Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons ancient dread, a bone chilling horror feature, bowing October 2025 across major platforms

One bone-chilling supernatural fright fest from writer / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an mythic malevolence when passersby become puppets in a dark conflict. Going live on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful saga of staying alive and primeval wickedness that will resculpt fear-driven cinema this Halloween season. Directed by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and atmospheric thriller follows five strangers who suddenly rise stranded in a remote wooden structure under the ominous control of Kyra, a troubled woman controlled by a millennia-old sacred-era entity. Arm yourself to be absorbed by a narrative adventure that fuses raw fear with arcane tradition, arriving on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demonic control has been a enduring foundation in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is flipped when the demons no longer come beyond the self, but rather from within. This embodies the shadowy shade of the victims. The result is a emotionally raw psychological battle where the emotions becomes a unyielding fight between innocence and sin.


In a isolated natural abyss, five figures find themselves sealed under the unholy influence and possession of a mysterious spirit. As the ensemble becomes defenseless to evade her rule, isolated and attacked by evils unnamable, they are required to endure their darkest emotions while the deathwatch harrowingly runs out toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread rises and alliances collapse, driving each cast member to examine their character and the notion of autonomy itself. The tension grow with every heartbeat, delivering a cinematic nightmare that combines unearthly horror with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to draw upon raw dread, an presence from prehistory, influencing inner turmoil, and exposing a power that strips down our being when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra meant evoking something rooted in terror. She is unaware until the takeover begins, and that pivot is terrifying because it is so visceral.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for audiences beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—allowing watchers around the globe can enjoy this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its first trailer, which has collected over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, taking the terror to lovers of terror across nations.


Tune in for this gripping trip into the unknown. Stream *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to experience these haunting secrets about free will.


For sneak peeks, extra content, and insider scoops from those who lived it, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across Instagram and Twitter and visit our film’s homepage.





The horror genre’s decisive shift: 2025 U.S. rollouts braids together biblical-possession ideas, microbudget gut-punches, paired with tentpole growls

From life-or-death fear saturated with biblical myth and including installment follow-ups in concert with surgical indie voices, 2025 is coalescing into the most stratified and carefully orchestrated year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. studio majors lay down anchors with franchise anchors, simultaneously subscription platforms pack the fall with first-wave breakthroughs plus old-world menace. On another front, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is surfing the momentum from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. With Halloween holding the peak, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A fat September–October lane is customary now, and now, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are precise, therefore 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Premium dread reemerges

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal camp kicks off the frame with a bold swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in a modern-day environment. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. dated for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Led by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer wanes, the Warner Bros. banner bows the concluding entry from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Despite a known recipe, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson is back, and the tone that worked before is intact: throwback unease, trauma as theme, along with eerie supernatural rules. The ante is higher this round, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, broadens the animatronic terror cast, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It lands in December, cornering year end horror.

Platform Originals: Economy, maximum dread

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Steered 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 is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a tight space body horror vignette anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, 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.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is a calculated bet. No swollen lore. No series drag. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

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.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Long Running Lines: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Trend Lines

Ancient myth goes wide
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

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

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Season Ahead: 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 must claw for air. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The next spook calendar year ahead: continuations, universe starters, plus A busy Calendar engineered for Scares

Dek: The brand-new terror cycle packs at the outset with a January pile-up, thereafter unfolds through summer corridors, and continuing into the winter holidays, combining series momentum, new concepts, and well-timed counterplay. Major distributors and platforms are leaning into cost discipline, cinema-first plans, and short-form initiatives that convert these releases into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror momentum into 2026

This space has turned into the bankable move in studio slates, a segment that can accelerate when it clicks and still safeguard the downside when it underperforms. After the 2023 year demonstrated to leaders that lean-budget chillers can lead the national conversation, the following year kept energy high with director-led heat and sleeper breakouts. The trend flowed into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and prestige plays demonstrated there is a lane for diverse approaches, from sequel tracks to non-IP projects that play globally. The end result for the 2026 slate is a calendar that feels more orchestrated than usual across the major shops, with defined corridors, a blend of legacy names and untested plays, and a re-energized commitment on theatrical windows that increase tail monetization on premium digital rental and home streaming.

Planners observe the category now performs as a versatile piece on the slate. The genre can launch on almost any weekend, provide a tight logline for ad units and shorts, and outstrip with moviegoers that appear on early shows and continue through the sophomore frame if the picture fires. In the wake of a production delay era, the 2026 configuration indicates faith in that setup. The calendar begins with a stacked January run, then plants flags in spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while reserving space for a September to October window that reaches into Halloween and into the next week. The layout also shows the deeper integration of boutique distributors and home platforms that can nurture a platform play, fuel WOM, and expand at the strategic time.

A reinforcing pattern is franchise tending across connected story worlds and legacy IP. Major shops are not just rolling another chapter. They are working to present continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a title design that signals a tonal shift or a talent selection that bridges a new entry to a vintage era. At the in tandem, the filmmakers behind the most anticipated originals are returning to physical effects work, practical effects and specific settings. That pairing delivers 2026 a strong blend of comfort and freshness, which is why the genre exports well.

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

Paramount defines the early cadence with two prominent entries that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the spine, setting it up as both a succession moment and a foundation-forward character-driven entry. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the authorial approach suggests a classic-referencing framework without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Count on a promo wave anchored in brand visuals, character previews, and a rollout cadence aimed at late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will lean on. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will hunt wide buzz through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick turns to whatever drives the social talk that spring.

Universal has three separate strategies. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is straightforward, somber, and premise-first: a grieving man purchases an artificial companion that escalates into a perilous partner. The date puts it at the front of a stacked January, with marketing at Universal likely to mirror strange in-person beats and micro spots that blurs companionship and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a final title to become an marketing beat closer to the first trailer. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. His projects are set up as signature events, with a mystery-first teaser and a later trailer push that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date opens a lane to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has demonstrated that a gritty, on-set effects led method can feel cinematic on a moderate cost. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror rush that embraces international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio sets two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, extending a trusty supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is selling as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both players and casuals. The fall slot gives Sony time to build assets around world-building, and monster design, elements that can accelerate premium screens and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books 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 immersive craft and textual fidelity, this time steeped in lycan lore. The company has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streaming windows and tactics

Windowing plans in 2026 run on proven patterns. The studio’s horror films feed copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a stair-step that expands both launch urgency and viewer acquisition in the post-theatrical. Prime Video blends licensed titles with world buys and select theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library engagement, using seasonal hubs, October hubs, and programmed rows to maximize the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about in-house releases and festival pickups, slotting horror entries on shorter runways and elevating as drops launches with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a hybrid of focused cinema runs and fast windowing that translates talk to trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to take on select projects with acclaimed directors or celebrity-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to build credibility 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 ramps.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 corridor with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is simple: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, elevated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the autumn stretch.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, shepherding the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday frame to widen. That positioning has helped for arthouse horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception encourages. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using limited theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their audience.

Series vs standalone

By number, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate marquee value. The risk, as ever, is brand erosion. The workable fix is to brand each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is underscoring character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a continental coloration from a rising filmmaker. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and auteur plays bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the team and cast is recognizable enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Comparable trends from recent years contextualize the template. In 2023, a cinema-first model that maintained windows did not hamper a simultaneous release test from delivering when the brand was robust. In 2024, art-forward horror popped in premium screens. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they angle differently and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters produced back-to-back, enables marketing to interlace chapters through character spine and themes and to hold creative in the market without extended gaps.

How the films are being made

The filmmaking conversations behind the upcoming entries point to a continued shift toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that emphasizes mood and dread rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in trade spotlights and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a preview that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and drives shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta recalibration that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature work and production design, which play well in fan conventions and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel key. Look for trailers that emphasize fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that work in PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is jammed. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid marquee brands. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the tone spread carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

Pre-summer months tee up summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now backs 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 spreads the field. 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 tight. The spoof can win 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 moved through premium slots.

August and September into October leans series. 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 pre-Halloween slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited pre-release reveals that put concept first.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season 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 on a rolling basis as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s synthetic partner escalates into something murderously loving. 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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

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 run into a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: atmospheric game 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 demanding boss try to survive on a lonely island as the control dynamic turns and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to fear, shaped by Cronin’s on-set craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting piece that frames the panic through a child’s uneven perspective. 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 participating creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that skewers modern genre fads and true crime fixations. Rating: TBD. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new family entangled with ancient dread. Rating: not yet rated. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in true survival horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: TBD. Production: active. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and elemental fear. Rating: to be announced. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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

Why the 2026 timing works

Three grounded forces frame this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or shuffled in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly 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 releases. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind get redirected here these titles will lean on bite-size scare clips from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will share space across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 value-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 work those windows. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, 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 seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, sound, and imagery 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

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand equity where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, guard the secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.