Age-old Dread returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding shocker, premiering October 2025 across major platforms

This terrifying mystic shockfest from scriptwriter / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an ancient malevolence when unfamiliar people become vehicles in a malevolent trial. Hitting screens on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish account of resistance and prehistoric entity that will alter the fear genre this Halloween season. Brought to life by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and moody motion picture follows five characters who come to stranded in a wilderness-bound house under the sinister influence of Kyra, a haunted figure inhabited by a ancient sacrosanct terror. Be prepared to be captivated by a motion picture journey that unites instinctive fear with mythic lore, hitting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a long-standing element in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is reimagined when the presences no longer manifest externally, but rather from their core. This illustrates the most primal facet of each of them. The result is a riveting psychological battle where the events becomes a intense battle between heaven and hell.


In a forsaken wilderness, five friends find themselves stuck under the evil influence and possession of a secretive person. As the ensemble becomes helpless to evade her manipulation, detached and hunted by creatures unimaginable, they are cornered to confront their soulful dreads while the clock unceasingly winds toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust surges and partnerships splinter, driving each soul to reflect on their values and the structure of independent thought itself. The hazard rise with every passing moment, delivering a cinematic nightmare that connects otherworldly panic with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to explore instinctual horror, an threat that existed before mankind, feeding on our fears, and highlighting a darkness that redefines identity when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra called for internalizing something beneath mortal despair. She is ignorant until the curse activates, and that conversion is emotionally raw because it is so private.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for on-demand beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—making sure streamers no matter where they are can get immersed in this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its original clip, which has racked up over a viral response.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, giving access to the movie to lovers of terror across nations.


Do not miss this cinematic exploration of dread. Face *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to explore these unholy truths about free will.


For previews, on-set glimpses, and press updates from behind the lens, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across platforms and visit youngandcursed.com.





Modern horror’s tipping point: 2025 for genre fans U.S. Slate melds ancient-possession motifs, art-house nightmares, together with series shake-ups

Moving from fight-to-live nightmare stories drawn from ancient scripture all the way to canon extensions paired with surgical indie voices, 2025 appears poised to be the most variegated and tactically planned year in ten years.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. Major studios set cornerstones through proven series, in tandem premium streamers stack the fall with unboxed visions plus ancient terrors. On the festival side, indie storytellers is riding the momentum of a peak 2024 circuit. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, notably this year, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are targeted, thus 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Premium genre swings back

The top end is active. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s schedule leads off the quarter with a bold swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, but a crisp modern milieu. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. dated for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. From director Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

When summer fades, the WB camp drops the final chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Although the framework is familiar, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Next is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re teams, and the memorable motifs return: old school creep, trauma explicitly handled, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This time, the stakes are raised, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The new chapter enriches the lore, stretches the animatronic parade, reaching teens and game grownups. It opens in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Offerings: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a room scale body horror descent featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It reads as sharp positioning. No heavy handed lore. No canon weight. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

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. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Series Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. 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, with Francis Lawrence directing, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

What to Watch

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror comes roaring back
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Laurels convert to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Outlook: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

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 grind for attention. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across 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 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 brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The forthcoming 2026 terror calendar year ahead: brand plays, filmmaker-first projects, paired with A stacked Calendar Built For frights

Dek: The brand-new horror cycle clusters immediately with a January cluster, thereafter flows through June and July, and running into the holidays, mixing name recognition, novel approaches, and well-timed release strategy. Studios and streamers are leaning into cost discipline, big-screen-first runs, and influencer-ready assets that frame genre titles into mainstream chatter.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This space has turned into the predictable move in studio calendars, a lane that can surge when it performs and still safeguard the risk when it misses. After 2023 proved to top brass that lean-budget fright engines can own mainstream conversation, 2024 kept energy high with visionary-driven titles and unexpected risers. The momentum extended into the 2025 frame, where reboots and festival-grade titles demonstrated there is a lane for different modes, from brand follow-ups to fresh IP that travel well. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a slate that looks unusually coordinated across the major shops, with strategic blocks, a equilibrium of legacy names and original hooks, and a tightened attention on release windows that fuel later windows on premium digital and platforms.

Buyers contend the space now slots in as a utility player on the rollout map. Horror can launch on almost any weekend, yield a easy sell for promo reels and platform-native cuts, and punch above weight with demo groups that turn out on Thursday nights and continue through the week two if the entry works. Post a work stoppage lag, the 2026 mapping indicates comfort in that dynamic. The year starts with a weighty January band, then exploits spring through early summer for counterprogramming, while making space for a fall cadence that connects to the Halloween frame and afterwards. The schedule also reflects the expanded integration of arthouse labels and streaming partners that can stage a platform run, ignite recommendations, and scale up at the optimal moment.

A reinforcing pattern is brand management across linked properties and storied titles. Studios are not just mounting another entry. They are aiming to frame lore continuity with a specialness, whether that is a brandmark that broadcasts a recalibrated tone or a talent selection that connects a incoming chapter to a foundational era. At the alongside this, the visionaries behind the headline-grabbing originals are celebrating tactile craft, physical gags and specific settings. That blend yields 2026 a lively combination of home base and shock, which is why the genre exports well.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount leads early with two headline plays 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 spine, steering it as both a baton pass and a origin-leaning character-forward chapter. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the tonal posture signals a roots-evoking angle without going over the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Look for a marketing run driven by classic imagery, first images of characters, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm landing toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also reignites 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 linchpin the campaign will play up. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will go after wide appeal through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format allowing quick switches to whatever tops the conversation that spring.

Universal has three separate plays. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is efficient, soulful, and commercial: a grieving man purchases an intelligent companion that grows into a killer companion. The date places it at the front of a thick month, with the Universal machine likely to replay viral uncanny stunts and brief clips that blurs affection and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under early labels 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 name unveil to become an attention spike closer to the opening teaser. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. His projects are presented as event films, with a mystery-first teaser and a subsequent trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The spooky-season slot gives Universal room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has shown that a in-your-face, on-set effects led method can feel cinematic on a lean spend. Position this as a hard-R summer horror jolt that emphasizes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio lines up two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, maintaining a consistent supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is framing as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both core fans and newcomers. The fall slot provides the studio time to build materials around lore, and creature work, elements that can boost IMAX and PLF uptake and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets 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 centered on obsessive craft and archaic language, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is favorable.

Where the platforms fit in

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s genre entries land on copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a structure that elevates both initial urgency and sign-up spikes in the back half. Prime Video combines acquired titles with worldwide buys and short theatrical plays when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in back-catalog play, using seasonal hubs, horror hubs, and handpicked rows to extend momentum on the annual genre haul. Netflix retains agility about Netflix originals and festival grabs, finalizing horror entries on shorter runways and turning into events rollouts with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a tiered of targeted cinema placements and swift platform pivots that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown a willingness to pick up select projects with name filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation surges.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is curating a 2026 runway with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is no-nonsense: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, refined for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a theatrical-first plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the late stretch.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday frame to go wider. That positioning has been successful for filmmaker-first horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception drives. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using precision theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Known brands versus new stories

By weight, 2026 leans in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap fan equity. The concern, as ever, is diminishing returns. The workable fix is to position each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is foregrounding character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a continental coloration from a rising filmmaker. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and director-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, sets Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the cast-creatives package is steady enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

The last three-year set announce the template. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that kept clean windows did not foreclose a same-day experiment from winning when the brand was compelling. In 2024, director-craft horror rose in premium screens. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they change perspective and stretch the story. 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 paired-chapter approach, with chapters shot back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to link the films through relationships and themes and to keep assets alive without doldrums.

Behind-the-camera trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind this year’s genre point to a continued shift toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that highlights grain and menace rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in long-lead press and craft features before rolling out a first look that withholds plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and earns shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a self-aware reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature craft and set design, which align with fan conventions and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel definitive. Look for trailers that center fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that explode in larger rooms.

Month-by-month map

January is crowded. 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 macro-brand pushes. The month finishes 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 creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth endures.

Post-January through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining Check This Out horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

August and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a slow-reveal plan and limited advance reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift card usage.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s intelligent companion escalates into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography 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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-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 heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: fog-and-fear adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her prickly boss struggle to survive on a remote island as the control balance swivels and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to nightmare, driven by Cronin’s tactile craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting story that routes the horror through a preteen’s wavering subjective view. Rating: forthcoming. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A genre lampoon that pokes at today’s horror trends and true-crime buzz. Rating: pending. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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 spreads, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further opens again, with a fresh family bound to ancient dread. Rating: pending. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: pending. Logline: A new start designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on true survival horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: pending. Production: active. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and ancient menace. Rating: TBA. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why this year, why now

Three execution-level forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or migrated in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming placements. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate shareable moments from test screenings, metered scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Calendar math also matters. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can command a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will cluster across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 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 work those windows. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, 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 build month to month, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, audio design, and picture that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is franchise muscle where it helps, fresh vision 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, keep the secrets, and let the gasps sell the seats.