Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives age-old dread, a fear soaked thriller, premiering Oct 2025 on major streaming services

This terrifying mystic thriller from writer / director Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an prehistoric malevolence when unfamiliar people become pawns in a malevolent experiment. Available on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing account of living through and old world terror that will reconstruct horror this Halloween season. Visualized by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and shadowy cinema piece follows five young adults who suddenly rise sealed in a cut-off cabin under the hostile sway of Kyra, a female lead overtaken by a two-thousand-year-old biblical demon. Anticipate to be ensnared by a big screen adventure that fuses raw fear with mythic lore, hitting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a legendary tradition in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is twisted when the forces no longer originate from external sources, but rather from deep inside. This marks the most primal version of the protagonists. The result is a intense mental war where the suspense becomes a ongoing tug-of-war between righteousness and malevolence.


In a remote terrain, five individuals find themselves imprisoned under the sinister dominion and overtake of a enigmatic female presence. As the protagonists becomes submissive to oppose her curse, left alone and targeted by beings beyond reason, they are required to face their greatest panics while the deathwatch ruthlessly ticks onward toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia grows and friendships break, demanding each character to reflect on their identity and the integrity of independent thought itself. The tension climb with every breath, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that weaves together occult fear with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to tap into instinctual horror, an power that predates humanity, manipulating mental cracks, and examining a curse that challenges autonomy when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra demanded embodying something unfamiliar to reason. She is ignorant until the haunting manifests, and that metamorphosis is eerie because it is so personal.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for public screening beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—giving households anywhere can face this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its original clip, which has been viewed over 100K plays.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, extending the thrill to horror fans worldwide.


Don’t miss this visceral fall into madness. Enter *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to dive into these unholy truths about our species.


For exclusive trailers, production news, and updates directly from production, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across your favorite networks and visit our spooky domain.





Modern horror’s Turning Point: the 2025 cycle U.S. Slate braids together ancient-possession motifs, microbudget gut-punches, and IP aftershocks

Beginning with last-stand terror saturated with legendary theology through to legacy revivals in concert with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is shaping up as the most variegated combined with deliberate year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. the big studios bookend the months via recognizable brands, while OTT services crowd the fall with fresh voices together with mythic dread. On another front, independent banners is catching the uplift from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, yet in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are targeted, as a result 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige terror resurfaces

The majors are assertive. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s slate leads off the quarter with a bold swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Guided by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. Slated for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. From director Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

By late summer, the WB camp sets loose the finale within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson resumes command, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: vintage toned fear, trauma as narrative engine, with ghostly inner logic. This time, the stakes are raised, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, bridging teens and legacy players. It arrives in December, pinning the winter close.

SVOD Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a sealed box body horror arc with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

On the docket is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Conceived and directed 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. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is a calculated bet. No bloated canon. No legacy baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Heritage Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, from Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

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.

Key Trends

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror returns
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Forecast: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The new terror season: returning titles, universe starters, alongside A jammed Calendar geared toward shocks

Dek The emerging terror season loads in short order with a January bottleneck, after that unfolds through summer corridors, and straight through the holiday frame, weaving name recognition, new voices, and strategic counterprogramming. Studio marketers and platforms are doubling down on mid-range economics, theater-first strategies, and short-form initiatives that turn genre releases into water-cooler talk.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This category has become the bankable counterweight in studio slates, a category that can expand when it connects and still mitigate the floor when it stumbles. After the 2023 year showed buyers that cost-conscious shockers can lead social chatter, 2024 held pace with auteur-driven buzzy films and surprise hits. The energy carried into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and filmmaker-prestige bets confirmed there is space for multiple flavors, from returning installments to standalone ideas that play globally. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a roster that looks unusually coordinated across companies, with planned clusters, a pairing of familiar brands and new packages, and a renewed priority on release windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium home window and home streaming.

Studio leaders note the genre now functions as a plug-and-play option on the rollout map. The genre can arrive on many corridors, create a easy sell for marketing and platform-native cuts, and exceed norms with viewers that turn out on preview nights and maintain momentum through the subsequent weekend if the title works. On the heels of a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 plan reflects certainty in that engine. The slate commences with a heavy January schedule, then uses spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while making space for a late-year stretch that carries into the Halloween corridor and into early November. The gridline also illustrates the deeper integration of specialty arms and streamers that can stage a platform run, stoke social talk, and roll out at the sweet spot.

Another broad trend is brand curation across ongoing universes and storied titles. Big banners are not just pushing another entry. They are looking to package brand continuity with a specialness, whether that is a graphic identity that telegraphs a tonal shift or a talent selection that anchors a next film to a classic era. At the meanwhile, the helmers behind the top original plays are embracing real-world builds, physical gags and distinct locales. That alloy hands 2026 a confident blend of recognition and discovery, which is how the films export.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount opens strong with two prominent bets that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the front, setting it up as both a baton pass and a foundation-forward character-first story. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the tonal posture signals a memory-charged framework without recycling the last two entries’ family thread. Anticipate a campaign rooted in recognizable motifs, character-first teases, and a promo sequence aimed at late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will lean on. As a summer counter-slot, this one will generate mass reach through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format enabling quick reframes to whatever shapes horror talk that spring.

Universal has three differentiated releases. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is crisp, sorrow-tinged, and concept-forward: a grieving man onboards an intelligent companion that shifts into a killer companion. The date puts it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s promo team likely to recreate eerie street stunts and short-cut promos that interweaves affection and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a final title to become an event moment closer to the early tease. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele’s work are marketed as signature events, with a concept-forward tease and a follow-up trailer set that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot lets the studio to take 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 heads, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has consistently shown that a tactile, on-set effects led execution can feel top-tier on a disciplined budget. Look for a hard-R summer horror blast that pushes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio mounts two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, sustaining a bankable supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is marketing as a Young & Cursed fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both players and novices. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build assets around setting detail, and creature design, elements that can accelerate large-format demand and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror defined by careful craft and period speech, this time steeped in lycan lore. The imprint has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is warm.

Where the platforms fit in

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on predictable routes. The Universal horror run transition to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a sequence that enhances both initial urgency and sub growth in the after-window. Prime Video combines licensed films with global acquisitions and select theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in catalog engagement, using curated hubs, seasonal hubs, and programmed rows to maximize the tail on aggregate take. Netflix retains agility about own-slate titles and festival grabs, confirming horror entries closer to drop and eventizing launches with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a dual-phase of focused cinema runs and fast windowing that drives paid trials from buzz. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown a willingness to purchase select projects with accomplished filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor imp source for retention when the genre conversation swells.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 corridor with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is straightforward: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, retooled for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a cinema-first plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the October weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then relying on the December frame to open out. That positioning has served the company well for craft-driven horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception prompts. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using targeted theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their membership.

Balance of brands and originals

By volume, the 2026 slate favors the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate cultural cachet. The trade-off, as ever, is staleness. The standing approach is to pitch each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is elevating character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is floating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-inflected take from a buzzed-about director. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and director-driven titles add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the deal build is comforting enough to build pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

The last three-year set help explain the template. In 2023, a theater-first model that maintained windows did not preclude a same-day experiment from winning when the brand was powerful. In 2024, auteur craft horror punched above its weight in premium formats. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel new when they reorient and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters shot consecutively, creates space for marketing to tie installments through character and theme and to maintain a flow of assets without pause points.

Creative tendencies and craft

The production chatter behind 2026 horror point to a continued turn toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that spotlights texture and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and earns shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta inflection that centers its original star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster realization and design, which fit with convention activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel key. Look for trailers that accent pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that explode in larger rooms.

How the year maps out

January is stacked. 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 atmospheric change-up amid bigger brand plays. The month concludes 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 legit, but the spread of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

February through May tee up summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now hosts 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 divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Late-season stretch leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder season window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited pre-release reveals that put concept first.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and card redemption.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in 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 take on a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s machine mate shifts into something romantically lethal. 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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. 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 abrasive boss push to survive on a rugged island as the power balance of power tilts and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to chill, founded on Cronin’s in-camera craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 residential haunting story that channels the fear through a minor’s flickering personal vantage. Rating: to be announced. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A satirical comeback that skewers modern genre fads and true-crime manias. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites erupts, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further extends again, with a another family caught in long-buried horrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A new start designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-first horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: TBA. Production: proceeding. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 antique diction and elemental fear. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the moment is 2026

Three practical forces define this lineup. First, production that downshifted or migrated in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more strict 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 releases. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, precision scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will trade weekends 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 capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where midrange-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 exploit those windows. 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January click site is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit 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 somber, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, aural design, and picture that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is IP strength where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the fear sell the seats.