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

An hair-raising occult fright fest from writer / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an age-old entity when unfamiliar people become victims in a cursed experiment. Available this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish narrative of continuance and forgotten curse that will resculpt scare flicks this harvest season. Crafted by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and tone-heavy thriller follows five lost souls who regain consciousness locked in a wooded house under the oppressive power of Kyra, a central character inhabited by a time-worn scriptural evil. Steel yourself to be ensnared by a audio-visual presentation that combines deep-seated panic with timeless legends, unleashing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a enduring tradition in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is challenged when the fiends no longer develop beyond the self, but rather from within. This depicts the most hidden version of every character. The result is a relentless emotional conflict where the narrative becomes a relentless clash between moral forces.


In a wilderness-stricken natural abyss, five friends find themselves marooned under the sinister influence and possession of a mysterious female presence. As the cast becomes unresisting to fight her dominion, marooned and tormented by powers ungraspable, they are thrust to deal with their core terrors while the timeline ruthlessly moves toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread escalates and relationships splinter, pressuring each participant to evaluate their identity and the concept of self-determination itself. The cost escalate with every second, delivering a frightening tale that marries otherworldly panic with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to draw upon deep fear, an curse born of forgotten ages, operating within emotional fractures, and wrestling with a evil that tests the soul when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra needed manifesting something unfamiliar to reason. She is unseeing until the control shifts, and that turn is harrowing because it is so close.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for horror fans beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—giving fans anywhere can witness this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its release of trailer #1, which has earned over notable views.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, exporting the fear to fans of fear everywhere.


Make sure to see this soul-jarring voyage through terror. Join *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to confront these fearful discoveries about mankind.


For previews, on-set glimpses, and alerts from the cast and crew, follow @YACMovie across your socials and visit our spooky domain.





Horror’s tipping point: calendar year 2025 U.S. calendar weaves biblical-possession ideas, festival-born jolts, and IP aftershocks

From survivor-centric dread inspired by mythic scripture and including installment follow-ups together with pointed art-house angles, 2025 looks like the most variegated along with intentionally scheduled year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. Top studios plant stakes across the year with franchise anchors, even as SVOD players crowd the fall with first-wave breakthroughs set against ancestral chills. At the same time, horror’s indie wing is catching the uplift from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The fall stretch is the proving field, yet in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are targeted, hence 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s slate kicks off the frame with a headline swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a modern-day environment. Under director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. Slated for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. From director Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Initial heat flags it as potent.

When summer fades, Warner’s slate sets loose the finale of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Even with a familiar chassis, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re boards, and the memorable motifs return: nostalgic menace, trauma centered writing, plus otherworld rules that chill. This run ups the stakes, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The return delves further into myth, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, reaching teens and game grownups. It drops in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Digital Originals: Economy, maximum dread

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

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a two hander body horror spiral fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is a clever angle. No puffed out backstory. No continuity burden. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Franchise Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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

Key Trends

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror reemerges
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Badges become bargaining chips
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

The big screen is a trust exercise
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Projection: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

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 have to fight for oxygen. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The 2026 spook slate: continuations, Originals, in tandem with A jammed Calendar designed for screams

Dek: The arriving terror year crowds up front with a January glut, and then runs through summer, and continuing into the late-year period, marrying marquee clout, fresh ideas, and shrewd release strategy. Studios and platforms are betting on responsible budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and viral-minded pushes that elevate the slate’s entries into culture-wide discussion.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The genre has turned into the most reliable release in release strategies, a vertical that can spike when it lands and still insulate the drag when it under-delivers. After 2023 reassured leaders that responsibly budgeted genre plays can shape social chatter, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with buzzy auteur projects and unexpected risers. The upswing flowed into the 2025 frame, where returns and elevated films underscored there is a lane for many shades, from franchise continuations to standalone ideas that resonate abroad. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a run that is strikingly coherent across players, with clear date clusters, a combination of known properties and new concepts, and a re-energized stance on exhibition windows that fuel later windows on premium home window and digital services.

Distribution heads claim the category now works like a wildcard on the rollout map. The genre can arrive on a wide range of weekends, supply a clear pitch for previews and TikTok spots, and lead with ticket buyers that come out on early shows and maintain momentum through the next pass if the picture pays off. After a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 plan reflects trust in that playbook. The calendar gets underway with a thick January schedule, then targets spring into early summer for alternate plays, while carving room for a fall run that carries into All Hallows period and into November. The schedule also includes the greater integration of indie distributors and streaming partners that can launch in limited release, spark evangelism, and broaden at the strategic time.

A further high-level trend is brand curation across ongoing universes and classic IP. Major shops are not just turning out another sequel. They are setting up threaded continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a title design that flags a reframed mood or a casting pivot that reconnects a next entry to a foundational era. At the meanwhile, the creative teams behind the most watched originals are championing hands-on technique, real effects and place-driven backdrops. That convergence hands 2026 a solid mix of trust and discovery, which is why the genre exports well.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount marks the early tempo with two prominent plays that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the heart, marketing it as both a baton pass and a classic-mode character-first story. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the authorial approach indicates a throwback-friendly angle without retreading the last two entries’ sibling arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive rooted in classic imagery, character previews, and a tiered teaser plan targeting 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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will play up. As a counterweight in summer, this one will go movies after general-audience talk through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format inviting quick reframes to whatever drives the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three defined lanes. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is clean, loss-driven, and easily pitched: a grieving man adopts an virtual partner that escalates into a harmful mate. The date slots it at the front of a packed window, with Universal’s campaign likely to replay eerie street stunts and snackable content that interweaves affection and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates 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 dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a final title to become an earned moment closer to the first trailer. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele projects are sold as auteur events, with a mystery-first teaser and a subsequent trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween runway allows Universal to lead 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, pairs 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 in-your-face, makeup-driven strategy can feel high-value on a tight budget. Position this as a grime-caked summer horror jolt that centers global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio rolls out two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, extending a reliable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is selling as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both devotees and first-timers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build promo materials around mythos, and monster craft, elements that can stoke premium screens and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in rigorous craft and dialect, this time driven by werewolf stories. Focus Features has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform tactics for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s genre slate move to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a sequence that enhances both opening-weekend urgency and trial spikes in the after-window. Prime Video balances licensed content with worldwide buys and brief theater runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in archive usage, using featured rows, holiday hubs, and collection rows to lengthen the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix remains opportunistic about original films and festival buys, locking in horror entries closer to launch and turning into events arrivals with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a staged of precision releases and accelerated platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has shown a willingness to purchase select projects with accomplished filmmakers or A-list packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation ramps.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 corridor with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is uncomplicated: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, recalibrated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has signaled a cinema-first plan for the title, an good sign for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the autumn stretch.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then leveraging the December frame to increase reach. That positioning has paid off for auteur horror with wider appeal. 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 safe bet is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception encourages. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using precision theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their user base.

Balance of brands and originals

By count, this contact form the 2026 slate favors the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on cultural cachet. The risk, as ever, is fatigue. The pragmatic answer is to position each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is emphasizing relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a Francophone tone from a rising filmmaker. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the cast-creatives package is known enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Rolling three-year comps announce the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that respected streaming windows did not prevent a day-and-date experiment from thriving when the brand was sticky. In 2024, precision craft horror popped in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they shift POV and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters shot in tandem, permits marketing to relate entries through relationships and themes and to keep materials circulating without pause points.

Production craft signals

The craft conversations behind these films suggest a continued shift toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that emphasizes atmosphere and fear rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft features before rolling out a atmospheric tease that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and drives shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta recalibration that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature and environment design, which are ideal for convention floor stunts and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel necessary. Look for trailers that spotlight hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that land in premium houses.

Annual flow

January is stacked. 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 larger brand plays. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the tonal variety lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

Pre-summer months stage summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Late-season stretch leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil follows September 18, a bridge slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a minimalist tease strategy and limited advance reveals that center concept over reveals.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and holiday card usage.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s synthetic partner grows into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy extends 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: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

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 stumble upon a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 unyielding boss battle to survive on a uninhabited island as the power balance of power swivels and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to nightmare, shaped by Cronin’s on-set craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting setup that threads the dread through a young child’s flickering perspective. Rating: forthcoming. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-grade and star-fronted occult chiller.

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 parody reboot that teases contemporary horror memes and true-crime buzz. Rating: TBD. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a different family tethered to older hauntings. Rating: undetermined. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: TBA. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: to be announced. Production: continuing. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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 ancient menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. 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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 and why now

Three hands-on forces structure this lineup. First, production that downshifted or migrated in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming landings. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify clippable moments from test screenings, precision scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

There is also the slotting calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, making room for genre entries that can capture a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, 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 sleeper chase continues in Q1, where modest-budget Check This Out 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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first surprise 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.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo 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 bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

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

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is franchise muscle where it helps, original 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, protect the mystery, and let the chills sell the seats.