Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed reignites primordial evil, a hair raising feature, rolling out October 2025 across premium platforms

This spine-tingling mystic nightmare movie from dramatist / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an long-buried evil when drifters become pawns in a hellish experiment. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving narrative of endurance and old world terror that will resculpt fear-driven cinema this season. Directed by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and moody screenplay follows five characters who are stirred imprisoned in a off-grid house under the malignant sway of Kyra, a troubled woman claimed by a prehistoric holy text monster. Anticipate to be captivated by a visual event that integrates bodily fright with folklore, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a classic foundation in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is turned on its head when the monsters no longer appear beyond the self, but rather from their psyche. This suggests the haunting element of the cast. The result is a riveting psychological battle where the emotions becomes a soul-crushing struggle between virtue and vice.


In a wilderness-stricken outland, five young people find themselves contained under the evil influence and infestation of a unknown spirit. As the survivors becomes incapacitated to fight her curse, severed and hunted by powers indescribable, they are obligated to endure their core terrors while the time relentlessly runs out toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear rises and associations disintegrate, urging each person to doubt their values and the integrity of decision-making itself. The intensity grow with every beat, delivering a chilling narrative that intertwines paranormal dread with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to explore deep fear, an force beyond recorded history, working through fragile psyche, and navigating a force that questions who we are when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra demanded embodying something deeper than fear. She is clueless until the spirit seizes her, and that conversion is gut-wrenching because it is so emotional.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for on-demand beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—so that users worldwide can witness this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its release of trailer #1, which has racked up over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, presenting the nightmare to lovers of terror across nations.


Make sure to see this soul-jarring path of possession. Experience *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to see these fearful discoveries about existence.


For film updates, production insights, and alerts straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across your socials and visit the official website.





U.S. horror’s inflection point: calendar year 2025 stateside slate interlaces biblical-possession ideas, indie terrors, paired with returning-series thunder

Kicking off with life-or-death fear steeped in biblical myth as well as installment follow-ups together with pointed art-house angles, 2025 is lining up as the most stratified together with tactically planned year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. the big studios lock in tentpoles with known properties, simultaneously streaming platforms saturate the fall with fresh voices set against old-world menace. On the festival side, the independent cohort is drafting behind the carry from a record 2024 festival run. Since Halloween is the prized date, the other windows are mapped with care. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, but this year, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are methodical, therefore 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Premium dread reemerges

The majors are assertive. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s slate lights the fuse with a statement play: a refreshed Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, but a crisp modern milieu. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. timed for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Helmed by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite 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. Early reactions hint at fangs.

At summer’s close, Warner’s pipeline launches the swan song from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson returns, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: retrograde shiver, trauma explicitly handled, with ghostly inner logic. This pass pushes higher, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Capping the big ticket run 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, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It bows in December, buttoning the final window.

Platform Originals: Economy, maximum dread

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

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, an intimate body horror unraveling fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, 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 a near certain autumn drop.

In the mix sits Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, 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 chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It looks like sharp programming. No swollen lore. No continuity burden. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Lines: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, guided by 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.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Key Trends

Old myth goes broad
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror retakes ground
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Badges become bargaining chips
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Projection: Fall stack and winter swing card

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. 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. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The new fright slate: next chapters, original films, alongside A busy Calendar calibrated for Scares

Dek The brand-new scare calendar crams from the jump with a January pile-up, and then stretches through summer, and carrying into the late-year period, weaving legacy muscle, original angles, and smart calendar placement. Distributors with platforms are leaning into responsible budgets, big-screen-first runs, and viral-minded pushes that frame these pictures into mainstream chatter.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

This category has become the bankable lever in programming grids, a category that can spike when it resonates and still buffer the losses when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year signaled to executives that responsibly budgeted entries can galvanize mainstream conversation, the following year kept energy high with auteur-driven buzzy films and quiet over-performers. The head of steam rolled into 2025, where resurrections and critical darlings made clear there is a lane for a spectrum, from franchise continuations to filmmaker-driven originals that scale internationally. The aggregate for 2026 is a slate that feels more orchestrated than usual across the field, with clear date clusters, a spread of legacy names and new concepts, and a tightened commitment on exclusive windows that feed downstream value on premium on-demand and home platforms.

Planners observe the horror lane now functions as a flex slot on the distribution slate. Horror can debut on open real estate, supply a easy sell for trailers and shorts, and lead with crowds that lean in on preview nights and return through the follow-up frame if the offering pays off. Coming out of a production delay era, the 2026 layout indicates trust in that equation. The calendar rolls out with a crowded January band, then uses spring and early summer for alternate plays, while leaving room for a fall corridor that connects to the Halloween corridor and into November. The gridline also features the tightening integration of boutique distributors and digital platforms that can platform and widen, ignite recommendations, and move wide at the timely point.

Another broad trend is legacy care across linked properties and legacy franchises. The players are not just turning out another next film. They are working to present lore continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a title presentation that telegraphs a reframed mood or a casting move that bridges a upcoming film to a initial period. At the very same time, the creative teams behind the high-profile originals are celebrating tactile craft, makeup and prosthetics and location-forward worlds. That pairing yields 2026 a strong blend of familiarity and novelty, which is the formula for international play.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount establishes early momentum with two centerpiece plays that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the center, signaling it as both a relay and a back-to-basics character-first story. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the directional approach points to a legacy-leaning treatment without recycling the last two entries’ sisters thread. A campaign is expected leaning on brand visuals, character-first teases, and a promo sequence landing toward late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will emphasize. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will drive wide buzz through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format supporting quick updates to whatever owns the discourse that spring.

Universal has three discrete bets. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is tight, sorrow-tinged, and logline-clear: a grieving man brings home an digital partner that mutates into a fatal companion. The date places it at the front of a thick month, with the marketing arm likely to bring back strange in-person beats and micro spots that interlaces companionship and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a name unveil to become an event moment closer to the first trailer. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele projects are treated as creative events, with a teaser that holds back and a later trailer push that shape mood without giving away the concept. The spooky-season slot gives the studio room to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has demonstrated that a visceral, on-set effects led execution can feel high-value on a disciplined budget. Frame it as a splatter summer horror blast that leans into global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio launches two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, preserving a consistent supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is describing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both fans and fresh viewers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build marketing units around world-building, and creature work, elements that can lift premium format interest and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror defined by historical precision and linguistic texture, this time orbiting lycan myth. The distributor has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is strong.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform strategies for 2026 run on well-known grooves. The Universal horror run flow to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a stair-step that expands both week-one demand and trial spikes in the downstream. Prime Video combines library titles with worldwide buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in deep cuts, using curated hubs, October hubs, and featured rows to prolong the run on aggregate take. Netflix stays nimble about Netflix films and festival pickups, confirming horror entries near their drops and elevating as drops drops with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a laddered of precision theatrical plays and quick platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. 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+ keeps selective horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has indicated interest to board select projects with prestige directors or star-driven packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly engagement when the genre conversation peaks.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is putting together 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 pitch is uncomplicated: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, elevated for modern audio and picture. More about the author Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the fall weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, shepherding the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday dates to go wider. That positioning has paid off for prestige horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception merits. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using boutique theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their membership.

Brands and originals

By share, the 2026 slate skews toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness brand equity. The challenge, as ever, is brand wear. The go-to fix is to market each entry as a new angle. Paramount is emphasizing character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a European tilt from a new voice. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the configuration is assuring enough to accelerate early sales and first-night audiences.

Recent-year comps make sense of the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that preserved streaming windows did not block a day-date try from succeeding when the brand was potent. In 2024, art-forward horror exceeded expectations in PLF. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they angle differently and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to bridge entries through character web and themes and to sustain campaign assets without long gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The director conversations behind the 2026 entries point to a continued shift toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that emphasizes mood and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in deep-dive features and department features before rolling out a tease that elevates tone over story, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and gathers shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta refresh that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature craft and set design, which are ideal for fan-con activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel compelling. Look for trailers that center disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that play in premium auditoriums.

The schedule at a glance

January is loaded. 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 tonal palate cleanser amid macro-brand pushes. The month closes 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 stiff, but the variety of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth sustains.

Post-January through spring tee up summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can deliver 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 rolled through premiums.

Shoulder season into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a peekaboo tease plan and limited previews that put concept first.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card redemption.

Project-by-project snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s intelligent companion shifts into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed navigate to this website production with U.S. distribution. 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 prickly boss work to survive on a cut-off island as the power dynamic inverts and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

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


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting story that pipes the unease through a youth’s unreliable subjective view. Rating: to be announced. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed and name-above-title paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A satirical comeback that lampoons current genre trends and true-crime manias. Rating: TBA. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 surges, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further extends again, with a fresh family anchored to past horrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: pending. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-driven horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: to be announced. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: pending. Production: proceeding. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-specific language and elemental dread. Rating: to be announced. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. 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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 and why now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that slowed or re-slotted in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, curated scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

There is also the slotting calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can lead a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, 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 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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first shock 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. Expect a healthy 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.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, acoustics, 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.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is recognizable IP where it plays, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, keep secrets, and let the shocks sell the seats.