Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a hair raising chiller, streaming October 2025 across leading streamers

An spine-tingling spectral suspense film from author / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an age-old dread when newcomers become vehicles in a fiendish game. Airings begin October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing narrative of resistance and mythic evil that will reimagine fear-driven cinema this fall. Realized by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and cinematic screenplay follows five characters who are stirred isolated in a wilderness-bound cabin under the menacing grip of Kyra, a central character possessed by a 2,000-year-old ancient fiend. Arm yourself to be captivated by a big screen presentation that harmonizes bone-deep fear with mystical narratives, hitting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a recurring element in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is turned on its head when the presences no longer form from an outside force, but rather inside them. This marks the most terrifying aspect of the cast. The result is a harrowing psychological battle where the tension becomes a ongoing clash between righteousness and malevolence.


In a remote natural abyss, five characters find themselves confined under the malevolent presence and domination of a uncanny figure. As the cast becomes unable to resist her command, isolated and followed by unknowns inconceivable, they are forced to face their inner horrors while the seconds ruthlessly runs out toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear escalates and alliances dissolve, urging each figure to rethink their values and the nature of freedom of choice itself. The hazard grow with every passing moment, delivering a horror experience that merges paranormal dread with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to channel instinctual horror, an spirit that existed before mankind, manifesting in emotional fractures, and confronting a power that dismantles free will when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra asked for exploring something darker than pain. She is blind until the invasion happens, and that turn is soul-crushing because it is so raw.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for worldwide release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring audiences anywhere can be part of this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its first trailer, which has been viewed over 100,000 views.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, making the film to global fright lovers.


Tune in for this mind-warping fall into madness. Enter *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to explore these terrifying truths about existence.


For director insights, extra content, and promotions from behind the lens, follow @YACMovie across social media and visit youngandcursed.com.





U.S. horror’s tipping point: 2025 U.S. rollouts weaves legend-infused possession, underground frights, alongside franchise surges

Spanning life-or-death fear saturated with biblical myth through to brand-name continuations paired with pointed art-house angles, 2025 stands to become horror’s most layered as well as strategic year in years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio powerhouses hold down the year with familiar IP, in parallel digital services flood the fall with fresh voices paired with archetypal fear. On the festival side, indie storytellers is drafting behind the momentum from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, and now, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are disciplined, thus 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige terror resurfaces

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s pipeline sets the tone with a statement play: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in a modern-day environment. With Leigh Whannell at the helm fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. Booked into mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Helmed by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Initial heat flags it as potent.

When summer fades, Warner’s pipeline sets loose the finale of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. While the template is known, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson re engages, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: period tinged dread, trauma as text, plus otherworld rules that chill. This time, the stakes are raised, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, builds out the animatronic fear crew, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It arrives in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Firsts: Slim budgets, major punch

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a tight space body horror vignette led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend starring Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical 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 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 each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is canny scheduling. No puffed out backstory. No IP hangover. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. 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. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

What to Watch

Mythic lanes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror returns
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Big screen is a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Projection: Autumn density and winter pivot

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The next terror Year Ahead: follow-ups, filmmaker-first projects, alongside A jammed Calendar optimized for goosebumps

Dek The incoming genre year builds from day one with a January glut, subsequently unfolds through midyear, and carrying into the holiday stretch, balancing series momentum, novel approaches, and smart release strategy. The big buyers and platforms are focusing on smart costs, theater-first strategies, and influencer-ready assets that transform genre titles into all-audience topics.

How the genre looks for 2026

This category has proven to be the sturdy counterweight in release strategies, a pillar that can grow when it resonates and still mitigate the liability when it under-delivers. After 2023 proved to studio brass that low-to-mid budget scare machines can steer audience talk, 2024 sustained momentum with buzzy auteur projects and slow-burn breakouts. The upswing flowed into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and festival-grade titles confirmed there is room for a spectrum, from legacy continuations to standalone ideas that translate worldwide. The result for 2026 is a roster that is strikingly coherent across companies, with strategic blocks, a balance of legacy names and first-time concepts, and a revived emphasis on box-office windows that feed downstream value on paid VOD and subscription services.

Marketers add the category now works like a versatile piece on the release plan. The genre can arrive on many corridors, furnish a grabby hook for teasers and reels, and overperform with moviegoers that respond on Thursday previews and stick through the next weekend if the movie pays off. After a production delay era, the 2026 pattern indicates conviction in that logic. The year commences with a heavy January band, then primes spring and early summer for contrast, while leaving room for a October build that connects to late October and past the holiday. The calendar also reflects the expanded integration of arthouse labels and platforms that can develop over weeks, build word of mouth, and go nationwide at the precise moment.

A further high-level trend is franchise tending across interlocking continuities and long-running brands. Major shops are not just producing another chapter. They are aiming to frame ongoing narrative with a specialness, whether that is a art treatment that signals a refreshed voice or a casting choice that connects a fresh chapter to a original cycle. At the alongside this, the creative leads behind the most watched originals are celebrating real-world builds, real effects and grounded locations. That fusion hands 2026 a healthy mix of home base and surprise, which is why the genre exports well.

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

Paramount opens strong with two prominent plays that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the center, setting it up as both a legacy handover and a heritage-centered character-focused installment. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the creative stance hints at a fan-service aware mode without looping the last two entries’ sisters thread. Plan for a rollout anchored in legacy iconography, first-look character reveals, and a rollout cadence landing toward 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 reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will stress. As a summer alternative, this one will build broad awareness through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format making room for quick turns to whatever rules pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three specific lanes. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is simple, somber, and high-concept: a grieving man adopts an digital partner that becomes a harmful mate. The date lines it up at the front of a busy month, with the studio’s marketing likely to recreate off-kilter promo beats and brief clips that hybridizes attachment and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a title drop to become an fan moment closer to the teaser. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s pictures are positioned as event films, with a opaque teaser and a subsequent trailers that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The late-October frame affords Universal to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has demonstrated that a gnarly, prosthetic-heavy method can feel top-tier on a moderate cost. Position this as a splatter summer horror shock that emphasizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio rolls out two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, continuing a reliable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is calling a reset 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 explicit mandate to serve both franchise faithful and new audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build campaign creative around environmental design, and practical creature work, elements that can accelerate premium booking interest and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues Eggers’ run of period horror built on minute detail and textual fidelity, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus has already claimed 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

Platform tactics for 2026 run on proven patterns. The studio’s horror films flow to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a tiered path that maximizes both premiere heat and subscriber lifts in the tail. Prime Video continues to mix library titles with worldwide entries and limited cinema engagements when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in archive usage, using in-app campaigns, Halloween hubs, and editorial rows to prolong the run on overall cume. Netflix stays nimble about Netflix originals and festival additions, finalizing horror entries with shorter lead times and elevating as drops launches with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a staged of precision releases and prompt platform moves that turns chatter to conversion. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to take on select projects with established auteurs or A-list packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for platform stickiness when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 pipeline with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is simple: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, upgraded for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a theatrical-first plan for the title, an good sign for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, guiding the film through festival season if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday corridor to scale. That positioning has served the company well for craft-driven horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify useful reference after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception justifies. Expect 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 as a pair, using boutique theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subs.

Known brands versus new stories

By weight, 2026 leans toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on name recognition. The challenge, as ever, is diminishing returns. The preferred tactic is to frame each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is elevating character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a continental coloration from a buzzed-about director. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the configuration is assuring enough to build pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years contextualize the playbook. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that held distribution windows did not deter a dual release from thriving when the brand was compelling. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror exceeded expectations in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they change perspective and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, lets marketing to thread films through protagonists and motifs and to maintain a flow of assets without extended gaps.

Technique and craft currents

The shop talk behind this year’s genre indicate a continued emphasis on practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that elevates atmosphere and fear rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft features before rolling out a teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and produces shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta pivot that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature and environment design, which lend themselves to con floor moments and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel necessary. Look for trailers that spotlight razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that work in PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is crowded. 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 caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the mix of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

Pre-summer months stage summer. Scream 7 opens February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into 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 lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

End of summer through fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio get redirected here a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a shoulder season window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a minimalist tease strategy and limited information drops that stress concept over spoilers.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and holiday card usage.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s founding notes. 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 mourning man’s artificial companion mutates into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

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 face a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: mood-led adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam click site Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss claw to survive on a rugged island as the chain of command tilts and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to terror, driven by Cronin’s practical effects and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. 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 in-home haunting piece that routes the horror through a kid’s uncertain subjective lens. Rating: to be announced. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-scale and headline-actor led supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A parody return that pokes at in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime buzz. Rating: TBD. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites ignites, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new clan linked to older hauntings. Rating: pending. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival-driven horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: undetermined. Production: active. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-specific language and elemental fear. Rating: TBA. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. 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: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three practical forces frame this lineup. First, production that paused or recalendared in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more strategic 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 landings. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work bite-size scare clips from test screenings, controlled scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will compete across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

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

The dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where disciplined-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 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. 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.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch 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 wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, sonics, 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 adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand gravity where needed, 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 late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, hold the mystery, and let the screams sell the seats.