Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens ancient terror, a hair raising feature, launching October 2025 across leading streamers

This haunting otherworldly suspense film from scriptwriter / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an prehistoric evil when outsiders become pawns in a malevolent trial. Hitting screens on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing story of staying alive and timeless dread that will redefine horror this Halloween season. Realized by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and gothic film follows five individuals who suddenly rise stranded in a wilderness-bound shack under the sinister rule of Kyra, a tormented girl possessed by a ancient ancient fiend. Anticipate to be gripped by a audio-visual presentation that combines deep-seated panic with arcane tradition, landing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a iconic trope in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is flipped when the monsters no longer originate from a different plane, but rather from within. This depicts the most sinister part of each of them. The result is a gripping spiritual tug-of-war where the emotions becomes a perpetual face-off between light and darkness.


In a desolate terrain, five young people find themselves confined under the evil effect and grasp of a elusive spirit. As the ensemble becomes unable to combat her influence, cut off and pursued by creatures ungraspable, they are compelled to battle their inner horrors while the doomsday meter without pity ticks toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion builds and associations crack, requiring each character to reflect on their personhood and the integrity of personal agency itself. The threat grow with every heartbeat, delivering a fear-soaked story that combines unearthly horror with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to awaken ancestral fear, an evil older than civilization itself, operating within emotional fractures, and challenging a presence that forces self-examination when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra called for internalizing something beyond human emotion. She is insensitive until the possession kicks in, and that conversion is eerie because it is so unshielded.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for audience access beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—providing watchers around the globe can experience this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its first trailer, which has earned over massive response.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, taking the terror to a global viewership.


Witness this unforgettable descent into hell. Face *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to dive into these haunting secrets about human nature.


For director insights, making-of footage, and promotions from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursed across Instagram and Twitter and visit the official digital haunt.





Horror’s sea change: the 2025 cycle U.S. lineup weaves myth-forward possession, microbudget gut-punches, and series shake-ups

Ranging from fight-to-live nightmare stories suffused with legendary theology and extending to installment follow-ups as well as cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is emerging as horror’s most layered paired with carefully orchestrated year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. top-tier distributors lock in tentpoles through proven series, simultaneously subscription platforms flood the fall with unboxed visions plus scriptural shivers. On the festival side, the artisan tier is drafting behind the uplift of 2024’s record festival wave. As Halloween stays the prime week, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, however this time, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are precise, and 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige fear returns

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal banner lights the fuse with a headline swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in a clear present-tense world. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. targeting mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. From director Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s schedule delivers the closing chapter within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re teams, and those signature textures resurface: period tinged dread, trauma explicitly handled, and eerie supernatural logic. This time the stakes climb, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The next entry deepens the tale, stretches the animatronic parade, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It drops in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Digital Originals: No Budget, No Problem

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a two hander body horror spiral featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, 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. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is virtually assured for fall.

On the docket is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga featuring 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 title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as 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 is a clever angle. No overstuffed canon. No continuity burden. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy Lines: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, led by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

What to Watch

Mythic lanes mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror resurges
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Badges become bargaining chips
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Big screen is a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Forward View: Autumn density and winter pivot

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The new terror lineup: follow-ups, fresh concepts, plus A brimming Calendar designed for shocks

Dek The brand-new scare cycle stacks in short order with a January logjam, then spreads through summer corridors, and pushing into the holiday stretch, marrying series momentum, new concepts, and tactical calendar placement. Studio marketers and platforms are prioritizing lean spends, big-screen-first runs, and short-form initiatives that pivot these pictures into mainstream chatter.

The genre’s posture for 2026

Horror has proven to be the dependable option in release plans, a genre that can break out when it breaks through and still safeguard the drawdown when it misses. After the 2023 year re-taught strategy teams that low-to-mid budget genre plays can command audience talk, 2024 kept energy high with auteur-driven buzzy films and quiet over-performers. The head of steam carried into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and elevated films proved there is an opening for diverse approaches, from series extensions to fresh IP that perform internationally. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a slate that appears tightly organized across the field, with mapped-out bands, a spread of familiar brands and original hooks, and a revived commitment on theater exclusivity that fuel later windows on paid VOD and platforms.

Distribution heads claim the space now serves as a swing piece on the schedule. The genre can open on many corridors, generate a sharp concept for marketing and UGC-friendly snippets, and outpace with moviegoers that line up on Thursday previews and keep coming through the week two if the title pays off. In the wake of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 mapping demonstrates trust in that playbook. The calendar rolls out with a loaded January band, then taps spring and early summer for audience offsets, while clearing room for a fall cadence that reaches into spooky season and into November. The schedule also spotlights the increasing integration of arthouse labels and SVOD players that can platform a title, stoke social talk, and expand at the sweet spot.

A further high-level trend is brand strategy across interlocking continuities and classic IP. Distribution groups are not just making another sequel. They are setting up lore continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a graphic identity that indicates a reframed mood or a star attachment that connects a next film to a vintage era. At the alongside this, the filmmakers behind the most buzzed-about originals are embracing practical craft, in-camera effects and concrete locations. That fusion offers 2026 a smart balance of familiarity and freshness, which is how the films export.

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

Paramount fires first with two big-ticket projects that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the heart, signaling it as both a succession moment and a DNA-forward character piece. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture telegraphs a nostalgia-forward angle without recycling the last two entries’ sibling arc. A campaign is expected rooted in heritage visuals, first-look character reveals, and a tiered teaser plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

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 reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will play up. As a summer alternative, this one will chase broad awareness through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format supporting quick shifts to whatever dominates the conversation that spring.

Universal has three differentiated projects. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is clean, heartbroken, and big-hook: a grieving man adopts an virtual partner that unfolds into a lethal partner. The date slots it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s team likely to echo off-kilter promo beats and micro spots that interlaces longing and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under working 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 title drop to become an teaser payoff closer to the initial tease. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s pictures are set up as must-see filmmaker statements, with a teaser that reveals little and a later trailer push that shape mood without giving away the concept. The prime October weekend gives the studio room to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has established that a gnarly, hands-on effects execution can feel prestige on a middle budget. Expect a blood-and-grime summer horror shot that embraces international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio places two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, carrying a bankable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is describing as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both devotees and newcomers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build materials around environmental design, and creature work, elements that can stoke deluxe auditorium demand and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by immersive craft and historical speech, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is warm.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform tactics for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s horror titles head to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a ladder that maximizes both first-week urgency and viewer acquisition in the after-window. Prime Video stitches together licensed titles with international acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data supports it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library engagement, using timely promos, fright rows, and collection rows to lengthen the tail on the horror cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about first-party entries and festival wins, dating horror entries with shorter lead times and staging as events go-lives with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a laddered of tailored theatrical exposure and rapid platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a per-project basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to pick up select projects with top-tier auteurs or A-list packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for platform stickiness when the genre conversation spikes.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 arc with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is clean: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, recalibrated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the fall weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, marshalling the project through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday frame to increase reach. That positioning has paid off for elevated genre with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many 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 surge if reception merits. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using select theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their audience.

Franchise entries versus originals

By weight, the 2026 slate tips toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness franchise value. The caveat, as ever, is brand wear. The operating solution is to pitch each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is centering relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is floating a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-flavored turn from a buzzed-about director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a island-set survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the assembly is assuring enough to build pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Three-year comps announce the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive window model that maintained windows did not obstruct a day-date try from thriving when the brand was sticky. In 2024, art-forward horror popped in PLF. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they shift POV and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on 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, permits marketing to cross-link entries through character arcs and themes and to hold creative in the market without pause points.

Behind-the-camera trends

The director conversations behind these films telegraph a continued emphasis on material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that emphasizes aura and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in trade spotlights and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and spurs shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta refresh that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature execution and sets, which align with fan conventions and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel must-have. Look for trailers that elevate hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in big rooms.

From winter to holidays

January is jammed. 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 quiet contrast amid headline IP. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the tonal variety carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word this content of mouth carries.

Pre-summer months stage summer. Scream 7 opens February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Late summer into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a early fall window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a slow-reveal plan and limited pre-release reveals that elevate concept over story.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and holiday gift-card burn.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s artificial companion becomes something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem 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 be swallowed by a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 unyielding boss battle to survive on a far-flung island as the power balance of power swivels and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to fright, built on Cronin’s practical craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 intimate haunting piece that refracts terror through a kid’s wavering subjective view. Rating: TBA. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that skewers present-day genre chatter and true-crime obsessions. Rating: pending. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 flares, with an transnational 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: undisclosed. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a fresh family caught in past horrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A reboot designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in classic survival-horror tone over action pyrotechnics. Rating: TBD. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: closely held. Rating: TBD. Production: continuing. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and elemental fear. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. 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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026 and why now

Three execution-level forces define this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or rearranged in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work clippable moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, making room for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will stack across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

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

The sleeper chase 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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first unexpected 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, sonics, and cinematography 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 Looks Exciting

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand equity where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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, deliver taut trailers, hold the mystery, and let the gasps sell the seats.