Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons antediluvian malevolence, a chilling horror thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on major streaming services

An frightening paranormal suspense story from screenwriter / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an forgotten evil when passersby become subjects in a demonic ritual. Streaming this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching narrative of resistance and prehistoric entity that will reshape horror this fall. Guided by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and shadowy thriller follows five young adults who suddenly rise locked in a remote wooden structure under the aggressive influence of Kyra, a female presence occupied by a millennia-old biblical force. Be warned to be captivated by a immersive outing that weaves together instinctive fear with ancestral stories, hitting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a historical element in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is turned on its head when the malevolences no longer appear outside their bodies, but rather through their own souls. This symbolizes the most primal layer of all involved. The result is a psychologically brutal mind game where the narrative becomes a soul-crushing push-pull between innocence and sin.


In a desolate woodland, five teens find themselves imprisoned under the malevolent dominion and inhabitation of a obscure character. As the cast becomes incapable to oppose her command, abandoned and pursued by evils unnamable, they are thrust to reckon with their greatest panics while the doomsday meter unforgivingly strikes toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension surges and partnerships fracture, urging each character to evaluate their existence and the integrity of decision-making itself. The danger rise with every short lapse, delivering a chilling narrative that blends otherworldly suspense with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to dig into core terror, an force born of forgotten ages, feeding on human fragility, and challenging a entity that peels away humanity when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra called for internalizing something beneath mortal despair. She is insensitive until the curse activates, and that evolution is shocking because it is so visceral.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for audiences beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—giving watchers everywhere can engage with this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its original clip, which has been viewed over strong viewer count.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, delivering the story to a worldwide audience.


Do not miss this life-altering spiral into evil. Join *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to experience these spiritual awakenings about inner darkness.


For teasers, making-of footage, and press updates from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across entertainment pages and visit our horror hub.





Current horror’s major pivot: calendar year 2025 stateside slate Mixes primeval-possession lore, art-house nightmares, stacked beside Franchise Rumbles

Across fight-to-live nightmare stories saturated with scriptural legend to IP renewals in concert with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is emerging as the most dimensioned in tandem with tactically planned year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. Top studios hold down the year with known properties, in parallel premium streamers crowd the fall with new voices plus ancestral chills. At the same time, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is propelled by the uplift from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, but this year, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are methodical, so 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige terror resurfaces

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal Pictures leads off the quarter with a big gambit: a refreshed Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, instead in a current-day frame. Directed by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. arriving mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Guided by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer eases, Warner’s schedule releases the last chapter from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson is back, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: retro dread, trauma centered writing, plus otherworld rules that chill. The ante is higher this round, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The next entry deepens the tale, builds out the animatronic fear crew, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It hits in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Digital Originals: Economy, maximum dread

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a room scale body horror descent with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story starring Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No overinflated mythology. No series drag. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

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

Franchise Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, steered by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If packaged well, it could track like 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.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror reemerges
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Season Ahead: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The approaching chiller slate: continuations, Originals, as well as A busy Calendar Built For nightmares

Dek The fresh scare slate crowds up front with a January glut, subsequently unfolds through the warm months, and well into the holiday stretch, braiding brand equity, novel approaches, and data-minded counter-scheduling. Studios with streamers are focusing on lean spends, theatrical leads, and social-driven marketing that position these offerings into broad-appeal conversations.

The genre’s posture for 2026

This category has grown into the surest option in annual schedules, a lane that can accelerate when it connects and still insulate the drawdown when it fails to connect. After 2023 reminded buyers that lean-budget shockers can own cultural conversation, 2024 carried the beat with director-led heat and surprise hits. The upswing carried into 2025, where reawakened brands and elevated films made clear there is room for diverse approaches, from franchise continuations to one-and-done originals that resonate abroad. The sum for the 2026 slate is a roster that feels more orchestrated than usual across players, with intentional bunching, a equilibrium of brand names and fresh ideas, and a re-energized commitment on exhibition windows that drive downstream revenue on premium video on demand and platforms.

Insiders argue the space now performs as a fill-in ace on the release plan. Horror can arrive on most weekends, offer a clean hook for ad units and shorts, and overperform with audiences that lean in on advance nights and keep coming through the next pass if the entry lands. On the heels of a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 mapping exhibits confidence in that approach. The calendar opens with a front-loaded January run, then taps spring and early summer for contrast, while clearing room for a autumn stretch that pushes into the Halloween corridor and afterwards. The map also highlights the expanded integration of specialty distributors and subscription services that can grow from platform, create conversation, and grow at the timely point.

A notable top-line trend is brand curation across linked properties and heritage properties. The studios are not just turning out another continuation. They are trying to present continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a logo package that broadcasts a recalibrated tone or a casting pivot that connects a next film to a heyday. At the simultaneously, the auteurs behind the most buzzed-about originals are returning to tactile craft, on-set effects and distinct locales. That convergence delivers 2026 a healthy mix of familiarity and newness, which is what works overseas.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount opens strong with two marquee pushes that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the center, framing it as both a succession moment and a DNA-forward relationship-driven entry. Production is active in Atlanta, and the directional approach telegraphs a nostalgia-forward mode without covering again the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Anticipate a campaign built on brand visuals, intro reveals, and a two-beat trailer plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will double down on. As a summer counter-slot, this one will drive wide appeal through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick updates to whatever leads the conversation that spring.

Universal has three clear lanes. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is simple, loss-driven, and easily pitched: a grieving man brings home an algorithmic mate that mutates into a killer companion. The date puts it at the front of a stacked January, with the marketing arm likely to mirror creepy live activations and brief clips that melds devotion and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a name unveil to become an marketing beat closer to the first look. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. His projects are treated as creative events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a subsequent trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The spooky-season slot creates space for Universal to fill 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, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has demonstrated that a gritty, practical-first mix can feel high-value on a tight budget. Position this as a splatter summer horror rush that pushes offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio rolls out two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, extending a steady supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is framing as a clean-slate approach 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 clearer mandate to serve both players and curious audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build marketing units around world-building, and creature design, elements that can accelerate large-format demand and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions 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 characterized by rigorous craft and historical speech, this time driven by werewolf stories. The label has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Digital strategies for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal titles transition to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a sequence that enhances both opening-weekend urgency and platform bumps in the back half. Prime Video pairs licensed films with worldwide buys and select theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library curation, using featured rows, Halloween hubs, and handpicked rows to prolong the run on the horror cume. Netflix stays nimble about originals and festival additions, securing horror entries with shorter lead times and eventizing premieres with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a dual-phase of targeted theatrical exposure and fast windowing that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a selective basis. The platform has proven amenable to pick up select projects with award winners or name-led packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for platform stickiness when the genre conversation heats up.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 lane with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is direct: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, updated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a theatrical rollout for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the fall weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, managing the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then relying on the Christmas corridor to move out. movies That positioning has served the company well for auteur horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception justifies. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using limited theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their community.

Brands and originals

By skew, 2026 favors the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on brand equity. The trade-off, as ever, is diminishing returns. The pragmatic answer is to sell each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is bringing forward core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is floating a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a European tilt from a rising filmmaker. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the configuration is assuring enough to accelerate early sales and preview-night turnout.

Rolling three-year comps outline the method. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that honored streaming windows did not deter a same-day experiment from working when the brand was powerful. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror rose in premium large format. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they pivot perspective and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters lensed back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to tie installments through cast and motif and to keep assets in-market without hiatuses.

Technique and craft currents

The craft conversations behind the 2026 entries point to a continued preference for real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that foregrounds aura and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in trade spotlights and department features before rolling out a teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and produces shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta inflection that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature and environment design, which work nicely for fan conventions and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel definitive. Look for trailers that accent surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that shine great post to read in top rooms.

From winter to holidays

January is stacked. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid heftier brand moves. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the tone spread affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth carries.

February through May load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads 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 lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

August and September into October leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder season window that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited advance reveals that favor idea over plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can win the holiday when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card burn.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s algorithmic partner evolves into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

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 face a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: mood-led adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her demanding boss scramble to survive on a isolated island as the pecking order turns and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, imp source Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to terror, rooted in Cronin’s in-camera craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting scenario that channels the fear through a youngster’s shifting point of view. Rating: rating pending. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A spoof revival that needles of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fixations. Rating: TBD. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 bursts, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further reopens, with a fresh family tethered to old terrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A fresh restart designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival-first horror over action spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: not yet rated. Production: moving forward. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

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-precise speech and raw menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. 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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three operational forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that decelerated or re-slotted in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming placements. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on meme-ready beats from test screenings, metered scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

There is also the slotting calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, freeing space for genre entries that can control a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will stack across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, 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 fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where value-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to 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. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, 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 preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, soundscape, and image-making that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is name recognition where it counts, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, hold the mystery, and let the shocks sell the seats.