Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens primeval malevolence, a spine tingling feature, launching October 2025 across top streaming platforms

A chilling occult terror film from literary architect / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an age-old entity when unknowns become subjects in a fiendish contest. Available this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking episode of endurance and timeless dread that will alter terror storytelling this cool-weather season. Produced by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and gothic suspense flick follows five strangers who suddenly rise isolated in a hidden lodge under the ominous command of Kyra, a central character claimed by a biblical-era sacred-era entity. Ready yourself to be gripped by a theatrical display that weaves together bone-deep fear with mystical narratives, premiering on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a well-established fixture in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is subverted when the presences no longer manifest externally, but rather from their core. This depicts the most primal part of all involved. The result is a bone-chilling emotional conflict where the intensity becomes a intense confrontation between good and evil.


In a desolate landscape, five souls find themselves imprisoned under the sinister rule and inhabitation of a unknown spirit. As the team becomes defenseless to break her influence, disconnected and tormented by unknowns unimaginable, they are cornered to battle their raw vulnerabilities while the countdown harrowingly winds toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread mounts and connections crack, coercing each protagonist to question their identity and the concept of independent thought itself. The tension climb with every beat, delivering a paranormal ride that marries supernatural terror with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to explore elemental fright, an force rooted in antiquity, manipulating psychological breaks, and navigating a entity that redefines identity when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra called for internalizing something beyond human emotion. She is oblivious until the possession kicks in, and that pivot is eerie because it is so internal.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for horror fans beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring subscribers from coast to coast can engage with this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its initial teaser, which has attracted over massive response.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, making the film to global fright lovers.


Mark your calendar for this visceral voyage through terror. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to explore these fearful discoveries about existence.


For bonus footage, director cuts, and social posts directly from production, follow @YACMovie across Facebook and TikTok and visit the movie portal.





Current horror’s tipping point: calendar year 2025 U.S. lineup integrates old-world possession, independent shockers, and Franchise Rumbles

Across grit-forward survival fare infused with mythic scripture as well as series comebacks plus focused festival visions, 2025 is coalescing into the most textured combined with deliberate year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. leading studios lock in tentpoles with known properties, as SVOD players front-load the fall with unboxed visions plus archetypal fear. On the independent axis, indie storytellers is carried on the momentum from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The fall stretch is the proving field, however this time, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are exacting, accordingly 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige terror resurfaces

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s distribution arm leads off the quarter with a confident swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. set for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Under Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

As summer eases, Warner Bros. unveils the final movement from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Next is The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Scott Derrickson again directs, and those signature textures resurface: throwback unease, trauma driven plotting, and a cold supernatural calculus. This time the stakes climb, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The follow up digs further into canon, grows the animatronic horror lineup, courting teens and the thirty something base. It arrives in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Firsts: Economy, maximum dread

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend led by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with 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. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is an astute call. No bloated canon. No canon weight. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Franchise Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Trend Lines

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Outlook: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The forthcoming 2026 chiller slate: continuations, Originals, alongside A packed Calendar aimed at jolts

Dek: The new genre calendar stacks at the outset with a January logjam, subsequently spreads through midyear, and running into the holidays, marrying marquee clout, new voices, and savvy counterplay. Studios and streamers are doubling down on tight budgets, theatrical leads, and social-fueled campaigns that turn these films into mainstream chatter.

Horror momentum into 2026

This category has solidified as the dependable swing in release strategies, a corner that can accelerate when it hits and still mitigate the floor when it does not. After 2023 signaled to leaders that mid-range horror vehicles can galvanize social chatter, 2024 kept energy high with visionary-driven titles and word-of-mouth wins. The momentum translated to the 2025 frame, where reboots and premium-leaning entries demonstrated there is a lane for varied styles, from legacy continuations to standalone ideas that play globally. The aggregate for 2026 is a grid that looks unusually coordinated across companies, with obvious clusters, a blend of known properties and new concepts, and a recommitted emphasis on exclusive windows that fuel later windows on paid VOD and platforms.

Executives say the category now operates like a plug-and-play option on the distribution slate. Horror can roll out on numerous frames, supply a clean hook for marketing and reels, and over-index with patrons that show up on previews Thursday and return through the subsequent weekend if the film hits. Emerging from a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 rhythm reflects trust in that dynamic. The year kicks off with a loaded January block, then primes spring and early summer for contrast, while keeping space for a autumn stretch that reaches into All Hallows period and afterwards. The grid also spotlights the continuing integration of indie arms and streamers that can launch in limited release, spark evangelism, and expand at the timely point.

A parallel macro theme is IP stewardship across connected story worlds and long-running brands. The studios are not just turning out another sequel. They are aiming to frame continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a title presentation that suggests a tonal shift or a casting choice that links a new entry to a early run. At the concurrently, the directors behind the eagerly awaited originals are leaning into tactile craft, makeup and prosthetics and specific settings. That pairing provides the 2026 slate a healthy mix of assurance and freshness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

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

Paramount sets the tone early with two front-of-slate titles that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, Young & Cursed 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the lead, angling it as both a succession moment and a DNA-forward character study. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance hints at a fan-service aware treatment without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run fueled by brand visuals, first images of characters, and a tease cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will emphasize. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will chase mainstream recognition through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format making room for quick updates to whatever defines horror talk that spring.

Universal has three discrete bets. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is tight, heartbroken, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man sets up an artificial companion that shifts into a killer companion. The date puts it at the front of a busy month, with the studio’s marketing likely to recreate viral uncanny stunts and short-cut promos that blurs attachment and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a name unveil to become an marketing beat closer to the first trailer. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. His projects are sold as auteur events, with a teaser that reveals little and a later trailer push that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The late-month date gives the studio room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has demonstrated that a gnarly, in-camera leaning approach can feel prestige on a tight budget. Position this as a hard-R summer horror shot that leans hard into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio books two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, holding a steady supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is positioning as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both core fans and first-timers. The fall slot gives Sony time to build materials around world-building, and creature work, elements that can lift premium screens and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by careful craft and archaic language, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus Features has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform windowing in 2026 run on stable tracks. The Universal horror run transition to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a ordering that boosts both week-one demand and sign-up momentum in the late-window. Prime Video continues to mix third-party pickups with cross-border buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data supports it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in deep cuts, using in-app campaigns, holiday hubs, and curated rows to extend momentum on the annual genre haul. Netflix keeps options open about original films and festival buys, timing horror entries near their drops and framing as events go-lives with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a dual-phase of tailored theatrical exposure and speedy platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has indicated interest to purchase select projects with top-tier auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation intensifies.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 pipeline 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 promise is clean: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, reimagined for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the September weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then deploying the December frame to widen. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-first horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception prompts. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using limited runs to prime evangelism that fuels their subs.

Known brands versus new stories

By tilt, 2026 tilts in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit franchise value. The question, as ever, is audience fatigue. The pragmatic answer is to market each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is spotlighting character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-inflected take from a ascendant talent. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the package is known enough to accelerate early sales and preview-night crowds.

Three-year comps make sense of the logic. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that respected streaming windows did not prevent a hybrid test from succeeding when the brand was powerful. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror hit big in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they reframe POV and widen scale. 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 dual-chapter plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, enables marketing to relate entries through protagonists and motifs and to hold creative in the market without lulls.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The creative meetings behind 2026 horror suggest a continued move toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that centers mood and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in long-lead features and technical spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that withholds plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for red-band excess, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and earns shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta pivot that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature design and production design, which lend themselves to expo activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel irresistible. Look for trailers that highlight razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that land in big rooms.

The schedule at a glance

January is crowded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid macro-brand pushes. The month closes 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 real, but the spread of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth holds.

Late Q1 and spring seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a bridge slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a opaque tease strategy and limited previews that favor idea over plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then turning to 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 riding holiday momentum and holiday gift-card burn.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s synthetic partner unfolds into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: ambience-forward adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her difficult boss scramble to survive on a uninhabited island as the control balance upends and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to menace, grounded in Cronin’s in-camera craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. 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 household haunting piece that twists the dread of a child’s fragile POV. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fully shot. 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 reuniting creatively. Logline: {A parody return that skewers contemporary horror memes and true-crime manias. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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: awaiting classification. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further extends again, with a young family lashed to old terrors. Rating: TBA. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A restart designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival-core horror over action spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: forthcoming. Production: underway. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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-precise speech and ancient menace. Rating: TBD. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026 and why now

Three pragmatic forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or rearranged in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and leaner schedules. 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 outpaced straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage repeatable beats from test screenings, curated scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, making room for genre entries that can control a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will share space across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, 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 land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 sleeper chase 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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, 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 gain momentum, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, audio design, and cinematography that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Ready To Roar

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is franchise muscle where it helps, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep the secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.