Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a spine tingling horror feature, bowing October 2025 across premium platforms

A bone-chilling occult thriller from writer / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an long-buried force when guests become puppets in a hellish ritual. Debuting October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping tale of survival and ancient evil that will reconstruct fear-driven cinema this fall. Directed by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and moody thriller follows five lost souls who emerge stuck in a far-off shack under the unfriendly manipulation of Kyra, a cursed figure consumed by a ancient biblical force. Anticipate to be absorbed by a narrative display that integrates primitive horror with legendary tales, releasing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a recurring tradition in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is turned on its head when the beings no longer emerge from an outside force, but rather inside their minds. This represents the darkest element of each of them. The result is a harrowing spiritual tug-of-war where the events becomes a soul-crushing conflict between heaven and hell.


In a desolate landscape, five campers find themselves imprisoned under the unholy grip and grasp of a elusive woman. As the ensemble becomes unresisting to resist her will, isolated and hunted by forces unimaginable, they are made to acknowledge their inner demons while the time relentlessly edges forward toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease grows and relationships implode, prompting each individual to evaluate their being and the idea of self-determination itself. The tension surge with every passing moment, delivering a scare-fueled ride that fuses demonic fright with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to evoke primal fear, an evil older than civilization itself, influencing inner turmoil, and confronting a presence that forces self-examination when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra involved tapping into something more primal than sorrow. She is clueless until the possession kicks in, and that transformation is gut-wrenching because it is so visceral.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for public screening beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—making sure subscribers globally can engage with this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its intro video, which has earned over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, taking the terror to a global viewership.


Be sure to catch this heart-stopping trip into the unknown. Join *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to face these dark realities about human nature.


For behind-the-scenes access, special features, and news from inside the story, follow @YACFilm across social media and visit youngandcursed.com.





American horror’s pivotal crossroads: 2025 U.S. rollouts Mixes ancient-possession motifs, festival-born jolts, paired with tentpole growls

Kicking off with pressure-cooker survival tales saturated with primordial scripture all the way to brand-name continuations together with incisive indie visions, 2025 is shaping up as the most textured plus precision-timed year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. top-tier distributors lay down anchors with known properties, concurrently subscription platforms flood the fall with first-wave breakthroughs plus ancestral chills. At the same time, festival-forward creators is propelled by the tailwinds of 2024’s record festival wave. With Halloween holding the peak, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, however this time, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are methodical, so 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Prestige terror resurfaces

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 accelerates.

Universal leads off the quarter with a statement play: a reconceived Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, but a crisp modern milieu. Steered by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. Booked into mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Guided by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

Toward summer’s end, the WB camp bows the concluding entry from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Though the outline is tried, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re teams, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: period tinged dread, trauma foregrounded, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This time the stakes climb, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The new chapter enriches the lore, stretches the animatronic parade, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It books December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Offerings: No Budget, No Problem

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a sealed box body horror arc starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using 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 work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Shaped and helmed 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 menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

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

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy IP: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, under Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

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.

Signals and Trends

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror swings back
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Season Ahead: Fall saturation and a winter joker

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. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The 2026 fright slate: follow-ups, filmmaker-first projects, as well as A brimming Calendar aimed at screams

Dek The new horror season crams up front with a January glut, following that extends through peak season, and deep into the holiday frame, mixing IP strength, new concepts, and smart counterprogramming. The big buyers and platforms are doubling down on responsible budgets, box-office-first windows, and influencer-ready assets that position these offerings into all-audience topics.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The field has proven to be the sturdy release in release strategies, a vertical that can grow when it performs and still cushion the losses when it under-delivers. After 2023 re-taught decision-makers that responsibly budgeted genre plays can steer social chatter, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with visionary-driven titles and under-the-radar smashes. The momentum carried into 2025, where legacy revivals and festival-grade titles underscored there is space for varied styles, from returning installments to original one-offs that play globally. The end result for 2026 is a roster that shows rare alignment across the field, with strategic blocks, a balance of household franchises and first-time concepts, and a revived eye on box-office windows that drive downstream revenue on premium digital rental and OTT platforms.

Planners observe the horror lane now acts as a utility player on the slate. Horror can debut on most weekends, furnish a grabby hook for marketing and platform-native cuts, and over-index with fans that show up on advance nights and maintain momentum through the next pass if the entry lands. Emerging from a work stoppage lag, the 2026 mapping shows conviction in that approach. The calendar launches with a stacked January corridor, then exploits spring through early summer for audience offsets, while reserving space for a fall cadence that flows toward Halloween and past Halloween. The map also highlights the tightening integration of specialty arms and home platforms that can develop over weeks, create conversation, and widen at the precise moment.

A companion trend is brand management across shared IP webs and classic IP. Studio teams are not just pushing another chapter. They are shaping as continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a brandmark that flags a new tone or a ensemble decision that bridges a latest entry to a vintage era. At the parallel to that, the auteurs behind the high-profile originals are returning to tactile craft, practical effects and place-driven backdrops. That pairing gives the 2026 slate a vital pairing of recognition and surprise, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount plants an early flag with two centerpiece plays that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the spine, steering it as both a legacy handover and a classic-mode character-first story. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the tonal posture telegraphs a nostalgia-forward mode without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Expect a marketing push stacked with franchise iconography, initial cast looks, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will play up. As a summer contrast play, this one will drive broad awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format permitting quick shifts to whatever defines the conversation that spring.

Universal has three unique bets. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is crisp, grief-rooted, and premise-first: a grieving man adopts an machine companion that becomes a lethal partner. The date lines it up at the front of a competition-heavy month, with the studio’s marketing likely to replay eerie street stunts and short-cut promos that melds affection and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a proper title to become an headline beat closer to the initial promo. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele projects are framed as auteur events, with a opaque teaser and a later trailer push that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The Halloween runway allows Universal to command 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, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has shown that a gnarly, prosthetic-heavy strategy can feel cinematic on a efficient spend. Position this as a splatter summer horror rush that centers foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio books two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, sustaining a evergreen supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is describing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both loyalists and novices. The fall slot lets Sony to build marketing units around world-building, and monster craft, elements that can boost premium screens and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by minute detail and period speech, this time set against lycan legends. Focus Features has already set the date for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is warm.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform tactics for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s slate head to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a stair-step that amplifies both initial urgency and sign-up momentum in the later phase. Prime Video stitches together licensed titles with worldwide entries and select theatrical runs when the data supports it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in archive usage, using well-timed internal promotions, October hubs, and featured rows to maximize the tail on the horror cume. Netflix remains opportunistic about own-slate titles and festival snaps, finalizing horror entries on shorter runways and coalescing around premieres with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a paired of limited theatrical footprints and rapid platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a discrete basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to acquire select projects with acclaimed directors or headline-cast packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for sustained usage when the genre conversation intensifies.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 slate with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is clear: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, recalibrated for modern mix and image. 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 positioned a theatrical-first plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the September weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through festival season if the cut is ready, then using the Christmas window to broaden. That positioning has been successful for arthouse horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception encourages. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using limited theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their user base.

Legacy titles versus originals

By count, 2026 is weighted toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap fan equity. The question, as ever, is audience fatigue. The standing approach is to present each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is underscoring character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a continental coloration from a buzzed-about director. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand his comment is here unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the deal build is recognizable enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years contextualize the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that honored streaming windows did not hamper a day-date try from performing when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror surged in PLF. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they reframe POV 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 back-to-back plan, with chapters shot consecutively, permits marketing to connect the chapters through cast and motif and to keep assets alive without long gaps.

How the films are being made

The craft rooms behind the 2026 entries forecast a continued lean toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that highlights aura and dread rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and department features before rolling out a mood teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and creates shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a self-referential reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster work and world-building, which fit with booth activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel must-have. Look for trailers that emphasize disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that explode in larger rooms.

The schedule at a glance

January is packed. 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 moody palate cleanser amid bigger brand plays. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the spread of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth sticks.

Late Q1 and spring prime the summer. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Late-season stretch leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil follows September 18, a early fall window that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a minimalist tease strategy and limited disclosures that favor idea over plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and holiday 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 continues. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving check my blog man’s synthetic partner escalates into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

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 be swallowed by a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. 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 push to survive on a remote island as the control balance turns and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to dread, founded on Cronin’s practical craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting chiller that routes the horror through a preteen’s unreliable point of view. Rating: TBD. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A satirical comeback that riffs on present-day genre chatter and true crime preoccupations. Rating: TBA. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites ignites, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new clan linked to lingering terrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A new start designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survivalist horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: undetermined. Production: in progress. 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 language and ancient menace. Rating: TBA. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 lands now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or migrated in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most Young & Cursed of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming landings. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work meme-ready beats from test screenings, controlled scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can capture a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will coexist across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

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 wide PLF deployment 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where disciplined-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 work those windows. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, 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 the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, sound, and visuals that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts adjust. 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 read audience appetite for 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 late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, keep secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.