Mythic Horror Returns within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding horror thriller, bowing October 2025 across top streamers

An haunting supernatural nightmare movie from scriptwriter / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an timeless force when foreigners become puppets in a supernatural conflict. Debuting October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching journey of perseverance and prehistoric entity that will reshape the horror genre this October. Helmed by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and eerie fearfest follows five young adults who regain consciousness caught in a hidden shelter under the menacing manipulation of Kyra, a possessed female claimed by a two-thousand-year-old holy text monster. Ready yourself to be seized by a filmic ride that fuses instinctive fear with ancestral stories, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a mainstay tradition in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is challenged when the forces no longer manifest from elsewhere, but rather from deep inside. This echoes the most primal element of the victims. The result is a harrowing moral showdown where the plotline becomes a relentless conflict between right and wrong.


In a haunting woodland, five friends find themselves caught under the sinister presence and haunting of a secretive figure. As the survivors becomes powerless to combat her command, severed and pursued by powers inconceivable, they are compelled to endure their greatest panics while the doomsday meter mercilessly ticks toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety swells and bonds fracture, coercing each survivor to question their essence and the concept of autonomy itself. The threat amplify with every minute, delivering a paranormal ride that weaves together occult fear with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to extract elemental fright, an curse from prehistory, manifesting in emotional vulnerability, and wrestling with a presence that dismantles free will when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra meant channeling something past sanity. She is insensitive until the takeover begins, and that turn is eerie because it is so visceral.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for audience access beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—so that users anywhere can engage with this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its original clip, which has been viewed over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, offering the tale to international horror buffs.


Be sure to catch this unforgettable voyage through terror. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to acknowledge these unholy truths about free will.


For film updates, on-set glimpses, and news from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursed across platforms and visit the film’s website.





Contemporary horror’s decisive shift: 2025 for genre fans stateside slate braids together old-world possession, signature indie scares, alongside tentpole growls

Kicking off with survivor-centric dread steeped in old testament echoes and including installment follow-ups and focused festival visions, 2025 is tracking to be the most variegated as well as calculated campaign year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. major banners bookend the months with familiar IP, as streaming platforms saturate the fall with discovery plays as well as primordial unease. On the independent axis, the art-house flank is carried on the momentum of a record-setting 2024 festival season. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. A fat September–October lane is customary now, and in 2025, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are disciplined, therefore 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: High-craft horror returns

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s schedule starts the year with a confident swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, inside today’s landscape. Steered by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. Slated for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Steered by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

As summer winds down, Warner’s pipeline rolls out the capstone from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Even with a familiar chassis, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re teams, and the tone that worked before is intact: throwback unease, trauma driven plotting, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The ante is higher this round, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The return delves further into myth, builds out the animatronic fear crew, bridging teens and legacy players. It lands in December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Firsts: Economy, maximum dread

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a body horror chamber piece starring 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 is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it looks like a certain fall stream.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable led by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Penned and steered 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 the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

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 reads as sharp positioning. No overweight mythology. No IP hangover. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

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

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy Lines: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, with Francis Lawrence directing, 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.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Trend Lines

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror comes roaring back
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

What’s Next: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

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

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The next chiller lineup: brand plays, Originals, plus A stacked Calendar designed for jolts

Dek The incoming genre calendar crams right away with a January logjam, following that carries through summer corridors, and pushing into the winter holidays, mixing series momentum, inventive spins, and savvy offsets. Studio marketers and platforms are embracing cost discipline, big-screen-first runs, and social-driven marketing that transform these offerings into cross-demo moments.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

Horror has emerged as the surest lever in studio calendars, a genre that can expand when it connects and still limit the downside when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year signaled to studio brass that low-to-mid budget genre plays can drive the national conversation, the following year extended the rally with visionary-driven titles and word-of-mouth wins. The carry rolled into the 2025 frame, where revived properties and festival-grade titles underscored there is space for many shades, from returning installments to original one-offs that travel well. The takeaway for 2026 is a run that reads highly synchronized across the market, with obvious clusters, a harmony of legacy names and novel angles, and a renewed attention on release windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium video on demand and SVOD.

Executives say the horror lane now slots in as a plug-and-play option on the release plan. The genre can arrive on most weekends, provide a clear pitch for teasers and vertical videos, and outstrip with patrons that turn out on Thursday nights and stay strong through the subsequent weekend if the title lands. Emerging from a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 mapping telegraphs trust in that dynamic. The calendar starts with a thick January block, then targets spring into early summer for off-slot scheduling, while keeping space for a fall corridor that stretches into the fright window and into early November. The arrangement also shows the continuing integration of specialty distributors and streamers that can build gradually, create conversation, and broaden at the strategic time.

A second macro trend is franchise tending across shared universes and classic IP. The players are not just rolling another follow-up. They are trying to present threaded continuity with a occasion, whether that is a typeface approach that conveys a new vibe or a talent selection that anchors a new installment to a heyday. At the parallel to that, the filmmakers behind the headline-grabbing originals are embracing in-camera technique, makeup and prosthetics and concrete locations. That mix produces 2026 a vital pairing of known notes and invention, which is the formula for international play.

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

Paramount marks the early tempo with two headline bets that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the lead, positioning the film as both a relay and a foundation-forward character study. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the authorial approach conveys a throwback-friendly bent without replaying the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Look for a marketing run anchored in heritage visuals, intro reveals, and a promo sequence 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 joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will play up. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will seek large awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick adjustments to whatever owns the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three separate projects. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is simple, loss-driven, and commercial: a grieving man implements an artificial companion that unfolds into a deadly partner. The date sets it at the front of a heavy month, with the Universal machine likely to mirror uncanny live moments and short reels that melds devotion and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a final Young & Cursed title to become an headline beat closer to the early tease. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele projects are sold as filmmaker events, with a opaque teaser and a second beat that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The prime October weekend opens a lane to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate 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 heads, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has established that a gnarly, hands-on effects execution can feel top-tier on a tight budget. Position this as a blood-and-grime summer horror jolt that maximizes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio lines up two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, extending a dependable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is calling a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both franchise faithful and new audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build assets around canon, and creature work, elements that can fuel premium screens and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains Eggers’ run of period horror driven by obsessive craft and period speech, this time steeped in lycan lore. The imprint has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is supportive.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform plans for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s slate flow to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a tiered path that maximizes both week-one demand and subscriber lifts in the tail. Prime Video pairs catalogue additions with world buys and limited cinema engagements when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in library pulls, using prominent placements, horror hubs, and curated strips to keep attention on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps optionality about Netflix films and festival acquisitions, finalizing horror entries tight to release and positioning as event drops arrivals with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a one-two of precision releases and fast windowing that converts WOM to subscribers. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a discrete basis. The platform has proven amenable to pick up select projects with established auteurs or star-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for monthly activity when the genre conversation spikes.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 arc with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is uncomplicated: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, modernized for modern mix and grade. 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 positioned a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the autumn stretch.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, marshalling the project through select festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the Christmas corridor to widen. That positioning has helped for arthouse horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception drives. Anticipate 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 in parallel, using boutique theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Brands and originals

By proportion, the 2026 slate tips toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit fan equity. The watch-out, as ever, is overexposure. The pragmatic answer is to package each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is centering character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a European tilt from a buzzed-about director. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an navigate to this website severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the assembly this contact form is steady enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and early previews.

Recent-year comps make sense of the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that kept streaming intact did not preclude a dual release from paying off when the brand was powerful. In 2024, precision craft horror over-performed in large-format rooms. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they rotate perspective and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters shot consecutively, creates space for marketing to tie installments through character spine and themes and to hold creative in the market without doldrums.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft rooms behind the 2026 slate suggest a continued tilt toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that foregrounds unease and texture rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft spotlights before rolling out a preview that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and drives shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a self-referential reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will live or die on creature and environment design, which play well in con floor moments and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel necessary. Look for trailers that accent precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that play in premium auditoriums.

Calendar cadence

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 somber counterpoint amid heavier IP. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the tonal variety affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Pre-summer months load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can win 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 shuffled through big rooms.

Late summer into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a late-September window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited advance reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card redemption.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s algorithmic partner becomes something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal 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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

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 be swallowed by a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: atmospheric 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 difficult boss fight to survive on a remote island as the control balance swivels and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

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 fresh reimagining that returns the monster to terror, driven by Cronin’s practical effects and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting premise that channels the fear through a youth’s volatile subjective view. Rating: rating pending. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult 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 parody reboot that pokes at contemporary horror memes and true crime fascinations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites ignites, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new household bound to residual nightmares. Rating: undetermined. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A restart designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on true survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: TBA. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: moving forward. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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 historical diction and elemental fear. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 and why now

Three grounded forces inform this lineup. First, production that downshifted or shifted in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more structured 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 turnkey scare beats from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can control a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will line up across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The underdog chase continues in Q1, where low-to-mid 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, aural design, and camera work 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 Is Well Positioned

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is name recognition where it counts, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, hold the mystery, and let the shocks sell the seats.