating: TBA. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A parody return that targets in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime buzz. Rating: TBA. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 flares, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a different family snared by old terrors. Rating: pending. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on classic survival-horror tone over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: undetermined. Production: continuing. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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 historical diction and primordial menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why the moment is 2026

Three nuts-and-bolts forces drive this lineup. First, production that decelerated or reshuffled in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous 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 debuts. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

The slot calculus is real. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, making room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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 stealth-hit search 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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run 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 wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, acoustics, and visual design 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

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is franchise muscle where it helps, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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 late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, lock the reveals, and let the shocks sell the seats.