Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primeval horror, a pulse pounding shocker, premiering Oct 2025 on major streaming services

One spine-tingling spiritual fear-driven tale from literary architect / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an archaic malevolence when unfamiliar people become subjects in a fiendish ordeal. Streaming this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing saga of struggle and archaic horror that will alter terror storytelling this season. Guided by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and cinematic story follows five unknowns who regain consciousness stuck in a isolated cabin under the malignant command of Kyra, a cursed figure controlled by a two-thousand-year-old biblical force. Be prepared to be seized by a immersive journey that harmonizes primitive horror with mystical narratives, releasing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a historical theme in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is redefined when the spirits no longer emerge from beyond, but rather from within. This symbolizes the deepest element of the group. The result is a harrowing emotional conflict where the narrative becomes a constant fight between purity and corruption.


In a remote landscape, five characters find themselves sealed under the sinister dominion and grasp of a enigmatic figure. As the team becomes defenseless to combat her rule, marooned and stalked by beings unfathomable, they are cornered to reckon with their inner demons while the doomsday meter brutally draws closer toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion amplifies and associations erode, demanding each cast member to rethink their values and the structure of free will itself. The threat climb with every second, delivering a nightmarish journey that harmonizes otherworldly suspense with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to dive into core terror, an entity born of forgotten ages, emerging via emotional fractures, and examining a spirit that tests the soul when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra called for internalizing something deeper than fear. She is unseeing until the evil takes hold, and that change is emotionally raw because it is so intimate.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for digital release beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—offering customers no matter where they are can face this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its first preview, which has attracted over 100K plays.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, offering the tale to international horror buffs.


Join this visceral journey into fear. Face *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to see these evil-rooted truths about the human condition.


For behind-the-scenes access, filmmaker commentary, and promotions from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursed across Instagram and Twitter and visit the film’s website.





Current horror’s watershed moment: the 2025 season domestic schedule integrates Mythic Possession, signature indie scares, stacked beside brand-name tremors

Running from life-or-death fear inspired by near-Eastern lore and extending to series comebacks set beside surgical indie voices, 2025 appears poised to be the most dimensioned and tactically planned year for the modern era.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. Major studios lock in tentpoles with known properties, in tandem streaming platforms crowd the fall with debut heat as well as legend-coded dread. On the festival side, horror’s indie wing is catching the tailwinds from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, distinctly in 2025, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are intentional, so 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s schedule starts the year with an audacious swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. arriving mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Eli Craig directs starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early reactions hint at fangs.

As summer eases, Warner’s slate launches the swan song from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Even with a familiar chassis, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re engages, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: retro dread, trauma in the foreground, paired with unsettling supernatural order. Here the stakes rise, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, builds out the animatronic fear crew, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It arrives in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streamer Exclusives: Economy, maximum dread

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a sealed box body horror arc pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Also rising is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable with Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to 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 terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is a calculated bet. No swollen lore. No sequel clutter. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Badges as Fuel

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

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Trends to Watch

Old myth goes broad
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 does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

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

Streaming originals get teeth
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Outlook: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The 2026 genre year to come: follow-ups, fresh concepts, plus A Crowded Calendar designed for goosebumps

Dek: The emerging terror season crams up front with a January pile-up, from there carries through June and July, and well into the late-year period, balancing brand equity, creative pitches, and strategic counterprogramming. Studios with streamers are committing to mid-range economics, exclusive theatrical windows first, and buzz-forward plans that position these pictures into water-cooler talk.

Horror momentum into 2026

The genre has proven to be the predictable move in distribution calendars, a category that can scale when it breaks through and still insulate the drag when it under-delivers. After 2023 reminded executives that responsibly budgeted genre plays can lead mainstream conversation, 2024 carried the beat with director-led heat and quiet over-performers. The trend extended into the 2025 frame, where revived properties and critical darlings showed there is an opening for many shades, from ongoing IP entries to director-led originals that translate worldwide. The result for 2026 is a programming that presents tight coordination across players, with defined corridors, a pairing of brand names and new packages, and a reinvigorated eye on big-screen windows that increase tail monetization on premium video on demand and home platforms.

Planners observe the genre now behaves like a plug-and-play option on the programming map. Horror can launch on almost any weekend, offer a clear pitch for previews and UGC-friendly snippets, and exceed norms with moviegoers that come out on Thursday previews and return through the next weekend if the movie pays off. Following a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 configuration telegraphs assurance in that setup. The year opens with a busy January block, then turns to spring and early summer for audience offsets, while reserving space for a autumn push that extends to Halloween and past Halloween. The grid also underscores the tightening integration of specialized imprints and digital platforms that can platform a title, spark evangelism, and move wide at the proper time.

A second macro trend is IP stewardship across linked properties and classic IP. Major shops are not just greenlighting another follow-up. They are aiming to frame continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a title presentation that indicates a recalibrated tone or a casting choice that reconnects a upcoming film to a heyday. At the concurrently, the filmmakers behind the top original plays are prioritizing physical effects work, makeup and prosthetics and distinct locales. That interplay provides 2026 a smart balance of known notes and freshness, which is how the genre sells abroad.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount establishes early momentum with two marquee projects that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the front, presenting it as both a lineage transfer and a origin-leaning relationship-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the authorial approach telegraphs a memory-charged treatment without looping the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign leaning on franchise iconography, first images of characters, and a rollout cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

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 reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will play up. As a summer contrast play, this one will seek four-quadrant chatter through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format making room for quick updates to whatever dominates trend lines that spring.

Universal has three specific bets. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is clean, tragic, and big-hook: a grieving man implements an virtual partner that becomes a dangerous lover. The date puts it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the studio’s marketing likely to iterate on strange in-person beats and short reels that melds devotion and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a proper title to become an headline beat closer to the opening teaser. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele’s releases are branded as event films, with a teaser that holds back and a later creative that shape mood without giving away the concept. The late-October frame gives Universal room to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a tactile, practical-effects forward method can feel big on a controlled budget. Expect a viscera-heavy summer horror rush that pushes offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio books two franchise maneuvers in this page the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, sustaining a proven supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is selling as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both fans and general audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build materials around world-building, and creature design, elements that can drive IMAX and PLF uptake and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on historical precision and textual fidelity, this time set against lycan legends. The imprint has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is glowing.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform tactics for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s releases window into copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a stair-step that expands both first-week urgency and sign-up spikes in the downstream. Prime Video continues to mix outside acquisitions with global acquisitions and limited runs in theaters when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library curation, using well-timed internal promotions, genre hubs, and featured rows to keep attention on 2026 genre cume. Netflix retains agility about original films and festival wins, timing horror entries closer to drop and coalescing around drops with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a two-step of focused cinema runs and short jumps to platform that monetizes buzz via trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a per-project basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to purchase select projects with award winners or star-driven packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for sustained usage when the genre conversation peaks.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 lane with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is clean: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, refined for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a big-screen first plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the autumn weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, escorting the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday frame to open out. That positioning has worked well for craft-driven horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception merits. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using limited theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their community.

Balance of brands and originals

By share, 2026 tilts in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap name recognition. The question, as ever, is brand wear. The practical approach is to sell each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is bringing forward character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-flavored turn from a emerging director. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the assembly is assuring enough to spark pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Three-year comps illuminate the logic. In 2023, a exclusive window model that maintained windows did not hamper a day-and-date experiment from paying off when the brand was robust. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror exceeded expectations in premium formats. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they reframe POV and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, allows marketing to bridge entries through character web and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without extended gaps.

Technique and craft currents

The creative meetings behind 2026 horror signal a continued turn toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that foregrounds texture and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft features before rolling out a tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has succeeded 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 connects worldwide in red-band trailers and gathers shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta reframe that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature design and production design, which match well with convention activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel must-have. Look for trailers that spotlight pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that land in premium houses.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is stacked. 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 big-brand pushes. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the mix of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Winter into spring seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a peekaboo tease plan and limited previews that prioritize concept over plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s machine mate grows into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a unsettled 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 unyielding boss battle to survive on a uninhabited island as the pecking order swivels and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to fright, rooted in Cronin’s tactile craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting piece that pipes the unease through a kid’s flickering perspective. Rating: forthcoming. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

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 send-up revival that needles today’s horror trends and true crime fervors. Rating: TBA. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites flares, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new clan linked to lingering terrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A reboot designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for true survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: TBA. Production: underway. 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 era-faithful speech and primal menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026, why now

Three workable forces inform this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or re-slotted in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and tighter 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 overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage social-ready stingers from test screenings, precision scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, freeing space for genre entries that can capture a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will stack across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for 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 surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 surprise over-performer 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run 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 bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, acoustics, 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.

A Promising 2026

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is name recognition where it counts, filmmaker vision where it matters, 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, keep secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.