Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primordial evil, a nerve shredding chiller, launching October 2025 across top streaming platforms

A eerie supernatural thriller from literary architect / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an primeval fear when drifters become pawns in a demonic ritual. Launching this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful depiction of perseverance and primeval wickedness that will reimagine terror storytelling this ghoul season. Guided by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and atmospheric thriller follows five lost souls who come to stranded in a wilderness-bound shelter under the dark sway of Kyra, a central character possessed by a ancient holy text monster. Ready yourself to be ensnared by a screen-based venture that fuses bodily fright with arcane tradition, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a historical fixture in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is inverted when the entities no longer arise from external sources, but rather through their own souls. This embodies the malevolent dimension of all involved. The result is a harrowing internal warfare where the plotline becomes a unforgiving contest between innocence and sin.


In a barren wilderness, five souls find themselves caught under the unholy presence and inhabitation of a haunted person. As the companions becomes defenseless to withstand her manipulation, disconnected and pursued by beings unnamable, they are confronted to stand before their darkest emotions while the clock mercilessly strikes toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease swells and alliances shatter, driving each soul to evaluate their character and the idea of conscious will itself. The cost magnify with every tick, delivering a scare-fueled ride that blends spiritual fright with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to draw upon instinctual horror, an power older than civilization itself, manipulating soul-level flaws, and examining a force that redefines identity when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra meant channeling something unfamiliar to reason. She is oblivious until the curse activates, and that transformation is haunting because it is so visceral.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for worldwide release beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—making sure households in all regions can get immersed in this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its release of trailer #1, which has pulled in over 100,000 views.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, exporting the fear to lovers of terror across nations.


Join this soul-jarring fall into madness. Confront *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to see these spiritual awakenings about the soul.


For sneak peeks, production news, and insider scoops from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursed across Facebook and TikTok and visit the official movie site.





Contemporary horror’s inflection point: 2025 across markets U.S. calendar Mixes legend-infused possession, microbudget gut-punches, plus legacy-brand quakes

From grit-forward survival fare infused with ancient scripture and stretching into returning series paired with incisive indie visions, 2025 appears poised to be the most complex and carefully orchestrated year since the mid-2010s.

Call it full, but it is also focused. top-tier distributors lock in tentpoles with franchise anchors, in parallel premium streamers front-load the fall with unboxed visions alongside ancient terrors. Meanwhile, the artisan tier is buoyed by the momentum from a record 2024 festival run. Since Halloween is the prized date, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, yet in 2025, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are exacting, and 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Premium genre swings back

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s slate sets the tone with a headline swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, in a modern-day environment. Led by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. landing in mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Guided by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer wanes, Warner’s slate drops the final chapter from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

The Black Phone 2 follows. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson re teams, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: vintage toned fear, trauma as text, plus otherworld rules that chill. Here the stakes rise, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The follow up digs further into canon, grows the animatronic horror lineup, courting teens and the thirty something base. It arrives in December, pinning the winter close.

Streaming Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is virtually assured for fall.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn starring Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: 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 Underneath: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing 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 smart play. No puffed out backstory. No franchise baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, with Francis Lawrence directing, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Trend Lines

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror returns
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forward View: Fall stack and winter swing card

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The next genre season: installments, fresh concepts, in tandem with A jammed Calendar designed for chills

Dek The emerging scare slate packs immediately with a January cluster, from there unfolds through the warm months, and carrying into the festive period, weaving franchise firepower, original angles, and well-timed release strategy. Major distributors and platforms are committing to smart costs, box-office-first windows, and social-driven marketing that convert horror entries into cross-demo moments.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror marketplace has proven to be the bankable lever in studio lineups, a vertical that can accelerate when it connects and still mitigate the floor when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year showed buyers that cost-conscious horror vehicles can steer the national conversation, the following year maintained heat with buzzy auteur projects and word-of-mouth wins. The momentum flowed into 2025, where revived properties and elevated films made clear there is a market for a variety of tones, from legacy continuations to filmmaker-driven originals that resonate abroad. The sum for 2026 is a schedule that is strikingly coherent across the field, with defined corridors, a mix of marquee IP and original hooks, and a recommitted attention on exclusive windows that fuel later windows on premium rental and SVOD.

Studio leaders note the space now works like a flex slot on the calendar. The genre can launch on almost any weekend, create a tight logline for trailers and platform-native cuts, and punch above weight with demo groups that line up on Thursday nights and continue through the second frame if the title delivers. After a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 cadence demonstrates conviction in that approach. The calendar kicks off with a loaded January lineup, then primes spring and early summer for counterweight, while carving room for a late-year stretch that stretches into late October and into the next week. The arrangement also reflects the continuing integration of indie arms and streaming partners that can develop over weeks, grow buzz, and move wide at the proper time.

A notable top-line trend is legacy care across brand ecosystems and legacy franchises. Big banners are not just producing another follow-up. They are trying to present threaded continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a title design that signals a tonal shift or a casting pivot that connects a next entry to a classic era. At the meanwhile, the auteurs behind the headline-grabbing originals are celebrating physical effects work, real effects and location-forward worlds. That convergence gives 2026 a lively combination of home base and unexpected turns, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount defines the early cadence with two prominent titles that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the core, positioning the film as both a passing of the torch and a DNA-forward character-first story. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the story approach announces a nostalgia-forward framework without rehashing the last two entries’ sibling arc. Watch for a push built on franchise iconography, early character teases, and a staggered trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also reboots 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 as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will feature. As a summer counter-slot, this one will go after wide buzz through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format making room for quick updates to whatever defines the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three differentiated projects. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is elegant, melancholic, and high-concept: a grieving man purchases an virtual partner that becomes a deadly partner. The date places it at the front of a thick month, with the Universal machine likely to replay strange in-person beats and micro spots that interlaces love and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a title drop to become an attention spike closer to the early tease. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele’s pictures are sold as signature events, with a hinting teaser and a later creative that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween runway opens a lane to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate 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 helms, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has long shown that a raw, practical-effects forward treatment can feel elevated on a middle budget. Position this as a hard-R summer horror charge that pushes foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio mounts two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, keeping a evergreen supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is selling as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both fans and curious audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build materials around mythos, and creature effects, elements that can stoke format premiums and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror centered on obsessive craft and archaic language, this time set against lycan legends. The imprint has already set the date for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is supportive.

Digital platform strategies

Platform tactics for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal titles flow to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a pacing that fortifies both FOMO and sign-up spikes in the downstream. Prime Video balances third-party pickups with global acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library curation, using prominent placements, fright rows, and curated strips to prolong the run on the annual genre haul. Netflix plays opportunist about original films and festival deals, finalizing horror entries near launch and coalescing around premieres with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a one-two of targeted theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a discrete basis. The platform has indicated interest to secure select projects with accomplished filmmakers or star-driven packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for monthly activity when the genre conversation ramps.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 runway with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is straightforward: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, reimagined for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the October weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then working the holiday corridor to broaden. That positioning has delivered for arthouse horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception prompts. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using small theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Balance of brands and originals

By weight, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap cultural cachet. The watch-out, as ever, is audience fatigue. The operating solution is to position each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is centering character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a Francophone tone from a ascendant talent. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Originals and visionary-led titles keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the bundle is anchored enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Comparable trends from recent years announce the approach. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that held distribution windows did not preclude a simultaneous release test from performing when the brand was strong. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror over-performed in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they pivot perspective and grow have a peek at this web-site scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, permits marketing to thread films through character web and themes and to keep assets in-market without long breaks.

Creative tendencies and craft

The shop talk behind the year’s horror hint at a continued turn toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that emphasizes atmosphere and fear rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in long-lead features and technical spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that withholds plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for red-band excess, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and produces shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta pivot that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature craft and set design, which align with convention activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel definitive. Look for trailers that accent pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that benefit on big speakers.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is busy. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid marquee brands. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the variety of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth persists.

February through May prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now accommodates 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 divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Back half into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a slow-reveal plan and limited disclosures that stress concept over spoilers.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card burn.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s machine mate grows into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 tough boss push to survive on a remote island as the control dynamic reverses and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to dread, rooted in Cronin’s in-camera craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting tale that explores the horror of a child’s uncertain read. Rating: pending. Production: fully shot. Positioning: major-studio and A-list fronted eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A genre lampoon that skewers of-the-moment horror beats and true crime preoccupations. Rating: pending. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 ignites, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new clan snared by residual nightmares. Rating: pending. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A fresh restart designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-driven horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: pending. 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: intentionally withheld. Rating: to be announced. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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-specific language and bone-deep menace. Rating: TBD. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026 lands now

Three practical forces define this lineup. First, production that downshifted or migrated in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and shorter timelines. 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 surpassed straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work turnkey scare beats from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Calendar math also matters. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, providing runway for genre entries that can command a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will stack across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, 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 efficient band. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, 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-hit hunt continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, 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 escalate across the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, aural design, and imagery 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

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand power where it counts, inventive vision where it helps, 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, lock the reveals, and let the gasps sell the seats.