Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens ancient terror, a hair raising feature, launching October 2025 across top streaming platforms

An blood-curdling otherworldly suspense story from writer / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an primordial horror when guests become vehicles in a supernatural trial. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking journey of endurance and mythic evil that will revamp horror this scare season. Realized by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and moody fearfest follows five characters who snap to caught in a wilderness-bound dwelling under the dark control of Kyra, a troubled woman inhabited by a timeless ancient fiend. Arm yourself to be absorbed by a theatrical presentation that melds bodily fright with timeless legends, dropping on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a historical trope in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is redefined when the malevolences no longer emerge from a different plane, but rather from within. This embodies the most sinister facet of the cast. The result is a edge-of-seat mental war where the story becomes a constant tug-of-war between purity and corruption.


In a forsaken wilderness, five characters find themselves caught under the dark rule and curse of a haunted apparition. As the protagonists becomes unresisting to oppose her dominion, stranded and targeted by unknowns beyond reason, they are compelled to reckon with their inner demons while the deathwatch without pity pushes forward toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust builds and teams break, driving each protagonist to scrutinize their core and the concept of conscious will itself. The tension grow with every short lapse, delivering a horror experience that intertwines demonic fright with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to dive into deep fear, an force from prehistory, manipulating soul-level flaws, and dealing with a presence that questions who we are when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra required summoning something darker than pain. She is unaware until the haunting manifests, and that evolution is shocking because it is so personal.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for worldwide release beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—providing fans anywhere can face this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its first preview, which has pulled in over 100,000 views.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, making the film to thrill-seekers globally.


Do not miss this unforgettable descent into darkness. Experience *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to uncover these dark realities about mankind.


For sneak peeks, special features, and promotions from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across Facebook and TikTok and visit the movie portal.





Horror’s tipping point: 2025 U.S. lineup melds archetypal-possession themes, signature indie scares, plus legacy-brand quakes

Beginning with survivor-centric dread steeped in biblical myth and including canon extensions alongside incisive indie visions, 2025 looks like the most variegated along with carefully orchestrated year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. leading studios are anchoring the year using marquee IP, in parallel subscription platforms stack the fall with unboxed visions paired with scriptural shivers. On the independent axis, the independent cohort is catching the momentum from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween stays the prime week, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. A fat September–October lane is customary now, and in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are targeted, therefore 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s pipeline lights the fuse with a confident swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, but a crisp modern milieu. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. arriving mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Guided by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

At summer’s close, Warner Bros. rolls out the capstone of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. While the template is known, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson re engages, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: throwback unease, trauma as theme, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The bar is raised this go, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The return delves further into myth, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It posts in December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Firsts: Lean budgets, heavy bite

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a close quarters body horror study anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in 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. That is a savvy move. No overstuffed canon. No IP hangover. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy Lines: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

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

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Dials to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

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

Streamers grow fangs
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

The Road Ahead: Fall crush plus winter X factor

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The next scare Year Ahead: returning titles, standalone ideas, And A hectic Calendar geared toward goosebumps

Dek: The incoming terror cycle builds right away with a January wave, after that flows through midyear, and running into the holiday frame, braiding series momentum, original angles, and well-timed release strategy. Studios and platforms are betting on responsible budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and viral-minded pushes that elevate the slate’s entries into national conversation.

How the genre looks for 2026

This space has emerged as the steady release in release strategies, a corner that can lift when it clicks and still cushion the floor when it misses. After the 2023 year reassured top brass that lean-budget fright engines can lead the zeitgeist, the following year held pace with director-led heat and surprise hits. The run extended into the 2025 frame, where reboots and prestige plays made clear there is space for a spectrum, from ongoing IP entries to one-and-done originals that play globally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a lineup that presents tight coordination across studios, with intentional bunching, a spread of marquee IP and novel angles, and a sharpened emphasis on cinema windows that enhance post-theatrical value on paid VOD and SVOD.

Marketers add the category now works like a schedule utility on the calendar. Horror can launch on a wide range of weekends, supply a easy sell for promo reels and short-form placements, and outperform with viewers that line up on advance nights and sustain through the week two if the movie pays off. In the wake of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 rhythm indicates conviction in that equation. The year launches with a front-loaded January run, then leans on spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while leaving room for a autumn push that runs into the fright window and beyond. The gridline also underscores the tightening integration of specialized imprints and digital platforms that can build gradually, ignite recommendations, and grow at the sweet spot.

A second macro trend is brand management across connected story worlds and storied titles. The players are not just making another installment. They are working to present continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a art treatment that suggests a new tone or a ensemble decision that ties a latest entry to a initial period. At the concurrently, the helmers behind the most watched originals are leaning into in-camera technique, practical effects and specific settings. That pairing gives the 2026 slate a robust balance of brand comfort and unexpected turns, which is the formula for international play.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount fires first with two high-profile releases that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the core, setting it up as both a legacy handover and a classic-mode relationship-driven entry. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance conveys a classic-referencing bent without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push built on recognizable motifs, character-first teases, and a trailer cadence landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also dusts off 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 in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will stress. As a counterweight in summer, this one will go after general-audience talk through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format supporting quick switches to whatever owns pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three differentiated projects. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is elegant, grief-rooted, and concept-forward: a grieving man onboards an virtual partner that unfolds into a fatal companion. The date positions it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to recreate viral uncanny stunts and quick hits that melds attachment and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a title reveal to become an PR pop closer to the initial tease. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele titles are branded as marquee events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a later trailer push that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The spooky-season slot gives the studio room to fill 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, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has shown that a visceral, prosthetic-heavy method can feel prestige on a disciplined budget. Look for a grime-caked summer horror rush that leans into overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio sets two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, sustaining a dependable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what the studio is selling as a fresh restart 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 charge to serve both fans and curious audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign pieces around canon, and creature effects, elements that can amplify premium booking interest and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror defined by careful craft and dialect, this time circling werewolf lore. The distributor has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is strong.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform strategies for 2026 run on familiar rails. The studio’s horror films transition to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a cadence that enhances both opening-weekend urgency and sign-up momentum in the later window. Prime Video will mix outside acquisitions with international acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in back-catalog play, using in-app campaigns, Halloween hubs, and featured rows to stretch the tail on aggregate take. Netflix stays opportunistic about originals and festival wins, timing horror entries tight to release and making event-like go-lives with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a tiered of targeted theatrical exposure and swift platform pivots that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a curated basis. The platform has shown appetite to take on select projects with prestige directors or star-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 sequence with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is simple: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, upgraded for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has signaled a standard theatrical run for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the back half.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, managing the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday slot to expand. That positioning has helped for auteur horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception drives. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using limited theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their user base.

Franchises versus originals

By tilt, 2026 favors the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on fan equity. The trade-off, as ever, is staleness. The near-term solution is to market each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is emphasizing relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a European tilt from a hot helmer. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a island-set survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the packaging is anchored enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday previews.

Recent comps frame the template. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that respected streaming windows did not prevent a simultaneous release test from working when the brand was strong. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror surged in premium screens. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they alter lens and grow 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 tie installments through character arcs and themes and to continue assets in field without extended gaps.

Craft and creative trends

The production chatter behind the 2026 slate forecast a continued emphasis on in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal news and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that foregrounds texture and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that elevates tone over story, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at red-band excess, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and creates shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta reframe that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster realization and design, which favor con floor moments and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel essential. Look for trailers that accent precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that play in premium auditoriums.

Release calendar overview

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. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid macro-brand pushes. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the tonal variety carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

February through May tee up summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

August into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a bridge slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited pre-release reveals that trade in concept over detail.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card spend.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s digital partner escalates into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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 coalesces 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 ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 hard-edged boss fight to survive on a uninhabited island as the power balance turns and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to menace, based on Cronin’s on-set craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting tale that manipulates the fear of a child’s wobbly senses. Rating: not yet rated. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-financed and marquee-led 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 genre lampoon that lampoons hot-button genre motifs and true-crime manias. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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 overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new clan lashed to older hauntings. Rating: not yet rated. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A restart designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival-driven horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: undetermined. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: undetermined. Production: continuing. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-specific language and elemental dread. Rating: forthcoming. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the moment is 2026

Three hands-on forces shape this lineup. First, production that stalled or rearranged in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming launches. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage clippable moments from test screenings, managed scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can lead a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will jostle across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, 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 target range. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The sleeper-hit hunt continues in Q1, where midrange-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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two 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 austere, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, soundcraft, and cinematography that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is recognizable IP where it plays, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, keep the secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.