Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases antediluvian malevolence, a nightmare fueled horror thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on top streamers

A bone-chilling supernatural nightmare movie from writer / director Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an primordial dread when outsiders become victims in a devilish maze. Hitting screens on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing account of survival and age-old darkness that will alter horror this scare season. Helmed by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and atmospheric feature follows five young adults who wake up locked in a wilderness-bound cabin under the menacing power of Kyra, a female presence overtaken by a ancient Old Testament spirit. Steel yourself to be enthralled by a theatrical ride that fuses instinctive fear with ancestral stories, unleashing 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 classic theme in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is twisted when the spirits no longer come beyond the self, but rather from their psyche. This marks the most terrifying dimension of the players. The result is a intense cognitive warzone where the events becomes a relentless push-pull between innocence and sin.


In a forsaken natural abyss, five campers find themselves contained under the sinister influence and curse of a mysterious apparition. As the victims becomes defenseless to fight her rule, marooned and tormented by entities ungraspable, they are obligated to confront their emotional phantoms while the hours unforgivingly counts down toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety builds and links implode, pressuring each character to challenge their self and the nature of autonomy itself. The intensity magnify with every tick, delivering a cinematic nightmare that combines supernatural terror with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to explore deep fear, an malevolence before modern man, feeding on mental cracks, and highlighting a force that peels away humanity when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra meant channeling something past sanity. She is in denial until the invasion happens, and that pivot is shocking because it is so raw.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for worldwide release beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing streamers around the globe can watch this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its original clip, which has garnered over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, delivering the story to lovers of terror across nations.


Make sure to see this visceral ride through nightmares. Experience *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to survive these terrifying truths about the psyche.


For previews, on-set glimpses, and reveals from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YACMovie across Instagram and Twitter and visit the official digital haunt.





Horror’s tipping point: the 2025 cycle stateside slate fuses myth-forward possession, festival-born jolts, in parallel with series shake-ups

Spanning pressure-cooker survival tales steeped in ancient scripture as well as series comebacks and acutely observed indies, 2025 stands to become the most textured paired with deliberate year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. studio powerhouses bookend the months by way of signature titles, at the same time OTT services load up the fall with first-wave breakthroughs set against archetypal fear. On another front, independent banners is fueled by the tailwinds from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween stays the prime week, the other windows are mapped with care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are methodical, which means 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Elevated fear reclaims ground

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s distribution arm lights the fuse with a bold swing: a modernized Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, but a sharp contemporary setting. Steered by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. dated for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Directed by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Initial heat flags it as potent.

At summer’s close, Warner Bros. Pictures sets loose the finale within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Scott Derrickson again directs, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: 70s style chill, trauma in the foreground, and a cold supernatural calculus. This time the stakes climb, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, thickens the animatronic pantheon, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It opens in December, buttoning the final window.

Streamer Exclusives: Low budgets, big teeth

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a two hander body horror spiral starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn starring Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, 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 threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

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 looks like sharp programming. No overinflated mythology. No series drag. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. 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, guided by 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.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Dials to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
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 reemerges
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Season Ahead: Fall crush plus winter X factor

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. 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. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The new genre season: Sequels, original films, alongside A packed Calendar geared toward goosebumps

Dek: The incoming terror year clusters early with a January bottleneck, and then rolls through summer corridors, and deep into the December corridor, fusing IP strength, untold stories, and data-minded alternatives. Studios with streamers are leaning into cost discipline, cinema-first plans, and influencer-ready assets that shape these releases into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The field has emerged as the most reliable counterweight in programming grids, a lane that can expand when it performs and still buffer the downside when it fails to connect. After 2023 reassured greenlighters that low-to-mid budget chillers can own the national conversation, the following year held pace with director-led heat and quiet over-performers. The momentum translated to the 2025 frame, where reboots and awards-minded projects made clear there is room for diverse approaches, from series extensions to original features that export nicely. The sum for the 2026 slate is a roster that appears tightly organized across the major shops, with clear date clusters, a blend of legacy names and new packages, and a tightened focus on exclusive windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium home window and digital services.

Distribution heads claim the category now acts as a flex slot on the slate. The genre can premiere on numerous frames, furnish a grabby hook for spots and short-form placements, and lead with audiences that lean in on Thursday nights and stay strong through the follow-up frame if the film pays off. After a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 plan reflects trust in that playbook. The calendar gets underway with a stacked January stretch, then targets spring into early summer for alternate plays, while clearing room for a fall corridor that pushes into the Halloween corridor and into early November. The map also spotlights the continuing integration of arthouse labels and digital platforms that can launch in limited release, build word of mouth, and expand at the timely point.

A further high-level trend is IP cultivation across interlocking continuities and storied titles. The players are not just producing another installment. They are aiming to frame connection with a headline quality, whether that is a title presentation that indicates a recalibrated tone or a casting move that binds a new installment to a foundational era. At the concurrently, the creative teams behind the most watched originals are championing physical effects work, special makeup and grounded locations. That combination delivers 2026 a smart balance of assurance and newness, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount plants an early flag with two centerpiece pushes that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, presenting it as both a cross-generational handoff and a foundation-forward character-first story. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the authorial approach points to a roots-evoking treatment without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Look for a marketing run fueled by franchise iconography, character-first teases, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm rolling 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 set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will double down on. As a summer counter-slot, this one will build mainstream recognition through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format allowing quick pivots to whatever leads the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three clear bets. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is tidy, somber, and easily pitched: a grieving man adopts an machine companion that escalates into a harmful mate. The date locates it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s team likely to iterate on uncanny-valley stunts and snackable content that fuses longing and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a name unveil to become an event moment closer to the debut look. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele titles are presented as marquee events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second wave of trailers that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The spooky-season slot lets the studio to lead 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, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has proven that a tactile, physical-effects centered mix can feel top-tier on a mid-range budget. Frame it as a viscera-heavy summer horror blast that emphasizes offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio books two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, maintaining a proven supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is calling a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both longtime followers and new audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign pieces around canon, and creature work, elements that can increase format premiums and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

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 continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by obsessive craft and textual fidelity, this time engaging werewolf myth. The label has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is favorable.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform windowing in 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s genre slate transition to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a ladder that elevates both launch urgency and viewer acquisition in the post-theatrical. Prime Video blends licensed titles with world buys and select theatrical runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in catalog engagement, using curated hubs, seasonal hubs, and featured rows to stretch the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix remains opportunistic about original films and festival pickups, dating horror entries on shorter runways and framing as events launches with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a laddered of limited theatrical footprints and short jumps to platform that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be key 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 selective basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to take on select projects with acclaimed directors or name-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation heats up.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 runway with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is uncomplicated: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, elevated for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the autumn weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then using the holiday dates to scale. That positioning has been successful for filmmaker-first horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception encourages. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using select theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their subs.

Brands and originals

By volume, 2026 leans toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on marquee value. The question, as ever, is viewer burnout. The preferred tactic is to position each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is emphasizing character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is floating a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-tinted vision from a new voice. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the configuration is known enough to build pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Three-year comps help explain the model. In 2023, a exclusive window model that honored streaming windows did not deter a same-day experiment from delivering when the brand was potent. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror punched above its weight in premium formats. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they angle differently and elevate scope. 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 shot back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to tie installments through character arcs and themes and to continue assets in field without extended gaps.

Craft and creative trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind 2026 horror hint weblink at a continued emphasis on material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that centers unease and texture rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in long-lead press and department features before rolling out a tone piece that elevates tone over story, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and drives shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta recalibration that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature and environment design, which favor convention floor stunts and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel essential. Look for trailers that foreground surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that shine in top rooms.

Calendar cadence

January is heavy. 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 big-brand pushes. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the menu of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth persists.

Winter into spring seed summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives 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 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Back half into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a opaque tease strategy and limited pre-release reveals that trade in concept over detail.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can win the holiday when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and holiday gift-card burn.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s AI companion escalates into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete 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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her tough boss push to survive on a desolate island as the hierarchy turns and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to nightmare, based on Cronin’s material craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 home-set haunting tale that pipes the unease through a preteen’s wavering subjective view. Rating: forthcoming. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that needles contemporary horror memes and true-crime crazes. Rating: undetermined. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites breaks out, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new family lashed to residual nightmares. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward pure survival horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: underway. 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 period-specific language and primal menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 and why now

Three operational forces drive this lineup. First, production that stalled or rearranged in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming drops. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest turnkey scare beats from test screenings, precision scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

There is also the slotting calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can command a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will cluster across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

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

The stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run 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 bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like 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 qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, sound field, and image-making 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

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is name recognition where it counts, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the fear sell the seats.