Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primordial evil, a nerve shredding chiller, launching October 2025 across major platforms

An chilling spectral suspense film from author / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an age-old dread when guests become puppets in a hellish struggle. Premiering this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing narrative of resilience and archaic horror that will alter the horror genre this season. Brought to life by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and emotionally thick thriller follows five figures who come to ensnared in a wilderness-bound structure under the malignant sway of Kyra, a cursed figure inhabited by a time-worn Old Testament spirit. Anticipate to be gripped by a narrative presentation that unites raw fear with biblical origins, arriving on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a legendary theme in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is flipped when the malevolences no longer form beyond the self, but rather through their own souls. This mirrors the most terrifying facet of each of them. The result is a relentless mental war where the intensity becomes a constant battle between righteousness and malevolence.


In a bleak no-man's-land, five teens find themselves stuck under the dark dominion and haunting of a shadowy being. As the characters becomes submissive to fight her will, cut off and pursued by powers unfathomable, they are driven to encounter their inner demons while the doomsday meter coldly strikes toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease intensifies and alliances implode, prompting each character to rethink their self and the integrity of personal agency itself. The risk surge with every passing moment, delivering a fear-soaked story that merges spiritual fright with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to tap into ancestral fear, an entity before modern man, channeling itself through fragile psyche, and wrestling with a being that peels away humanity when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra called for internalizing something unfamiliar to reason. She is blind until the demon emerges, and that turn is harrowing because it is so personal.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for on-demand beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—offering watchers worldwide can survive this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its first trailer, which has gathered over a viral response.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, giving access to the movie to fans of fear everywhere.


Witness this soul-jarring path of possession. Enter *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to acknowledge these fearful discoveries about the human condition.


For teasers, on-set glimpses, and promotions from the story's source, follow @YACFilm across platforms and visit the movie portal.





U.S. horror’s watershed moment: 2025 in focus U.S. Slate Mixes old-world possession, underground frights, paired with tentpole growls

Spanning endurance-driven terror infused with biblical myth and including franchise returns set beside surgical indie voices, 2025 appears poised to be the most dimensioned combined with calculated campaign year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. Major studios set cornerstones using marquee IP, as premium streamers load up the fall with new perspectives alongside old-world menace. Across the art-house lane, the art-house flank is drafting behind the tailwinds from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, but this year, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are surgical, and 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige terror resurfaces

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal fires the first shot with a confident swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, but a sharp contemporary setting. Guided by Leigh Whannell anchored 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. Booked into mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Directed by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer winds down, Warner’s slate launches the swan song within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re boards, and the tone that worked before is intact: old school creep, trauma explicitly handled, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The stakes escalate here, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The new chapter enriches the lore, thickens the animatronic pantheon, reaching teens and game grownups. It arrives in December, buttoning the final window.

Streamer Exclusives: Economy, maximum dread

While cinemas swing on series strength, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the quieter side is Together, a body horror chamber piece led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga starring Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Shaped and helmed 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. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is a calculated bet. No overstuffed canon. No franchise baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They are more runway than museum.

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 bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Lines: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, led by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. 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.

Trends to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror ascends again
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forecast: Autumn density and winter pivot

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The oncoming terror slate: returning titles, new stories, And A loaded Calendar geared toward shocks

Dek: The brand-new scare season packs right away with a January crush, and then flows through June and July, and continuing into the year-end corridor, fusing IP strength, new voices, and savvy alternatives. Distributors with platforms are doubling down on lean spends, box-office-first windows, and short-form initiatives that pivot the slate’s entries into culture-wide discussion.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The horror sector has proven to be the dependable tool in programming grids, a pillar that can lift when it breaks through and still protect the drawdown when it misses. After the 2023 year proved to greenlighters that responsibly budgeted pictures can command pop culture, 2024 carried the beat with festival-darling auteurs and sleeper breakouts. The energy carried into 2025, where revived properties and elevated films proved there is a lane for a spectrum, from franchise continuations to director-led originals that carry overseas. The result for the 2026 slate is a slate that shows rare alignment across players, with defined corridors, a harmony of recognizable IP and first-time concepts, and a tightened emphasis on theatrical windows that feed downstream value on premium digital rental and digital services.

Marketers add the horror lane now serves as a flex slot on the release plan. Horror can arrive on many corridors, furnish a simple premise for ad units and reels, and over-index with patrons that show up on previews Thursday and continue through the second frame if the title fires. Following a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 cadence demonstrates confidence in that approach. The calendar rolls out with a thick January block, then plants flags in spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while reserving space for a autumn stretch that extends to spooky season and past the holiday. The gridline also highlights the continuing integration of specialized labels and platforms that can launch in limited release, build word of mouth, and roll out at the inflection point.

A reinforcing pattern is brand curation across unified worlds and legacy franchises. Big banners are not just greenlighting another entry. They are working to present ongoing narrative with a marquee sheen, whether that is a graphic identity that signals a refreshed voice or a casting move that bridges a incoming chapter to a original cycle. At the concurrently, the creative leads behind the marquee originals are doubling down on material texture, special makeup and location-forward worlds. That fusion affords the 2026 slate a confident blend of familiarity and novelty, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount defines the early cadence with two prominent plays that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the front, steering it as both a legacy handover and a heritage-centered character-forward chapter. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach suggests a nostalgia-forward framework without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign leaning on iconic art, intro reveals, and a tiered teaser plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will spotlight. As a counterweight in summer, this one will build large awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick updates to whatever owns the social talk that spring.

Universal has three unique lanes. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is clean, heartbroken, and commercial: a grieving man activates an intelligent companion that shifts into a lethal partner. The date puts it at the front of a packed window, with the studio’s marketing likely to bring back odd public stunts and micro spots that threads attachment and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a final title to become an fan moment closer to the initial tease. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele projects are marketed as creative events, with a concept-forward tease and a next wave of trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor gives Universal room to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has shown that a visceral, practical-effects forward mix can feel deluxe on a disciplined budget. Look for a hard-R summer horror shot that spotlights worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio books two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, extending a trusty supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what Sony is framing 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 clearer mandate to serve both diehards and curious audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build assets around mythos, and creature effects, elements that can lift premium booking interest and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants 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 grounded in meticulous craft and textual fidelity, this time engaging werewolf myth. Focus has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is positive.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform windowing in 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal titles land on copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a tiered path that elevates both initial urgency and subscriber lifts in the downstream. Prime Video interleaves licensed titles with global acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library pulls, using editorial spots, spooky hubs, and programmed rows to stretch the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix remains opportunistic about Netflix films and festival deals, scheduling horror entries on shorter runways and eventizing rollouts with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a laddered of precision theatrical plays and fast windowing that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a curated basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to board select projects with top-tier auteurs or star-driven packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for monthly engagement when the genre conversation spikes.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is curating a 2026 slate with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to Source his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is clean: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, reimagined for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late stretch.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, curating the rollout through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then working the December frame to go wider. That positioning has shown results for prestige horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception allows. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using small theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By weight, 2026 tips toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on franchise value. The concern, as ever, is audience fatigue. The near-term solution is to brand each entry as a new angle. Paramount is emphasizing character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-accented approach from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and director-driven titles bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the cast-creatives package is anchored enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Comparable trends from recent years contextualize the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that observed windows did not hamper a dual release from winning when the brand was powerful. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror punched above its weight in premium screens. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they reframe POV and grow scope. 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 two-film strategy, with chapters filmed consecutively, provides the means for marketing to connect the chapters through character spine and themes and to keep materials circulating without hiatuses.

How the films are being made

The craft rooms behind this slate foreshadow a continued tilt toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that centers grain and menace rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and era-true language, 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 craft profiles and craft features before rolling out a first look that withholds plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and creates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta-horror reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature work and production design, which favor fan-con activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that emphasize precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that shine in top rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is stacked. 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 larger brand plays. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the variety of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

Late Q1 and spring load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. The 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 spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

August and September into October leans series. 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 bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited advance reveals that put concept first.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card spend.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s synthetic partner unfolds into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: mood-led 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 battle to survive on a isolated island as the control dynamic swivels and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to terror, shaped by Cronin’s physical craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting story that toys with the unease of a child’s inconsistent read. Rating: rating pending. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A parody reboot that needles present-day genre chatter and true crime fascinations. Rating: TBD. Production: production booked for fall 2025. 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 spreads, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a different family entangled with older hauntings. Rating: pending. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on classic survival-horror tone over pyrotechnic spectacle. 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: TBD. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: pending. Production: active. 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-precise speech and elemental fear. Rating: pending. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026, why now

Three operational forces inform this lineup. First, production that downshifted or migrated in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on social-ready stingers from test screenings, select scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, making room for genre entries that can lead a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will cluster across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

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

The dark-horse hunt 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 press those advantages. 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two 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 shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, acoustics, and visuals that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Shapes Up Strong

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is name recognition where it counts, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, keep the secrets, and let the gasps sell the seats.