Age-old Terror stirs: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling thriller, premiering October 2025 across global platforms

This blood-curdling spectral terror film from creator / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an long-buried malevolence when strangers become subjects in a devilish maze. Going live October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, the YouTube platform, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping chronicle of endurance and timeless dread that will reshape the horror genre this spooky time. Directed by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and cinematic feature follows five young adults who emerge imprisoned in a secluded structure under the aggressive grip of Kyra, a tormented girl consumed by a antiquated holy text monster. Steel yourself to be shaken by a motion picture adventure that harmonizes primitive horror with mystical narratives, arriving on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a historical pillar in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is reversed when the entities no longer originate from an outside force, but rather from their core. This embodies the most terrifying aspect of each of them. The result is a edge-of-seat moral showdown where the narrative becomes a brutal struggle between divinity and wickedness.


In a haunting woodland, five campers find themselves isolated under the malevolent sway and haunting of a elusive female presence. As the companions becomes vulnerable to resist her curse, isolated and tormented by unknowns beyond reason, they are made to face their emotional phantoms while the clock unceasingly pushes forward toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust escalates and teams collapse, requiring each character to examine their core and the idea of volition itself. The stakes surge with every instant, delivering a cinematic nightmare that connects occult fear with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to awaken primitive panic, an spirit rooted in antiquity, manipulating inner turmoil, and examining a being that forces self-examination when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra needed manifesting something beyond human emotion. She is ignorant until the demon emerges, and that metamorphosis is eerie because it is so deep.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—giving watchers anywhere can experience this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its first preview, which has seen over notable views.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, extending the thrill to fans of fear everywhere.


Experience this heart-stopping exploration of dread. Experience *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to acknowledge these ghostly lessons about human nature.


For teasers, production insights, and reveals from behind the lens, follow @YACMovie across social media and visit the official movie site.





Current horror’s tipping point: the 2025 cycle U.S. Slate Mixes archetypal-possession themes, art-house nightmares, alongside series shake-ups

Ranging from last-stand terror rooted in ancient scripture to installment follow-ups as well as pointed art-house angles, 2025 is coalescing into the most complex together with intentionally scheduled year since the mid-2010s.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. leading studios are anchoring the year with established lines, while digital services pack the fall with discovery plays as well as mythic dread. Across the art-house lane, festival-forward creators is fueled by the backdraft of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Since Halloween is the prized date, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, yet in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are intentional, so 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Prestige fear returns

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 set the base, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s distribution arm lights the fuse with a bold swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, in a modern-day environment. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. timed for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Eli Craig directs starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer eases, Warner’s schedule bows the concluding entry inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re engages, and those signature textures resurface: 70s style chill, trauma as theme, plus otherworld rules that chill. This pass pushes higher, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The next entry deepens the tale, grows the animatronic horror lineup, reaching teens and game grownups. It hits in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Platform Plays: Economy, maximum dread

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a body horror duet pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale led by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: 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 narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, 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 menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It looks like sharp programming. 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.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads 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.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, led by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

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.

Signals and Trends

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Projection: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The forthcoming 2026 terror season: installments, original films, paired with A Crowded Calendar designed for shocks

Dek: The new horror year lines up at the outset with a January logjam, thereafter unfolds through summer corridors, and far into the December corridor, mixing marquee clout, fresh ideas, and strategic calendar placement. The big buyers and platforms are prioritizing cost discipline, cinema-first plans, and social-fueled campaigns that convert genre releases into national conversation.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The genre has turned into the steady lever in studio slates, a genre that can grow when it performs and still cushion the floor when it falls short. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for greenlighters that efficiently budgeted scare machines can drive pop culture, the following year carried the beat with festival-darling auteurs and quiet over-performers. The run extended into the 2025 frame, where reboots and prestige plays confirmed there is room for diverse approaches, from series extensions to original features that export nicely. The sum for the 2026 slate is a programming that seems notably aligned across the market, with defined corridors, a harmony of recognizable IP and first-time concepts, and a revived emphasis on theater exclusivity that enhance post-theatrical value on premium video on demand and SVOD.

Buyers contend the genre now serves as a swing piece on the calendar. The genre can premiere on numerous frames, create a grabby hook for teasers and social clips, and outperform with audiences that appear on previews Thursday and sustain through the second frame if the offering hits. Emerging from a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 plan reflects certainty in that approach. The slate starts with a crowded January block, then uses spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while holding room for a fall run that extends to the Halloween corridor and into early November. The program also illustrates the deeper integration of specialty arms and streamers that can platform and widen, create conversation, and go nationwide at the sweet spot.

A second macro trend is IP stewardship across linked properties and classic IP. Major shops are not just producing another chapter. They are seeking to position story carry-over with a must-see charge, whether that is a title design that signals a re-angled tone or a talent selection that anchors a next film to a classic era. At the meanwhile, the auteurs behind the marquee originals are celebrating on-set craft, special makeup and site-specific worlds. That alloy affords the 2026 slate a lively combination of recognition and discovery, which is how the genre sells abroad.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount sets the tone early with two centerpiece pushes that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the heart, signaling it as both a passing of the torch and a rootsy character piece. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the narrative stance indicates a throwback-friendly angle without looping the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Look for a marketing run built on brand visuals, first images of characters, and a rollout cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will stress. As a summer counter-slot, this one will chase wide buzz through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format fitting quick pivots to whatever dominates the discourse that spring.

Universal has three specific bets. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is efficient, melancholic, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man onboards an intelligent companion that evolves into a deadly partner. The date slots it at the front of a front-loaded month, with marketing at Universal likely to mirror strange in-person beats and snackable content that interweaves intimacy and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up 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 makes room for a name unveil to become an earned moment closer to the early tease. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. His projects are framed as event films, with a hinting teaser and a second trailer wave that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot creates space for Universal to maximize 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, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has consistently shown that a gritty, on-set effects led style can feel high-value on a efficient spend. Look for a red-band summer horror rush that emphasizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio books two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, sustaining a proven supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is describing as a ground-zero restart 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 focus to serve both devotees and casuals. The fall slot affords Sony time to build materials around universe detail, and monster design, elements that can lift deluxe auditorium demand and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by immersive craft and period language, this time exploring werewolf lore. The distributor has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is favorable.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform windowing in 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s horror titles move to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a structure that boosts both initial urgency and viewer acquisition in the tail. Prime Video interleaves outside acquisitions with global pickups and small theatrical windows when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their edges in catalog engagement, using curated hubs, seasonal hubs, and collection rows to lengthen the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix plays opportunist about internal projects and festival additions, confirming horror entries closer to drop and framing as events debuts with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a hybrid of focused cinema runs and swift platform pivots that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown appetite to pick up select projects with prestige directors or star packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for retention when the genre conversation swells.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is engineering 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 direct: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, updated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a theatrical rollout for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late stretch.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the Christmas window to broaden. That positioning has paid off for craft-driven horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception supports. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using precision theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their subs.

Balance of brands and originals

By number, the 2026 slate tips toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage household recognition. The risk, as ever, is overexposure. The standing approach is to position each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is emphasizing character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is floating a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French sensibility from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the cast-creatives package is familiar enough to generate pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Comparable trends from recent years contextualize the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive window model that kept streaming intact did not obstruct a day-and-date experiment from winning when the brand was robust. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror exceeded expectations in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they shift POV and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters lensed sequentially, gives leeway to marketing to thread films through relationships and themes and to continue assets in field without hiatuses.

Production craft signals

The production chatter behind the upcoming entries point to a continued bias toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that emphasizes grain and menace rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most weblink severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft coverage before rolling out a initial teaser 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 calibrated for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and gathers shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta recalibration that centers its original star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature and environment design, which align with fan conventions and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel definitive. Look for trailers that foreground pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that benefit on big speakers.

Release calendar overview

January is full. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid bigger brand plays. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller 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 allows a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

Post-January through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Late summer into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a early fall window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a slow-reveal plan and limited previews that elevate concept over story.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card redemption.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s core. 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 bereaved man’s intelligent companion evolves into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked 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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: atmospheric game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her demanding boss work to survive on a desolate island as the power balance upends and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to nightmare, driven by Cronin’s physical craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. 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 in-home haunting tale that leverages the unease of a child’s tricky impressions. Rating: TBD. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A satire sequel that satirizes today’s horror trends and true crime fascinations. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites spreads, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new household entangled with long-buried horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on pure survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: not yet rated. Production: moving forward. 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 era-faithful speech and ancient menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the moment is 2026

Three movies grounded forces shape this lineup. First, production that decelerated or rearranged in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, 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 outpaced straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work bite-size scare clips from test screenings, curated scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, creating valuable space for genre entries that can command a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will line up across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 search for sleepers 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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, 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 beat and breadth. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats 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 like 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 qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, sound, and image-making that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is name recognition where it counts, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence 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 late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the shudders sell the seats.