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

A unnerving spiritual horror tale from author / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an primeval evil when unfamiliar people become pawns in a satanic trial. Airings begin this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching account of overcoming and age-old darkness that will alter genre cinema this spooky time. Brought to life by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and shadowy story follows five young adults who find themselves ensnared in a wooded structure under the malignant command of Kyra, a female presence claimed by a legendary Old Testament spirit. Anticipate to be ensnared by a visual ride that melds bone-deep fear with ancient myths, streaming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a long-standing foundation in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is turned on its head when the fiends no longer arise externally, but rather within themselves. This echoes the malevolent element of the protagonists. The result is a edge-of-seat mental war where the conflict becomes a constant struggle between purity and corruption.


In a abandoned no-man's-land, five characters find themselves confined under the unholy rule and spiritual invasion of a unidentified person. As the characters becomes incapacitated to resist her influence, abandoned and chased by beings indescribable, they are made to stand before their soulful dreads while the doomsday meter brutally edges forward toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion rises and bonds collapse, pressuring each cast member to reflect on their existence and the concept of liberty itself. The pressure surge with every instant, delivering a chilling narrative that blends spiritual fright with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to evoke raw dread, an force from ancient eras, embedding itself in psychological breaks, and challenging a power that erodes the self when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra needed manifesting something more primal than sorrow. She is uninformed until the demon emerges, and that change is harrowing because it is so private.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for on-demand beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing subscribers globally can dive into this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its intro video, which has garnered over six-figure audience.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, spreading the horror to viewers around the world.


Experience this bone-rattling descent into darkness. Join *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to witness these fearful discoveries about inner darkness.


For bonus footage, director cuts, and reveals from the cast and crew, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across Instagram and Twitter and visit the movie’s homepage.





Contemporary horror’s major pivot: 2025 U.S. release slate braids together legend-infused possession, festival-born jolts, alongside IP aftershocks

Kicking off with endurance-driven terror saturated with legendary theology and onward to IP renewals together with pointed art-house angles, 2025 is lining up as the richest plus tactically planned year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. the big studios are anchoring the year by way of signature titles, even as OTT services crowd the fall with new perspectives as well as old-world menace. At the same time, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is drafting behind the kinetic energy from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Since Halloween is the prized date, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, and now, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are disciplined, which means 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Elevated fear reclaims ground

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s pipeline begins the calendar with an audacious swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, but a sharp contemporary setting. Under director Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Booked into mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Helmed by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

At summer’s close, the WB camp drops the final chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson re teams, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: period tinged dread, trauma in the foreground, and a cold supernatural calculus. The stakes escalate here, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The continuation widens the legend, builds out the animatronic fear crew, bridging teens and legacy players. It posts in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streaming Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a room scale body horror descent featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is virtually assured for fall.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is a smart play. No puffed out backstory. No legacy baggage. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, from Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

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

Trend Lines

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror resurges
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The new genre slate: brand plays, Originals, and also A busy Calendar optimized for screams

Dek The arriving scare slate builds immediately with a January glut, following that runs through summer corridors, and continuing into the winter holidays, marrying franchise firepower, creative pitches, and well-timed alternatives. The major players are relying on smart costs, big-screen-first runs, and platform-native promos that convert these releases into water-cooler talk.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror has grown into the steady option in studio lineups, a segment that can accelerate when it performs and still limit the floor when it under-delivers. After 2023 reassured executives that responsibly budgeted horror vehicles can drive the zeitgeist, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with signature-voice projects and under-the-radar smashes. The upswing moved into 2025, where revivals and prestige plays underscored there is an opening for a variety of tones, from franchise continuations to one-and-done originals that carry overseas. The result for 2026 is a slate that shows rare alignment across the market, with mapped-out bands, a mix of marquee IP and new pitches, and a re-energized emphasis on exhibition windows that feed downstream value on premium video on demand and SVOD.

Studio leaders note the horror lane now performs as a fill-in ace on the schedule. The genre can arrive on most weekends, offer a quick sell for promo reels and TikTok spots, and lead with demo groups that respond on preview nights and hold through the second frame if the offering satisfies. In the wake of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 setup exhibits faith in that engine. The year gets underway with a busy January block, then primes spring and early summer for audience offsets, while clearing room for a fall corridor that stretches into the fright window and afterwards. The layout also shows the greater integration of specialty distributors and subscription services that can platform and widen, stoke social talk, and widen at the sweet spot.

A parallel macro theme is brand strategy across brand ecosystems and storied titles. The players are not just pushing another chapter. They are seeking to position story carry-over with a specialness, whether that is a title design that signals a new vibe or a star attachment that connects a fresh chapter to a vintage era. At the alongside this, the creative leads behind the most buzzed-about originals are returning to material texture, in-camera effects and vivid settings. That interplay offers the 2026 slate a healthy mix of known notes and discovery, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount fires first with two spotlight plays that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the center, marketing it as both a passing of the torch and a heritage-centered character-focused installment. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture telegraphs a memory-charged treatment without going over the see here last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign leaning on heritage visuals, first-look character reveals, and a trailer cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will lean on. As a summer relief option, this one will pursue wide buzz through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format enabling quick reframes to whatever shapes horror talk that spring.

Universal has three discrete strategies. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is straightforward, tragic, and commercial: a grieving man implements an intelligent companion that becomes a murderous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a stacked January, with marketing at Universal likely to iterate on viral uncanny stunts and short-form creative that blurs affection and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a title drop to become an earned moment closer to the initial promo. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. His entries are marketed as signature events, with a mystery-first teaser and a later trailer push that signal tone without plot the concept. The late-month date gives Universal room to own 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, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has established that a raw, hands-on effects execution can feel top-tier on a moderate cost. Look for a red-band summer horror surge that leans hard into overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio mounts two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, extending a steady supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is presenting as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both longtime followers and first-timers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build campaign creative around universe detail, and monster design, elements that can increase deluxe auditorium demand and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in textural authenticity and historical speech, this time focused on werewolf legend. The imprint has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is supportive.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s genre slate transition to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a stair-step that expands both launch urgency and sign-up momentum in the downstream. Prime Video interleaves library titles with worldwide entries and short theatrical plays when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in deep cuts, using well-timed internal promotions, October hubs, and programmed rows to lengthen the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix plays opportunist about Netflix originals and festival additions, confirming horror entries closer to drop and eventizing drops with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a tiered of precision releases and accelerated platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has signaled readiness to pick up select projects with acclaimed directors movies or star-led packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation surges.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 lane with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is direct: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, recalibrated for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a standard theatrical run for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the autumn weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through select festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday slot to broaden. That positioning has served the company well for arthouse horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception warrants. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using limited theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their subs.

Franchises versus originals

By share, 2026 bends toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on cultural cachet. The question, as ever, is overexposure. The operating solution is to sell each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is centering character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-flavored turn from a buzzed-about director. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the assembly is steady enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Rolling three-year comps help explain the approach. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that preserved streaming windows did not stop a hybrid test from paying off when the brand was sticky. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror over-performed in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they change perspective and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to tie installments through cast and motif and to sustain campaign assets without long breaks.

Creative tendencies and craft

The shop talk behind 2026 horror forecast a continued bias toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that spotlights tone and tension rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in feature stories and craft coverage before rolling out a initial teaser that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On his comment is here the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for red-band excess, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and generates shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta recalibration that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster aesthetics and world-building, which lend themselves to convention floor stunts and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel primary. Look for trailers that highlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that land in premium houses.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is crowded. 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 big-brand pushes. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the menu of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Pre-summer months build the summer base. Scream 7 lands February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

End of summer through fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a early fall window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited disclosures that favor idea over plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card redemption.

One-sentence dossiers

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s digital partner mutates into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

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 shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: tone-first 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 hard-edged boss fight to survive on a lonely island as the control dynamic upends and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

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 vision that returns the monster to fright, based on Cronin’s in-camera craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting piece that leverages the dread of a child’s shaky impressions. Rating: not yet rated. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed and toplined 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 spoof revival that teases hot-button genre motifs and true-crime buzz. Rating: not yet rated. 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 multinational 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: TBA. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a different family entangled with older hauntings. Rating: pending. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

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 focus on survival-first horror 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: awaiting confirmation. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: not yet rated. 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 period language and bone-deep menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. 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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026, why now

Three operational forces inform this lineup. First, production that downshifted or re-sequenced in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined 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 amplify meme-ready beats from test screenings, precision scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Calendar math also matters. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, making room for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will jostle across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where modest-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first 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. 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 cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, 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 stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, efficient screen counts, 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 detail, soundcraft, and framing 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, Ready To Roar

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand power where it counts, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the shudders sell the seats.