Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primeval horror, a nerve shredding chiller, streaming October 2025 across major platforms

One hair-raising mystic nightmare movie from creator / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an primeval fear when drifters become subjects in a satanic maze. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping story of resistance and timeless dread that will revamp terror storytelling this October. Helmed by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and shadowy cinema piece follows five strangers who regain consciousness sealed in a off-grid cabin under the oppressive dominion of Kyra, a possessed female haunted by a prehistoric biblical demon. Be warned to be captivated by a screen-based ride that unites instinctive fear with arcane tradition, dropping on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a well-established pillar in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is turned on its head when the malevolences no longer manifest outside the characters, but rather from within. This portrays the haunting corner of the victims. The result is a bone-chilling mental war where the emotions becomes a ongoing push-pull between virtue and vice.


In a wilderness-stricken outland, five characters find themselves confined under the ghastly presence and overtake of a mysterious being. As the ensemble becomes helpless to break her influence, stranded and tormented by spirits inconceivable, they are made to battle their deepest fears while the moments mercilessly edges forward toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust escalates and ties collapse, coercing each individual to reconsider their personhood and the integrity of self-determination itself. The tension accelerate with every second, delivering a scare-fueled ride that weaves together otherworldly suspense with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to channel basic terror, an entity born of forgotten ages, manipulating human fragility, and dealing with a force that questions who we are when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra meant evoking something more primal than sorrow. She is unseeing until the curse activates, and that conversion is haunting because it is so unshielded.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for streaming beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—ensuring subscribers worldwide can face this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its release of trailer #1, which has seen over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, spreading the horror to thrill-seekers globally.


Do not miss this unforgettable fall into madness. Experience *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to see these evil-rooted truths about our species.


For previews, production news, and reveals from the story's source, follow @YACFilm across social media and visit our horror hub.





American horror’s sea change: 2025 American release plan Mixes myth-forward possession, signature indie scares, and franchise surges

Ranging from pressure-cooker survival tales saturated with legendary theology as well as IP renewals as well as focused festival visions, 2025 looks like the most textured as well as blueprinted year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. studio powerhouses set cornerstones using marquee IP, simultaneously platform operators flood the fall with unboxed visions set against primordial unease. Meanwhile, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is drafting behind the kinetic energy from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Since Halloween is the prized date, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The fall stretch is the proving field, notably this year, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are surgical, thus 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Premium dread reemerges

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s schedule begins the calendar with an audacious swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in an immediate now. Steered by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. targeting mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Directed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with 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.

As summer winds down, Warner Bros. Pictures bows the concluding entry from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Though the outline is tried, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson is back, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: nostalgic menace, trauma explicitly handled, and eerie supernatural logic. This pass pushes higher, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The next entry deepens the tale, broadens the animatronic terror cast, courting teens and the thirty something base. It hits in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Firsts: Lean budgets, heavy bite

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

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn anchored 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. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

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 overweight mythology. No franchise baggage. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. 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. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy Brands: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, guided by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Dials to Watch

Mythic lanes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror comes roaring back
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

The big screen is a trust exercise
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Projection: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The approaching fright lineup: installments, standalone ideas, as well as A packed Calendar tailored for Scares

Dek The fresh horror calendar loads early with a January wave, after that spreads through the summer months, and carrying into the holidays, mixing marquee clout, inventive spins, and savvy calendar placement. Studios with streamers are betting on responsible budgets, theatrical-first rollouts, and shareable marketing that pivot these offerings into water-cooler talk.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The horror sector has shown itself to be the most reliable tool in annual schedules, a segment that can scale when it hits and still cushion the drag when it falls short. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for buyers that responsibly budgeted horror vehicles can lead cultural conversation, the following year continued the surge with visionary-driven titles and unexpected risers. The momentum translated to 2025, where returns and elevated films showed there is a market for multiple flavors, from sequel tracks to original features that perform internationally. The aggregate for 2026 is a programming that shows rare alignment across the industry, with defined corridors, a balance of marquee IP and first-time concepts, and a refocused priority on exhibition windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium video on demand and home streaming.

Studio leaders note the category now slots in as a fill-in ace on the slate. The genre can arrive on virtually any date, furnish a clean hook for trailers and UGC-friendly snippets, and over-index with moviegoers that line up on Thursday nights and stick through the second frame if the title fires. Following a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 pattern underscores conviction in that approach. The calendar rolls out with a thick January band, then targets spring into early summer for balance, while holding room for a autumn stretch that pushes into the Halloween corridor and into the next week. The arrangement also shows the ongoing integration of arthouse labels and OTT outlets that can build gradually, create conversation, and move wide at the precise moment.

A further high-level trend is IP cultivation across interlocking continuities and classic IP. The studios are not just turning out another continuation. They are setting up threaded continuity with a specialness, whether that is a title treatment that conveys a fresh attitude or a cast configuration that threads a next film to a vintage era. At the concurrently, the creative teams behind the eagerly awaited originals are doubling down on on-set craft, special makeup and site-specific worlds. That pairing gives 2026 a vital pairing of trust and newness, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount fires first with two marquee titles that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, presenting it as both a baton pass and a classic-mode character-focused installment. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the story approach announces a memory-charged strategy without looping the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Look for a marketing run fueled by signature symbols, initial cast looks, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the check over here scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will double down on. As a counterweight in summer, this one will go after wide buzz through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick updates to whatever defines genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three clear strategies. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is clean, melancholic, and easily pitched: a grieving man adopts an synthetic partner that turns into a dangerous lover. The date slots it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the marketing arm likely to echo viral uncanny stunts and brief clips that blurs intimacy and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be 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 allows a branding reveal to become an teaser payoff closer to the opening teaser. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele’s pictures are framed as director events, with a mystery-first teaser and a second beat that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The spooky-season slot gives Universal room to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has demonstrated that a in-your-face, practical-first style can feel high-value on a middle budget. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror shock that spotlights worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio books two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, preserving a dependable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is positioning as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both players and general audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build campaign creative around environmental design, and monster aesthetics, elements that can drive IMAX and PLF uptake and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by historical precision and linguistic texture, this time engaging werewolf myth. Focus has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is enthusiastic.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform plans for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s genre entries flow to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a sequence that boosts both premiere heat and subscription bumps in the back half. Prime Video blends catalogue additions with global pickups and short theatrical plays when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in catalog discovery, using editorial spots, fright rows, and featured rows to maximize the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix plays opportunist about internal projects and festival acquisitions, dating horror entries near launch and framing as events drops with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a dual-phase of selective theatrical runs and rapid platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has signaled readiness to invest in select projects with accomplished filmmakers or A-list packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation ramps.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 sequence with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is clean: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, reimagined for modern sound and image. 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 flagged a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the September weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, marshalling the project through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then relying on the December frame to increase reach. That positioning has delivered for craft-driven horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception supports. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using targeted theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their audience.

Franchise entries versus originals

By volume, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate fan equity. The potential drawback, as ever, is diminishing returns. The practical approach is to package each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is elevating character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-flavored turn from a new voice. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and visionary-led titles supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the assembly is anchored enough to generate pre-sales and early previews.

The last three-year set announce the model. In 2023, a cinema-first model that respected streaming windows did not deter a parallel release from delivering when the brand was powerful. In 2024, auteur craft horror punched above its weight in premium screens. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel new when they angle differently and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters lensed back-to-back, lets marketing to interlace chapters through cast and motif and to keep assets alive without pause points.

Technique and craft currents

The creative meetings behind 2026 horror indicate a continued shift toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that highlights creep and texture rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in long-lead features and guild coverage before rolling out a initial teaser that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and spurs shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta recalibration that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature design and production design, which are ideal for expo activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel must-have. Look for trailers that spotlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that play in premium auditoriums.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is heavy. 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 heftier brand moves. The month ends 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 credible, but the palette of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

February through May load in summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can deliver 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 moved through premium slots.

Late-season stretch leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a opaque tease strategy and limited teasers that favor idea over plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and card redemption.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s AI companion shifts into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed 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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: gothic-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 abrasive boss scramble to survive on a cut-off island as the control dynamic shifts and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to dread, founded on Cronin’s physical craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting setup that leverages the chill of a child’s mercurial senses. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-scale and celebrity-led spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A spoof revival that lampoons today’s horror trends and true-crime buzz. Rating: pending. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 global twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further opens again, with a fresh family bound to lingering terrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A reboot designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-first horror over action spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in progress. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and raw menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026, why now

Three hands-on forces structure this lineup. First, production that eased or reshuffled in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and shorter 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 dumps. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage bite-size scare clips from test screenings, precision scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

There is also the slotting calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, freeing space for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will line up across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, sound, 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 evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand gravity where needed, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver 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-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, keep the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.