Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primordial evil, a nerve shredding feature, landing Oct 2025 on top streamers

One hair-raising occult terror film from storyteller / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an prehistoric horror when passersby become pawns in a dark contest. Streaming October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing narrative of resistance and ancient evil that will redefine the fear genre this season. Created by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and cinematic feature follows five unknowns who wake up stuck in a off-grid cottage under the aggressive dominion of Kyra, a haunted figure haunted by a antiquated holy text monster. Ready yourself to be captivated by a motion picture event that unites instinctive fear with legendary tales, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a time-honored narrative in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is flipped when the forces no longer manifest externally, but rather within themselves. This echoes the haunting layer of the protagonists. The result is a harrowing emotional conflict where the events becomes a intense conflict between moral forces.


In a haunting outland, five individuals find themselves sealed under the malevolent dominion and curse of a uncanny person. As the cast becomes powerless to break her dominion, isolated and attacked by creatures beyond reason, they are forced to reckon with their inner demons while the doomsday meter without pity strikes toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear amplifies and bonds splinter, requiring each person to rethink their true nature and the idea of personal agency itself. The threat intensify with every beat, delivering a scare-fueled ride that merges otherworldly suspense with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to dig into basic terror, an force beyond recorded history, channeling itself through our fears, and dealing with a spirit that questions who we are when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra called for internalizing something beyond human emotion. She is clueless until the entity awakens, and that metamorphosis is haunting because it is so close.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for worldwide release beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing subscribers anywhere can watch this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its original promo, which has earned over 100,000 views.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, delivering the story to scare fans abroad.


Don’t miss this visceral trip into the unknown. Watch *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to experience these spiritual awakenings about free will.


For exclusive trailers, making-of footage, and news directly from production, follow @YACMovie across Facebook and TikTok and visit our spooky domain.





Modern horror’s Turning Point: the 2025 season U.S. Slate Mixes biblical-possession ideas, independent shockers, stacked beside brand-name tremors

Kicking off with endurance-driven terror steeped in scriptural legend and stretching into IP renewals as well as acutely observed indies, 2025 looks like horror’s most layered as well as intentionally scheduled year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. Top studios plant stakes across the year using marquee IP, even as premium streamers stack the fall with new perspectives in concert with legend-coded dread. On the festival side, indie storytellers is fueled by the backdraft of 2024’s record festival wave. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are precise, as a result 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige fear returns

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 set the base, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal Pictures fires the first shot with a confident swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in a modern-day environment. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. Slated for 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.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Steered by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

At summer’s close, Warner’s pipeline sets loose the finale of its most reliable horror franchise: 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. While the template is known, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Next is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson is back, and the memorable motifs return: old school creep, trauma foregrounded, along with eerie supernatural rules. The stakes escalate here, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The next entry deepens the tale, grows the animatronic horror lineup, bridging teens and legacy players. It drops in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Firsts: Low budgets, big teeth

While the big screen favors titles you know, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a forensic chill anthology braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a two hander body horror spiral led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

A handful of other streaming indies hover 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.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. That is a savvy move. No puffed out backstory. No continuity burden. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

From Festivals to Market

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

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

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

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Series Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, Directed 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.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

What to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror comes roaring back
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Outlook: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The new fear Year Ahead: installments, Originals, as well as A packed Calendar engineered for goosebumps

Dek The new horror cycle clusters in short order with a January traffic jam, thereafter spreads through the summer months, and straight through the December corridor, balancing legacy muscle, creative pitches, and data-minded counterprogramming. The big buyers and platforms are embracing smart costs, big-screen-first runs, and buzz-forward plans that shape horror entries into mainstream chatter.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This space has become the surest tool in studio lineups, a corner that can break out when it resonates and still buffer the downside when it fails to connect. After 2023 re-taught executives that cost-conscious horror vehicles can shape cultural conversation, 2024 maintained heat with filmmaker-forward plays and stealth successes. The upswing carried into 2025, where reboots and premium-leaning entries highlighted there is room for different modes, from continued chapters to original one-offs that perform internationally. The aggregate for 2026 is a schedule that is strikingly coherent across the major shops, with strategic blocks, a combination of recognizable IP and untested plays, and a reinvigorated priority on theater exclusivity that boost PVOD and platform value on premium digital rental and home platforms.

Studio leaders note the category now acts as a plug-and-play option on the schedule. The genre can roll out on nearly any frame, supply a clear pitch for trailers and vertical videos, and outpace with patrons that show up on Thursday previews and keep coming through the week two if the release works. Coming out of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 plan shows assurance in that engine. The calendar rolls out with a heavy January schedule, then plants flags in spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while holding room for a autumn push that pushes into late October and past the holiday. The calendar also underscores the continuing integration of arthouse labels and home platforms that can platform a title, ignite recommendations, and go nationwide at the timely point.

A second macro trend is brand management across shared universes and veteran brands. The players are not just turning out another return. They are looking to package connection with a heightened moment, whether that is a brandmark that announces a re-angled tone or a lead change that reconnects a new installment to a initial period. At the very same time, the helmers behind the most watched originals are favoring on-set craft, on-set effects and concrete locations. That combination hands 2026 a robust balance of assurance and freshness, which is why the genre exports well.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount fires first with two marquee pushes that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the heart, setting it up as both a relay and a return-to-roots relationship-driven entry. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the authorial approach indicates a heritage-honoring mode without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Watch for a push built on signature symbols, early character teases, and a tiered teaser plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will spotlight. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will hunt wide appeal through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format permitting quick shifts to whatever drives the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three clear pushes. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is tidy, loss-driven, and big-hook: a grieving man implements an synthetic partner that grows into a killer companion. The date places it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s campaign likely to replay viral uncanny stunts and quick hits that fuses romance and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a public title to become an event moment closer to the debut look. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele titles are set up as event films, with a teaser with minimal detail and a next wave of trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The late-October frame allows Universal to lead 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, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has made clear that a gnarly, practical-effects forward treatment can feel deluxe on a disciplined budget. Look for a grime-caked summer horror shock that spotlights offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio mounts two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, continuing a dependable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is billing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both core fans and fresh viewers. The fall slot allows Sony to build campaign pieces around narrative world, and practical creature work, elements that can drive IMAX and PLF uptake and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues Eggers’ run of period horror driven by careful craft and historical speech, this time engaging werewolf myth. The label has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is robust.

Platform lanes and windowing

Digital strategies for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal titles flow to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a sequence that boosts both week-one demand and sign-up momentum in the later window. Prime Video will mix licensed films with worldwide buys and short theatrical plays when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library curation, using well-timed internal promotions, Halloween hubs, and editorial rows to lengthen the tail on the 2026 genre total. Netflix stays nimble about Netflix films and festival grabs, finalizing horror entries with shorter lead times and framing as events drops with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a staged of precision releases and prompt platform moves that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a per-project basis. The platform has signaled readiness to invest in select projects with acclaimed directors or A-list packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation swells.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 track with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is clear: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, retooled for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a big-screen first plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the fall weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then relying on the December frame to increase reach. That positioning has worked well for craft-driven horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception merits. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using limited runs to fuel evangelism that fuels their user base.

Balance of brands and originals

By tilt, 2026 skews toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use legacy awareness. The question, as ever, is staleness. The operating solution is to package each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is leading with 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-inflected take from a fresh helmer. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the deal build is comforting enough to build pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Rolling three-year comps frame the method. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that kept streaming intact did not prevent a day-date move from winning when the brand was powerful. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror surged in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they alter lens and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters filmed in sequence, gives leeway to marketing to connect the chapters through personae and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without hiatuses.

Creative tendencies and craft

The creative meetings behind the upcoming entries foreshadow a continued turn toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat 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. The push will likely that highlights unease and texture rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and era-true language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in craft journalism and artisan spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for red-band excess, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and earns shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a self-referential reset that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature execution and sets, which are ideal for expo activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel definitive. Look for trailers that foreground razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that land in big rooms.

Month-by-month map

January is busy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid heftier brand moves. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the palette of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth spreads.

Late Q1 and spring prime the summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

August and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a early fall window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited disclosures that lean on concept not plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card burn.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s virtual companion shifts into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: gothic-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 tough boss try to survive on a remote island as the control dynamic upends and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to horror, anchored by Cronin’s practical craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 domestic haunting premise that mediates the fear via a little one’s uncertain inner lens. Rating: not yet rated. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that satirizes in-vogue horror tropes and true crime preoccupations. Rating: to be announced. Production: production booked for 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 breaks out, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a unlucky family anchored to older hauntings. Rating: forthcoming. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival-driven horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: to be announced. Production: proceeding. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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 primal menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three grounded forces define this lineup. First, production that paused or reshuffled in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage shareable moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Calendar math also matters. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can seize a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will compete across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

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

The dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where lean-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, 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 momentum and variety. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, sound field, 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 Strong 2026 Horizon

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is recognizable IP where it plays, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of scares. The check over here awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the chills sell the seats.