Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons antediluvian malevolence, a chilling horror thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on major streaming services

This bone-chilling spiritual shockfest from writer / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an primeval curse when drifters become puppets in a dark game. Launching October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping narrative of survival and archaic horror that will reimagine scare flicks this cool-weather season. Crafted by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and emotionally thick thriller follows five young adults who emerge ensnared in a wooded cabin under the dark command of Kyra, a troubled woman overtaken by a ancient sacred-era entity. Ready yourself to be hooked by a motion picture outing that fuses bone-deep fear with legendary tales, coming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a enduring concept in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is redefined when the fiends no longer appear from beyond, but rather within themselves. This marks the grimmest element of every character. The result is a psychologically brutal cognitive warzone where the story becomes a unyielding tug-of-war between good and evil.


In a bleak forest, five souls find themselves confined under the unholy influence and haunting of a haunted spirit. As the youths becomes defenseless to reject her curse, stranded and tracked by creatures impossible to understand, they are driven to wrestle with their darkest emotions while the timeline ruthlessly moves toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia deepens and ties dissolve, pressuring each participant to doubt their values and the principle of volition itself. The tension rise with every tick, delivering a paranormal ride that intertwines mystical fear with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to uncover pure dread, an power older than civilization itself, filtering through our fears, and examining a evil that dismantles free will when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra needed manifesting something deeper than fear. She is clueless until the demon emerges, and that transition is shocking because it is so unshielded.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for public screening beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing audiences everywhere can dive into this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its first preview, which has garnered over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, taking the terror to fans of fear everywhere.


Tune in for this mind-warping voyage through terror. Confront *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to explore these nightmarish insights about free will.


For previews, set experiences, and news from behind the lens, follow @YACMovie across your favorite networks and visit the official movie site.





Current horror’s pivotal crossroads: 2025 in focus U.S. Slate interlaces archetypal-possession themes, signature indie scares, paired with brand-name tremors

Running from endurance-driven terror saturated with mythic scripture as well as returning series as well as keen independent perspectives, 2025 appears poised to be the most variegated paired with intentionally scheduled year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. leading studios lock in tentpoles using marquee IP, at the same time digital services crowd the fall with first-wave breakthroughs in concert with ancestral chills. In parallel, horror’s indie wing is drafting behind the tailwinds from a record 2024 festival run. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The fall stretch is the proving field, though in this cycle, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are methodical, and 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The top end is active. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal Pictures lights the fuse with an audacious swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, instead in a current-day frame. Steered by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. Slated for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Directed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer wanes, Warner’s schedule bows the concluding entry of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re boards, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: old school creep, trauma centered writing, and eerie supernatural logic. Here the stakes rise, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The continuation widens the legend, builds out the animatronic fear crew, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It books December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Digital Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a body horror chamber piece including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Also rising is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped 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 calculated bet. No bloated mythology. No series drag. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They are more runway than museum.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Heritage Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, with Francis Lawrence directing, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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

Dials to Watch

Ancient myth goes wide
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Cinemas are a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

What’s Next: Autumn density and winter pivot

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The coming 2026 spook lineup: installments, fresh concepts, paired with A jammed Calendar Built For chills

Dek The upcoming scare slate clusters early with a January crush, then extends through summer corridors, and well into the winter holidays, fusing brand equity, novel approaches, and smart counterweight. Major distributors and platforms are relying on right-sized spends, exclusive theatrical windows first, and influencer-ready assets that shape genre titles into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror momentum into 2026

Horror has become the most reliable lever in distribution calendars, a pillar that can expand when it clicks and still limit the drag when it stumbles. After 2023 reconfirmed for buyers that responsibly budgeted entries can galvanize pop culture, 2024 extended the rally with visionary-driven titles and unexpected risers. The carry carried into 2025, where legacy revivals and critical darlings demonstrated there is an opening for a variety of tones, from franchise continuations to non-IP projects that travel well. The takeaway for 2026 is a roster that seems notably aligned across the market, with clear date clusters, a combination of established brands and new concepts, and a renewed attention on exhibition windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium rental and home streaming.

Marketers add the space now slots in as a schedule utility on the distribution slate. The genre can premiere on almost any weekend, deliver a clear pitch for marketing and shorts, and punch above weight with demo groups that come out on advance nights and keep coming through the next pass if the film pays off. Following a production delay era, the 2026 rhythm signals certainty in that approach. The calendar rolls out with a stacked January schedule, then primes spring and early summer for counterweight, while carving room for a late-year stretch that runs into spooky season and afterwards. The schedule also includes the greater integration of indie distributors and home platforms that can platform a title, build word of mouth, and widen at the right moment.

A second macro trend is brand management across connected story worlds and heritage properties. Studio teams are not just rolling another chapter. They are working to present continuity with a occasion, whether that is a graphic identity that signals a reframed mood or a ensemble decision that links a upcoming film to a original cycle. At the simultaneously, the creative teams behind the most watched originals are favoring tactile craft, on-set effects and specific settings. That mix affords the 2026 slate a strong blend of home base and surprise, which is what works overseas.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount leads early with two centerpiece entries that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the spine, steering it as both a lineage transfer and a DNA-forward character-first story. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the authorial approach points to a throwback-friendly treatment without replaying the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Count on a promo wave stacked with recognizable motifs, first-look character reveals, and a promo sequence landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

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 creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will double down on. As a summer alternative, this one will build broad awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick redirects to whatever defines horror talk that spring.

Universal has three defined bets. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is straightforward, loss-driven, and high-concept: a grieving man activates an artificial companion that evolves into a killer companion. The date nudges it to the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s campaign likely to renew off-kilter promo beats and micro spots that blurs devotion and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a title reveal to become an PR pop closer to the first look. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. His projects are framed as must-see filmmaker statements, with a hinting teaser and a next wave of trailers that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor gives the studio room to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has proven that a blood-soaked, makeup-driven mix can feel premium on a middle budget. Frame it as a grime-caked summer horror blast that centers global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio launches two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, keeping a evergreen supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what the studio is marketing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both core fans and new audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign pieces around universe detail, and creature design, elements that can boost large-format demand and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by obsessive craft and period speech, this time orbiting lycan myth. The distributor has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is robust.

Platform lanes and windowing

Digital strategies for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s horror titles window into copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a cadence that optimizes both debut momentum and subscription bumps in the downstream. Prime Video stitches together licensed titles with cross-border buys and limited runs in theaters when the data backs it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library pulls, using in-app campaigns, holiday hubs, and curated rows to lengthen the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix plays opportunist about internal projects and festival snaps, slotting horror entries on shorter runways and turning into events drops with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a paired of tailored theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will prove important 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+ assesses case by case horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has been willing to pick up select projects with prestige directors or marquee packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for monthly engagement when the genre conversation swells.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 sequence with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is no-nonsense: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, elevated for modern soundscapes and visuals. 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 hinted a standard theatrical run for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the fall weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, managing the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the Christmas window to increase reach. That positioning has proved effective for elevated 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 typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception allows. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using boutique theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Brands and originals

By share, 2026 tips toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on fan equity. The challenge, as ever, is viewer burnout. The operating solution is to present each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is underscoring core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-accented approach from a ascendant talent. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the cast-creatives package is steady enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Past-three-year patterns illuminate the approach. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that respected streaming windows did not prevent a simultaneous release test from succeeding when the brand was robust. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror punched above its weight in PLF. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they rotate perspective and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to tie installments through cast and motif and to sustain campaign assets without dead zones.

Craft and creative trends

The craft rooms behind this slate suggest a continued emphasis on real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that foregrounds tone and tension rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in deep-dive features and guild coverage before rolling out a atmospheric tease that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and generates shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta reframe that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will win or lose on monster realization and design, which favor booth activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a audio More about the author craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel compelling. Look for trailers that accent razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that play in premium auditoriums.

Month-by-month map

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. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid larger brand plays. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the tonal variety gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Late winter and spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Shoulder season into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a early fall window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a slow-reveal plan and limited plot reveals that trade in this content concept over detail.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift card usage.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s intelligent companion mutates into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back 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 ventures 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: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: mood-led 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 severe boss battle to survive on a remote island as the power balance of power inverts and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

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 modern reconception that returns the monster to dread, driven by Cronin’s in-camera craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 piece that mediates the fear via a young child’s uneven inner lens. Rating: More about the author pending. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-supported and marquee-led ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that targets present-day genre chatter and true-crime obsessions. Rating: TBD. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further reopens, with a another family snared by old terrors. Rating: TBD. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A clean reboot designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: forthcoming. Production: continuing. 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 ancient menace. Rating: TBA. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. 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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 and why now

Three operational forces inform this lineup. First, production that eased or re-slotted in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and shorter 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, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on bite-size scare clips from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Calendar math also matters. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can lead a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will compete across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

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

The search for sleepers continues in Q1, where 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 harvest those lanes. 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, 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 beat and breadth. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, disciplined footprints, 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 grain, sound, 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, Lined Up To Scare

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand heft where it matters, auteur intent where it matters, 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, craft precise trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the frights sell the seats.