Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primordial evil, a nerve shredding shocker, premiering Oct 2025 on major streaming services

One frightening supernatural suspense film from scriptwriter / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an primordial terror when outsiders become conduits in a satanic struggle. Dropping this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking portrayal of staying alive and primeval wickedness that will reshape horror this spooky time. Brought to life by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and immersive suspense flick follows five lost souls who are stirred caught in a far-off shack under the malevolent will of Kyra, a female presence controlled by a time-worn sacrosanct terror. Ready yourself to be shaken by a narrative adventure that combines instinctive fear with timeless legends, arriving on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a mainstay theme in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is reversed when the monsters no longer come from a different plane, but rather from within. This represents the deepest aspect of the group. The result is a intense mind game where the plotline becomes a unforgiving struggle between good and evil.


In a wilderness-stricken landscape, five souls find themselves imprisoned under the sinister force and haunting of a mysterious figure. As the group becomes helpless to evade her dominion, isolated and tormented by forces unnamable, they are obligated to encounter their inner horrors while the time unforgivingly ticks toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread intensifies and partnerships collapse, demanding each individual to examine their true nature and the philosophy of decision-making itself. The stakes intensify with every minute, delivering a cinematic nightmare that weaves together otherworldly suspense with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to dig into basic terror, an power that existed before mankind, influencing soul-level flaws, and highlighting a darkness that strips down our being when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra meant channeling something far beyond human desperation. She is in denial until the possession kicks in, and that flip is emotionally raw because it is so intimate.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for worldwide release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing customers in all regions can watch this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its release of trailer #1, which has garnered over six-figure audience.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, presenting the nightmare to viewers around the world.


Avoid skipping this unforgettable exploration of dread. Stream *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to survive these haunting secrets about free will.


For previews, making-of footage, and news from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across platforms and visit our horror hub.





The horror genre’s watershed moment: the year 2025 U.S. release slate blends archetypal-possession themes, festival-born jolts, plus Franchise Rumbles

Across grit-forward survival fare steeped in biblical myth as well as installment follow-ups in concert with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is emerging as the most complex plus blueprinted year in the past ten years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. Major studios plant stakes across the year with established lines, while digital services crowd the fall with first-wave breakthroughs paired with scriptural shivers. On the independent axis, horror’s indie wing is riding the tailwinds of a banner 2024 fest year. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, however this time, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are targeted, which means 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige fear returns

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s pipeline kicks off the frame with a statement play: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Under director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. landing in mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Eli Craig directs with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

When summer fades, Warner’s slate delivers the closing chapter within its surest horror brand: 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. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: old school creep, trauma explicitly handled, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The ante is higher this round, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The follow up digs further into canon, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, speaking to teens and older millennials. It arrives in December, buttoning the final window.

Digital Originals: Economy, maximum dread

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a room scale body horror descent featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Also notable is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Scripted and led 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 the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is canny scheduling. No puffed out backstory. No IP hangover. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Legacy Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, from Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Key Trends

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror swings back
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

What’s Next: Fall crush plus winter X factor

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The coming 2026 Horror release year: continuations, Originals, as well as A busy Calendar designed for goosebumps

Dek: The current genre calendar loads from day one with a January cluster, from there unfolds through summer corridors, and far into the December corridor, blending IP strength, creative pitches, and smart counterplay. Studios and streamers are embracing responsible budgets, exclusive theatrical windows first, and social-fueled campaigns that turn genre releases into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This category has solidified as the consistent lever in release plans, a category that can scale when it connects and still limit the liability when it underperforms. After 2023 signaled to leaders that responsibly budgeted horror vehicles can lead the zeitgeist, the following year kept energy high with visionary-driven titles and unexpected risers. The carry rolled into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and elevated films proved there is appetite for a spectrum, from continued chapters to director-led originals that resonate abroad. The end result for the 2026 slate is a slate that reads highly synchronized across the major shops, with clear date clusters, a mix of legacy names and fresh ideas, and a re-energized priority on box-office windows that enhance post-theatrical value on PVOD and streaming.

Executives say the space now behaves like a wildcard on the programming map. The genre can debut on most weekends, supply a clear pitch for previews and TikTok spots, and outperform with moviegoers that show up on preview nights and stay strong through the follow-up frame if the film fires. Exiting a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 configuration reflects confidence in that setup. The calendar launches with a front-loaded January run, then exploits spring through early summer for balance, while saving space for a autumn push that connects to holiday-adjacent weekends and past Halloween. The arrangement also includes the expanded integration of specialty distributors and SVOD players that can develop over weeks, ignite recommendations, and broaden at the timely point.

A companion trend is IP cultivation across shared IP webs and storied titles. The players are not just greenlighting another sequel. They are trying to present brand continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a title treatment that broadcasts a refreshed voice or a casting choice that binds a next film to a initial period. At the parallel to that, the auteurs behind the top original plays are celebrating hands-on technique, real effects and distinct locales. That mix offers the 2026 slate a confident blend of trust and novelty, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount fires first with two centerpiece bets that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the focus, presenting it as both a relay and a back-to-basics character study. Production is active in Atlanta, and the authorial approach conveys a heritage-honoring campaign without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive anchored in recognizable motifs, character-first teases, and a rollout cadence targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also reawakens 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 in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will feature. As a summer contrast play, this one will go after wide buzz through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format allowing quick reframes to whatever owns pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three discrete plays. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is clean, soulful, and big-hook: a grieving man brings home an digital partner that evolves into a perilous partner. The date locates it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s marketing likely to iterate on odd public stunts and short-form creative that hybridizes companionship and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a public title to become an earned moment closer to the first look. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. His projects are positioned as must-see filmmaker statements, with a mystery-first teaser and a later trailer push that define feel without revealing the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor lets the studio to take 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, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has established that a visceral, practical-effects forward mix can feel deluxe on a disciplined budget. Expect a grime-caked summer horror shock that spotlights global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio books two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, holding a consistent supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is selling as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both core fans and novices. The fall slot gives Sony time to build assets around world-building, and monster craft, elements that can amplify premium booking interest and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on minute detail and textual fidelity, this time steeped in lycan lore. Focus’s team has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is favorable.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s genre slate move to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a sequence that maximizes both first-week urgency and viewer acquisition in the later window. Prime Video balances outside acquisitions with cross-border buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data backs it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in archive usage, using featured rows, October hubs, and programmed rows to maximize the tail on aggregate take. Netflix keeps options open about own-slate titles and festival grabs, slotting horror entries tight to release and elevating as drops drops with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a paired of limited theatrical footprints and rapid platforming that translates talk to trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a curated basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to board select projects with top-tier auteurs or star packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for sustained usage when the genre conversation swells.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 lane with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is clean: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, upgraded for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has indicated a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the autumn stretch.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday frame to expand. That positioning has proved effective for craft-driven horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception prompts. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using limited theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their membership.

Series vs standalone

By proportion, 2026 leans toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap brand equity. The challenge, as ever, is viewer burnout. The operating solution is to frame each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is centering relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-flavored turn from a ascendant talent. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Get More Info Werwulf leans on period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the deal build is anchored enough to build pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Recent comps contextualize the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive window model that maintained windows did not obstruct a parallel release from performing when the brand was compelling. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror exceeded expectations in premium large format. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they pivot perspective 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 double feature plan, with chapters filmed consecutively, provides the means for marketing to connect the chapters through character spine and themes and to keep materials circulating without lulls.

Creative tendencies and craft

The creative meetings behind the 2026 slate hint at a continued shift toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that underscores creep and texture rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for textured sound and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in trade spotlights and artisan spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and earns shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta refresh that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature craft and set design, which play well in booth activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel key. Look for trailers that spotlight pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that sing on PLF.

Calendar cadence

January is packed. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid headline IP. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the menu of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth spreads.

Late winter and spring prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil follows September 18, a pre-October slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a opaque tease strategy and limited teasers that stress concept over spoilers.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card burn.

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 carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to 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 devastated man’s machine mate mutates into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete 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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. 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 abrasive boss struggle to survive on a isolated island as the power balance inverts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to chill, anchored by Cronin’s in-camera craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting scenario that toys with the chill of a child’s unreliable senses. Rating: to be announced. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal 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 parody reboot that satirizes current genre trends and true crime fixations. Rating: TBD. Production: principal photography set 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 detonates, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a young family linked to long-buried horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on classic survival-horror tone over action pyrotechnics. Rating: TBD. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: pending. Production: underway. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and primal menace. Rating: TBA. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. 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: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026, why now

Three workable forces organize this lineup. First, production that stalled or re-slotted in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and leaner schedules. 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 out-earned straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage meme-ready beats from test screenings, precision scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will coexist across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

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

The breakout hunt continues in Q1, where lean-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 dark-horse hit 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo 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 sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, efficient placements, 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 grain, sound field, and camera work 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 Robust 2026 On Deck

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is franchise muscle where it helps, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite 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, cut crisp trailers, guard the secrets, and let the shocks sell the seats.