Ancient Horror returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising horror feature, landing Oct 2025 on leading streamers

A blood-curdling spectral terror film from literary architect / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an primeval evil when unknowns become subjects in a cursed experiment. Available October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful portrayal of endurance and primordial malevolence that will resculpt horror this ghoul season. Brought to life by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and immersive motion picture follows five unknowns who snap to ensnared in a secluded shelter under the oppressive control of Kyra, a tormented girl possessed by a timeless Old Testament spirit. Get ready to be enthralled by a motion picture experience that weaves together primitive horror with ancient myths, hitting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a classic concept in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is subverted when the dark entities no longer emerge from elsewhere, but rather from within. This embodies the grimmest dimension of the victims. The result is a riveting mind game where the intensity becomes a ongoing conflict between moral forces.


In a forsaken natural abyss, five souls find themselves sealed under the malevolent dominion and curse of a secretive woman. As the ensemble becomes vulnerable to break her influence, disconnected and attacked by spirits impossible to understand, they are pushed to endure their inner horrors while the time harrowingly strikes toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion amplifies and bonds crack, prompting each figure to scrutinize their essence and the concept of free will itself. The cost grow with every passing moment, delivering a cinematic nightmare that marries unearthly horror with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to draw upon ancestral fear, an force rooted in antiquity, manipulating human fragility, and questioning a power that dismantles free will when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra meant evoking something more primal than sorrow. She is oblivious until the haunting manifests, and that change is bone-chilling because it is so unshielded.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for worldwide release beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing users internationally can witness this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its original clip, which has racked up over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, presenting the nightmare to scare fans abroad.


Join this heart-stopping fall into madness. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to dive into these ghostly lessons about the mind.


For previews, on-set glimpses, and updates from the story's source, follow @YACMovie across your socials and visit our film’s homepage.





The horror genre’s sea change: the year 2025 U.S. Slate fuses biblical-possession ideas, underground frights, set against returning-series thunder

Running from fight-to-live nightmare stories grounded in legendary theology to IP renewals set beside keen independent perspectives, 2025 looks like the most complex together with tactically planned year since the mid-2010s.

Call it full, but it is also focused. leading studios stabilize the year through proven series, concurrently digital services crowd the fall with fresh voices set against legend-coded dread. Meanwhile, indie storytellers is carried on the backdraft of a peak 2024 circuit. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, though in this cycle, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are methodical, and 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige fear returns

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s schedule lights the fuse with a bold swing: a modernized Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in an immediate now. Under director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. timed for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Under Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Initial heat flags it as potent.

By late summer, Warner’s pipeline rolls out the capstone from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Scott Derrickson is back, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: period tinged dread, trauma driven plotting, plus otherworld rules that chill. Here the stakes rise, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, builds out the animatronic fear crew, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It drops in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Digital Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

While the big screen favors titles you know, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Also rising is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga starring Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. 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 a calculated bet. No swollen lore. No sequel clutter. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. 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 the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Franchise Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

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

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Signals and Trends

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming 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 now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Big screen is a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

What’s Next: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. 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. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The upcoming chiller cycle: entries, universe starters, as well as A jammed Calendar engineered for jolts

Dek The brand-new genre year builds from day one with a January crush, before it stretches through summer corridors, and straight through the holiday frame, combining legacy muscle, new concepts, and calculated counter-scheduling. Studios and streamers are relying on cost discipline, theatrical leads, and shareable marketing that pivot these films into national conversation.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This category has established itself as the predictable swing in release plans, a lane that can spike when it catches and still cushion the losses when it under-delivers. After 2023 demonstrated to greenlighters that cost-conscious shockers can lead the discourse, the following year kept energy high with visionary-driven titles and under-the-radar smashes. The energy flowed into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and elevated films proved there is a lane for different modes, from franchise continuations to fresh IP that play globally. The end result for 2026 is a run that appears tightly organized across the market, with obvious clusters, a equilibrium of marquee IP and untested plays, and a tightened emphasis on theater exclusivity that feed downstream value on premium rental and OTT platforms.

Planners observe the space now functions as a plug-and-play option on the slate. Horror can launch on most weekends, supply a tight logline for teasers and shorts, and exceed norms with viewers that line up on advance nights and return through the week two if the feature pays off. Exiting a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 cadence shows comfort in that engine. The slate commences with a stacked January corridor, then primes spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while saving space for a late-year stretch that pushes into Halloween and into the next week. The calendar also features the expanded integration of indie arms and subscription services that can launch in limited release, create conversation, and roll out at the right moment.

A parallel macro theme is series management across brand ecosystems and legacy IP. The studios are not just turning out another installment. They are seeking to position brand continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a art treatment that announces a fresh attitude or a ensemble decision that connects a fresh chapter to a classic era. At the simultaneously, the writer-directors behind the eagerly awaited originals are prioritizing tactile craft, special makeup and grounded locations. That interplay yields 2026 a smart balance of assurance and shock, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount fires first with two headline projects that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the front, positioning the film as both a handoff and a back-to-basics character-driven entry. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach suggests a legacy-leaning campaign without covering again the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Anticipate a campaign fueled by franchise iconography, initial cast looks, and a promo sequence hitting late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will foreground. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will pursue large awareness through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format allowing quick switches to whatever drives horror talk that spring.

Universal has three unique lanes. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is clean, grief-rooted, and premise-first: a grieving man installs an digital partner that unfolds into a harmful mate. The date lines it up at the front of a stacked January, with the marketing arm likely to bring back odd public stunts and short reels that hybridizes love and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a proper title to become an event moment closer to the initial promo. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. The filmmaker’s films are set up as director events, with a hinting teaser and a second wave of trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The late-month date affords Universal to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to 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 is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has long shown that a blood-soaked, practical-effects forward strategy can feel high-value on a lean spend. Expect a hard-R summer horror shot that leans hard into offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio books two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, holding a steady supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is describing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both diehards and novices. The fall slot affords Sony time to build marketing units around lore, and monster aesthetics, elements that can drive premium booking interest and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends Eggers’ run of period horror built on rigorous craft and archaic language, this time orbiting lycan myth. The company has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform strategies for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s horror titles transition to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a ordering that optimizes both initial urgency and trial spikes in the later window. Prime Video continues to mix licensed content with worldwide buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data points to it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in catalog discovery, using timely promos, seasonal hubs, and collection rows to extend momentum on lifetime take. Netflix keeps options open about in-house releases and festival snaps, scheduling horror entries toward the drop and eventizing rollouts with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a staged of selective theatrical runs and fast windowing that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a curated basis. The platform has signaled readiness to pick up select projects with accomplished filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation peaks.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 pipeline with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is tight: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, refined for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf this page Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a traditional cinema play for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the autumn weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then working the Christmas corridor to scale. That positioning has proved effective for auteur horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception warrants. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using precision theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their user base.

Brands and originals

By weight, the 2026 slate favors the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on name recognition. The concern, as ever, is diminishing returns. The preferred tactic is to brand each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is underscoring character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a Francophone tone from a emerging director. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned 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 playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the cast-creatives package is familiar enough to build pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Recent comps announce the approach. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that observed windows did not prevent a day-date try from winning when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror exceeded expectations in premium screens. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they shift POV and widen scale. 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 two-film strategy, with chapters produced back-to-back, permits marketing to link the films through character web and themes and to hold creative in the market without pause points.

How the films are being made

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the 2026 entries foreshadow a continued emphasis on tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is on navigate here track for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that foregrounds mood and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and artisan spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for red-band excess, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and earns shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta-horror reset that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature execution and sets, which align with convention floor stunts and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel definitive. Look for trailers that underscore disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that benefit on big speakers.

Month-by-month map

January is stacked. 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 foggy reset amid headline IP. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the mix of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth holds.

Pre-summer months load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds 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 supplies ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for 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 excelled. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a late-September window that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited pre-release reveals that favor idea over plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card spend.

Title snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s algorithmic partner becomes something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way 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: mood-led 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 hard-edged boss claw to survive on a isolated island as the chain of command swivels and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to chill, driven by Cronin’s in-camera craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting narrative that threads the dread through a young child’s flickering point of view. Rating: rating pending. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven spectral suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that satirizes today’s horror trends and true-crime manias. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 bursts, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new clan snared by long-buried horrors. Rating: TBD. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on classic survival-horror tone over action pyrotechnics. Rating: TBD. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: undetermined. Production: active. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

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 bone-deep menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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 and why now

Three execution-level forces drive this lineup. First, production that decelerated or reshuffled in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous 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, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, offering breathing room for genre entries that can lead a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will line up across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, 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 dark-horse 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 harvest those lanes. 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, soundcraft, and framing 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 Promising 2026

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand power where it counts, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, guard the secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.