Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up primeval malevolence, a spine tingling horror feature, bowing October 2025 on global platforms

An unnerving spiritual nightmare movie from dramatist / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an ancient terror when guests become vehicles in a diabolical struggle. Debuting on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing depiction of staying alive and forgotten curse that will remodel fear-driven cinema this spooky time. Crafted by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and claustrophobic tale follows five unknowns who arise stuck in a unreachable structure under the sinister influence of Kyra, a female lead overtaken by a 2,000-year-old holy text monster. Steel yourself to be absorbed by a screen-based spectacle that unites bone-deep fear with biblical origins, debuting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demonic control has been a iconic narrative in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is inverted when the dark entities no longer descend from an outside force, but rather inside them. This embodies the deepest facet of these individuals. The result is a emotionally raw identity crisis where the drama becomes a relentless struggle between light and darkness.


In a unforgiving terrain, five figures find themselves confined under the sinister effect and inhabitation of a elusive female presence. As the victims becomes incapacitated to evade her power, isolated and targeted by powers indescribable, they are required to stand before their inner horrors while the moments brutally runs out toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease builds and ties splinter, pushing each soul to examine their being and the notion of independent thought itself. The intensity rise with every short lapse, delivering a nightmarish journey that connects otherworldly suspense with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to dig into primal fear, an entity beyond recorded history, manipulating mental cracks, and confronting a darkness that redefines identity when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra meant evoking something past sanity. She is clueless until the control shifts, and that pivot is eerie because it is so emotional.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for streaming beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—allowing viewers everywhere can experience this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its original promo, which has collected over strong viewer count.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, making the film to viewers around the world.


Make sure to see this unforgettable spiral into evil. Confront *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to witness these spiritual awakenings about existence.


For teasers, extra content, and insider scoops from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across fan hubs and visit the official digital haunt.





Horror’s tipping point: the 2025 season U.S. release slate blends biblical-possession ideas, independent shockers, stacked beside brand-name tremors

Moving from grit-forward survival fare inspired by biblical myth and extending to brand-name continuations set beside sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is tracking to be the most dimensioned as well as strategic year in ten years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. top-tier distributors stabilize the year by way of signature titles, even as streamers front-load the fall with discovery plays set against primordial unease. Meanwhile, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is riding the afterglow of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, yet in 2025, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are methodical, which means 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal starts the year with a risk-forward move: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, inside today’s landscape. Steered by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. Slated for mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Guided by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

By late summer, the Warner Bros. banner unveils the final movement from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Though the formula is familiar, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson is back, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: period tinged dread, trauma as narrative engine, and a cold supernatural calculus. The stakes escalate here, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The follow up digs further into canon, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, speaking to teens and older millennials. It hits in December, pinning the winter close.

Digital Originals: Economy, maximum dread

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 trail horror omnibus splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a sealed box body horror arc pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is virtually assured for fall.

In the mix sits Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga featuring Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Penned and steered 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 chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

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 a clever angle. No heavy handed lore. No continuity burden. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, steered by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Dials to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror ascends again
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

What’s Next: Fall crush plus winter X factor

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The upcoming spook Year Ahead: brand plays, standalone ideas, And A hectic Calendar calibrated for nightmares

Dek: The fresh scare year lines up up front with a January wave, after that flows through June and July, and pushing into the year-end corridor, combining franchise firepower, creative pitches, and strategic counterweight. Studio marketers and platforms are committing to right-sized spends, theater-first strategies, and buzz-forward plans that pivot these offerings into water-cooler talk.

Where horror stands going into 2026

Horror has established itself as the bankable lever in release strategies, a space that can expand when it lands and still limit the floor when it does not. After 2023 reassured greenlighters that disciplined-budget shockers can galvanize the national conversation, the following year held pace with buzzy auteur projects and word-of-mouth wins. The run rolled into 2025, where reboots and filmmaker-prestige bets proved there is capacity for a spectrum, from ongoing IP entries to filmmaker-driven originals that play globally. The sum for 2026 is a schedule that is strikingly coherent across the major shops, with planned clusters, a spread of established brands and original hooks, and a recommitted attention on exclusive windows that fuel later windows on paid VOD and platforms.

Executives say the category now serves as a schedule utility on the programming map. The genre can kick off on most weekends, offer a simple premise for previews and social clips, and outpace with demo groups that turn out on Thursday previews and hold through the next weekend if the film pays off. Emerging from a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 plan reflects certainty in that model. The calendar commences with a weighty January block, then exploits spring through early summer for counterprogramming, while making space for a fall cadence that stretches into holiday-adjacent weekends and past the holiday. The arrangement also reflects the greater integration of indie distributors and streamers that can grow from platform, grow buzz, and scale up at the optimal moment.

A second macro trend is series management across interlocking continuities and veteran brands. Studios are not just mounting another follow-up. They are seeking to position story carry-over with a must-see charge, whether that is a typeface approach that suggests a fresh attitude or a talent selection that anchors a fresh chapter to a heyday. At the very same time, the auteurs behind the headline-grabbing originals are leaning into in-camera technique, practical effects and site-specific worlds. That combination delivers 2026 a solid mix of known notes and surprise, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount plants an early flag with two front-of-slate plays that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, setting it up as both a legacy handover and a origin-leaning character-first story. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture indicates a classic-referencing treatment without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive anchored in brand visuals, first images of characters, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will foreground. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will chase mainstream recognition through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick updates to whatever defines horror talk that spring.

Universal has three defined entries. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is tidy, somber, and concept-forward: a grieving man brings home an synthetic partner that turns into a murderous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a thick month, with marketing at Universal likely to renew odd public stunts and short-cut promos that interweaves longing and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a official title to become an teaser payoff closer to the debut look. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele’s work are marketed as event films, with a teaser with minimal detail and a subsequent trailers that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The prime October weekend opens a lane to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a in-your-face, physical-effects centered treatment can feel big on a efficient spend. Expect a gore-forward summer horror hit that leans into overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio deploys two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, continuing a steady supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is presenting as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both longtime followers and fresh viewers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign creative around environmental design, and monster aesthetics, elements that can amplify IMAX and PLF uptake and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places 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 built on obsessive craft and period speech, this time set against lycan legends. The company has already set the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is favorable.

Platform lanes and windowing

Digital strategies for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s slate head to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a cadence that maximizes both first-week urgency and viewer acquisition in the post-theatrical. Prime Video interleaves library titles with worldwide entries and targeted theatrical runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in catalog discovery, using timely promos, horror hubs, and editorial rows to keep attention on lifetime take. Netflix retains agility about Netflix originals and festival additions, timing horror entries near launch and positioning as event drops drops with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a one-two of precision theatrical plays and prompt platform moves that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a curated basis. The platform has signaled readiness to invest in select projects with recognized filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for retention when the genre conversation swells.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 lane 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 angle is no-nonsense: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, modernized for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the late stretch.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then using the holiday dates to open out. That positioning has worked well for elevated genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception encourages. Anticipate 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 select theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Known brands versus new stories

By tilt, the 2026 slate bends toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit franchise value. The concern, as ever, is overexposure. The operating solution is to package each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is foregrounding character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-accented approach from a ascendant talent. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and talent-first projects add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a survival chiller premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the deal build is grounded enough to spark pre-sales and early previews.

Recent-year comps outline the strategy. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that maintained windows did not hamper a dual release from delivering when the brand was big. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror over-performed in premium large format. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they shift POV and scale the storytelling. 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 dual-chapter plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, lets marketing to relate entries through personae and themes and to keep assets alive without hiatuses.

How the look and feel evolve

The director conversations behind these films forecast a continued tilt toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that leans on tone and tension rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in long-lead features and department features before rolling out a atmospheric tease that withholds plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and generates shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta recalibration that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will live or die on monster realization and design, which lend themselves to fan-con activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel primary. Look for trailers that spotlight hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that benefit on big speakers.

From winter to holidays

January is full. 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 brooding contrast amid headline IP. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the palette of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

February through May news tee up summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into 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 jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can pop 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 finished their premium pass.

August into fall leans recognizable. 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 late-September window that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a opaque tease strategy and limited pre-release reveals that center concept over reveals.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and card redemption.

Project-by-project snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s intelligent companion unfolds into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked 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 rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially 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 travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: fog-and-fear adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her prickly boss push to survive on a far-flung island as the pecking order inverts and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to fright, anchored by Cronin’s tactile craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting tale that toys with the terror of a child’s tricky read. Rating: to be announced. Production: fully shot. 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 rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A spoof revival that lampoons today’s horror trends and true-crime buzz. Rating: pending. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. 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 breaks out, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a different family lashed to ancient dread. Rating: pending. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A fresh restart designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on pure survival horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: active. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and primal menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the moment is 2026

Three nuts-and-bolts forces inform this lineup. First, production that paused or shuffled in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming drops. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage bite-size scare clips from test screenings, precision scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will share space across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

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

The search for sleepers continues in Q1, where modest-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to use those gaps. 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, 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 momentum and variety. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, 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 hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

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

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand gravity where needed, filmmaker vision where it matters, 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, protect the mystery, and let the chills sell the seats.