Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts ancient terror, a hair raising feature, rolling out October 2025 across top digital platforms

A blood-curdling paranormal thriller from literary architect / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an mythic terror when unrelated individuals become vehicles in a devilish ordeal. Airings begin this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving tale of perseverance and primordial malevolence that will transform fear-driven cinema this Halloween season. Created by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and cinematic cinema piece follows five figures who arise stuck in a secluded wooden structure under the malevolent control of Kyra, a troubled woman consumed by a two-thousand-year-old biblical force. Be prepared to be gripped by a big screen ride that harmonizes instinctive fear with mythic lore, landing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a iconic tradition in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is subverted when the dark entities no longer come from external sources, but rather from their core. This echoes the most sinister element of the victims. The result is a harrowing spiritual tug-of-war where the narrative becomes a perpetual push-pull between good and evil.


In a isolated wilderness, five young people find themselves trapped under the ghastly rule and infestation of a unknown female presence. As the group becomes unresisting to escape her curse, marooned and stalked by presences unimaginable, they are obligated to wrestle with their emotional phantoms while the time harrowingly strikes toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread deepens and alliances erode, requiring each protagonist to rethink their true nature and the concept of conscious will itself. The risk climb with every instant, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that fuses demonic fright with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to tap into basic terror, an spirit from ancient eras, filtering through fragile psyche, and navigating a evil that tests the soul when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra meant evoking something beyond human emotion. She is insensitive until the haunting manifests, and that turn is deeply unsettling because it is so personal.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for audiences beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—allowing streamers around the globe can survive this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its initial teaser, which has been viewed over strong viewer count.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, making the film to a worldwide audience.


Don’t miss this soul-jarring voyage through terror. Watch *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to uncover these unholy truths about the soul.


For cast commentary, set experiences, and reveals via the production team, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across your socials and visit the film’s website.





American horror’s inflection point: 2025 across markets U.S. lineup braids together ancient-possession motifs, art-house nightmares, paired with Franchise Rumbles

From survivor-centric dread grounded in primordial scripture and stretching into installment follow-ups and pointed art-house angles, 2025 stands to become the most complex in tandem with precision-timed year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. Top studios are anchoring the year with established lines, in tandem digital services saturate the fall with discovery plays set against legend-coded dread. In parallel, horror’s indie wing is drafting behind the momentum from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. With Halloween holding the peak, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, notably this year, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are targeted, hence 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

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

Universal begins the calendar with a marquee bet: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in a clear present-tense world. From director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. landing in mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Guided by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

When summer fades, the Warner lot sets loose the finale from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Though the formula is familiar, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: nostalgic menace, trauma foregrounded, and a cold supernatural calculus. This pass pushes higher, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, builds out the animatronic fear crew, speaking to teens and older millennials. It books December, pinning the winter close.

SVOD Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

While theaters bet on familiarity, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a body horror duet pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Next comes Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable featuring Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, 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 terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It reads as sharp positioning. No overweight mythology. No sequel clutter. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

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

Legacy Brands: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, steered by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Trends to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror comes roaring back
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Forward View: Autumn density and winter pivot

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The oncoming fear cycle: brand plays, universe starters, paired with A hectic Calendar aimed at frights

Dek: The upcoming horror cycle clusters at the outset with a January glut, then extends through summer, and pushing into the winter holidays, marrying name recognition, untold stories, and well-timed counterprogramming. The major players are focusing on lean spends, big-screen-first runs, and social-fueled campaigns that convert horror entries into national conversation.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

Horror has shown itself to be the predictable counterweight in annual schedules, a space that can spike when it breaks through and still hedge the risk when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year re-taught leaders that mid-range chillers can galvanize mainstream conversation, the following year extended the rally with signature-voice projects and surprise hits. The upswing moved into the 2025 frame, where revivals and filmmaker-prestige bets demonstrated there is a lane for multiple flavors, from continued chapters to fresh IP that travel well. The upshot for 2026 is a lineup that presents tight coordination across the market, with planned clusters, a spread of established brands and fresh ideas, and a renewed attention on big-screen windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium rental and SVOD.

Studio leaders note the space now behaves like a versatile piece on the grid. The genre can bow on almost any weekend, create a tight logline for teasers and TikTok spots, and outstrip with crowds that turn out on first-look nights and return through the subsequent weekend if the picture pays off. Following a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 plan shows assurance in that engine. The slate rolls out with a thick January window, then targets spring into early summer for counterprogramming, while reserving space for a autumn stretch that extends to All Hallows period and past Halloween. The arrangement also illustrates the stronger partnership of specialized labels and streamers that can platform a title, build word of mouth, and grow at the optimal moment.

A further high-level trend is franchise tending across unified worlds and heritage properties. Studios are not just rolling another installment. They are working to present ongoing narrative with a marquee sheen, whether that is a logo package that conveys a recalibrated tone or a cast configuration that anchors a new entry to a first wave. At the same time, the creative teams behind the most buzzed-about originals are prioritizing tactile craft, special makeup and vivid settings. That pairing affords the 2026 slate a solid mix of home base and invention, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount plants an early flag with two big-ticket plays that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the center, positioning the film as both a relay and a DNA-forward character piece. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach announces a roots-evoking bent without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Plan for a rollout stacked with classic imagery, initial cast looks, and a rollout cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will feature. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will pursue general-audience talk through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick adjustments to whatever owns the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three differentiated strategies. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is straightforward, soulful, and easily pitched: a grieving man sets up an synthetic partner that unfolds into a killer companion. The date positions it at the front of a thick month, with the studio’s marketing likely to recreate off-kilter promo beats and micro spots that fuses romance and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a proper title to become an event moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele’s work are sold as filmmaker events, with a opaque teaser and a second beat that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date lets the studio 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, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has long shown that a blood-soaked, practical-first style can feel elevated on a controlled budget. Look for a red-band summer horror rush that spotlights worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio sets two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, preserving a bankable supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is positioning as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both franchise faithful and fresh viewers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build materials around universe detail, and creature work, elements that can stoke PLF interest and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in historical precision and historical speech, this time steeped in lycan lore. Focus has already locked the day for this content a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is favorable.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform plans for 2026 run on known playbooks. The Universal horror run transition to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a pacing that amplifies both FOMO and trial spikes in the later phase. Prime Video combines outside acquisitions with global pickups and limited cinema engagements when the data points to it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library pulls, using curated hubs, fright rows, and programmed rows to increase tail value on the 2026 genre total. Netflix stays opportunistic about Netflix films and festival additions, scheduling horror entries closer to drop and elevating as drops launches with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a two-step of precision releases and speedy platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has indicated interest to take on select projects with top-tier auteurs or name-led packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation spikes.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 lane with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is direct: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, elevated for modern audio and picture. 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 telegraphed a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the late-season weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday dates to go wider. That positioning has delivered for director-led genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception drives. Do not be surprised by 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 together, using limited runs to kindle evangelism that fuels their user base.

Series vs standalone

By volume, 2026 tilts in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit cultural cachet. The concern, as ever, is diminishing returns. The standing approach is to position each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is centering relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is floating a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a Francophone tone from a new voice. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Originals and director-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the assembly is known enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Comparable trends from recent years illuminate the method. In 2023, a exclusive window model that observed windows did not stop a parallel release from working when the brand was compelling. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror punched above its weight in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they reorient and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, permits marketing to bridge entries through relationships and themes and to keep materials circulating without long gaps.

Production craft signals

The director conversations behind the 2026 entries hint at a continued lean toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that emphasizes grain and menace rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and generates shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta recalibration that centers an original star. Resident Evil will live or die on monster work and world-building, which align with expo activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel key. Look for trailers that spotlight precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that play in premium auditoriums.

Calendar cadence

January is jammed. 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 heavier IP. The month buttons 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 formidable, but the palette of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth persists.

Pre-summer months build the summer base. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited previews that trade in concept over detail.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can play the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can expand 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 to be detailed as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s DNA. 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 man’s machine mate turns into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: tone-first 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 abrasive boss struggle to survive on a far-flung island as the control dynamic tilts and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to menace, built on Cronin’s material craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. 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 residential haunting tale that leverages the fear of a child’s tricky impressions. Rating: forthcoming. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-crafted and headline-actor led eerie suspense.

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 satire sequel that needles current genre trends and true-crime crazes. Rating: to be announced. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a another family tethered to past horrors. Rating: to be announced. 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: to be disclosed. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A restart designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward classic survival-horror tone over action fireworks. Rating: forthcoming. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: closely held. Rating: pending. Production: continuing. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 primordial menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the moment is 2026

Three pragmatic forces frame this lineup. First, production that downshifted or shuffled in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify social-ready stingers from test screenings, select scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will coexist across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 chase continues in Q1, where cost-efficient genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, aural design, 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.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand gravity where needed, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the shudders sell the seats.