Antediluvian Terror Rises in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling shocker, arriving October 2025 across top streamers

This bone-chilling mystic fear-driven tale from screenwriter / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an timeless dread when drifters become tools in a supernatural trial. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking portrayal of resistance and timeless dread that will resculpt horror this season. Guided by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and cinematic motion picture follows five characters who wake up sealed in a far-off shack under the ominous dominion of Kyra, a possessed female haunted by a biblical-era biblical demon. Steel yourself to be seized by a big screen experience that weaves together soul-chilling terror with mystical narratives, landing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a iconic narrative in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is twisted when the spirits no longer appear from elsewhere, but rather from their psyche. This depicts the haunting element of the victims. The result is a harrowing cognitive warzone where the events becomes a perpetual struggle between purity and corruption.


In a barren no-man's-land, five youths find themselves cornered under the ominous aura and control of a unknown female figure. As the victims becomes unable to reject her will, exiled and tracked by terrors unimaginable, they are forced to wrestle with their deepest fears while the seconds ruthlessly draws closer toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear builds and links erode, driving each participant to question their core and the nature of independent thought itself. The cost rise with every instant, delivering a frightening tale that combines ghostly evil with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to dive into raw dread, an darkness beyond recorded history, emerging via mental cracks, and confronting a force that redefines identity when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra required summoning something far beyond human desperation. She is innocent until the demon emerges, and that metamorphosis is harrowing because it is so intimate.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be available for audiences beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring streamers everywhere can get immersed in this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its first preview, which has racked up over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, bringing the film to fans of fear everywhere.


Experience this heart-stopping ride through nightmares. Stream *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to survive these dark realities about the soul.


For previews, production insights, and social posts straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across fan hubs and visit the official digital haunt.





Contemporary horror’s sea change: 2025 for genre fans American release plan blends old-world possession, indie terrors, stacked beside series shake-ups

Across endurance-driven terror grounded in ancient scripture through to franchise returns as well as focused festival visions, 2025 looks like the most complex along with strategic year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. studio powerhouses bookend the months using marquee IP, at the same time streamers stack the fall with first-wave breakthroughs together with old-world menace. On the independent axis, the artisan tier is riding the kinetic energy from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Since Halloween is the prized date, the other windows are mapped with care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and now, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are disciplined, which means 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: High-craft horror returns

The top end is active. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s schedule lights the fuse with a bold swing: a modernized Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, within a sleek contemporary canvas. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. landing in mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Steered by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

At summer’s close, the Warner Bros. banner unveils the final movement of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

The Black Phone 2 follows. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson returns, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: vintage toned fear, trauma as narrative engine, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This time the stakes climb, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The continuation widens the legend, grows the animatronic horror lineup, reaching teens and game grownups. It posts in December, cornering year end horror.

Streamer Exclusives: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a two hander body horror spiral featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Then there is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing 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 canny scheduling. No bloated canon. No canon weight. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

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 likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Lines: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, steered by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

What to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror ascends again
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Big screen is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Near Term Outlook: Fall pileup, winter curveball

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

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

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



The forthcoming 2026 scare slate: next chapters, filmmaker-first projects, plus A hectic Calendar optimized for shocks

Dek: The incoming terror year clusters in short order with a January crush, following that unfolds through peak season, and deep into the year-end corridor, braiding brand heft, new concepts, and shrewd counterplay. Distributors with platforms are leaning into lean spends, theater-first strategies, and buzz-forward plans that pivot these films into culture-wide discussion.

Horror’s status entering 2026

Horror filmmaking has established itself as the predictable release in studio slates, a segment that can accelerate when it breaks through and still hedge the floor when it under-delivers. After the 2023 year reassured strategy teams that efficiently budgeted pictures can command the zeitgeist, 2024 maintained heat with signature-voice projects and stealth successes. The head of steam rolled into the 2025 frame, where reboots and critical darlings highlighted there is appetite for multiple flavors, from returning installments to non-IP projects that travel well. The result for 2026 is a lineup that is strikingly coherent across studios, with defined corridors, a equilibrium of marquee IP and novel angles, and a sharpened commitment on release windows that feed downstream value on premium video on demand and SVOD.

Schedulers say the horror lane now serves as a swing piece on the grid. The genre can arrive on most weekends, offer a clean hook for promo reels and vertical videos, and punch above weight with audiences that come out on opening previews and continue through the week two if the feature hits. On the heels of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 layout demonstrates belief in that logic. The slate begins with a weighty January stretch, then primes spring and early summer for counterweight, while carving room for a late-year stretch that runs into holiday-adjacent weekends and into the next week. The program also spotlights the stronger partnership of specialty distributors and streaming partners that can platform a title, ignite recommendations, and roll out at the inflection point.

A companion trend is legacy care across shared IP webs and established properties. Major shops are not just turning out another next film. They are looking to package connection with a heightened moment, whether that is a graphic identity that broadcasts a tonal shift or a star attachment that links a next entry to a classic era. At the in tandem, the writer-directors behind the most buzzed-about originals are championing on-set craft, practical effects and place-driven backdrops. That interplay hands 2026 a robust balance of home base and newness, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount establishes early momentum with two spotlight pushes that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the focus, presenting it as both a relay and a return-to-roots character piece. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance suggests a nostalgia-forward treatment without retreading the last two entries’ family thread. Anticipate a campaign stacked with heritage visuals, first images of characters, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm hitting late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also reawakens 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 as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will double down on. As a summer counter-slot, this one will drive wide buzz through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format fitting quick adjustments to whatever dominates genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three differentiated lanes. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is simple, sorrow-tinged, and premise-first: a grieving man installs an artificial companion that shifts into a perilous partner. The date nudges it to the front of a front-loaded month, with the Universal machine likely to echo odd public stunts and bite-size content that mixes longing and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a title reveal to become an earned moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele projects are marketed as creative events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second trailer wave that signal tone without plot the concept. The prime October weekend offers Universal room to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has proven that a visceral, hands-on effects strategy can feel cinematic on a tight budget. Frame it as a splatter summer horror hit that spotlights foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio launches two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, keeping a consistent supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is billing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both diehards and newcomers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign pieces around mythos, and practical creature work, elements that can increase premium booking interest and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books 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 characterized by immersive craft and language, this time driven by werewolf stories. Focus Features has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is positive.

Streaming windows and tactics

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s releases head to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a cadence that enhances both opening-weekend urgency and subscriber lifts in the later phase. Prime Video continues to mix acquired titles with cross-border buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu work their edges in catalog engagement, using featured rows, Halloween hubs, and programmed rows to extend momentum on aggregate take. Netflix keeps optionality about first-party entries and festival acquisitions, finalizing horror entries toward the drop and elevating as drops releases with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a laddered of precision theatrical plays and speedy platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has shown appetite to buy select projects with established auteurs or marquee packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation heats up.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 corridor with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is clear: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, elevated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the fall weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday slot to increase reach. That positioning has helped for auteur horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a series of late-summer Young & Cursed and fall platformers that can widen if reception encourages. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using boutique theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their subs.

Franchise entries versus originals

By skew, 2026 bends toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap cultural cachet. The caveat, as ever, is fatigue. The go-to fix is to market each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is leading with character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is floating a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a European tilt from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the assembly is anchored enough to build pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Recent comps outline the playbook. In 2023, a cinema-first model that respected streaming windows did not obstruct a hybrid test from hitting when the brand was compelling. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror popped in premium formats. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they shift POV and increase ambition. 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 two-film strategy, with chapters lensed back-to-back, enables marketing to bridge entries through relationships and themes and to leave creative active without dead zones.

Creative tendencies and craft

The shop talk behind the year’s horror hint at a continued turn toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that elevates grain and menace rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for textured sound and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in trade spotlights and guild coverage before rolling out a preview that leans on mood over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and earns shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a self-aware reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature and environment design, which work nicely for booth activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel essential. Look for trailers that accent surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that benefit on big speakers.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is full. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid big-brand pushes. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the spread of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth persists.

February through May seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s 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 spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can deliver 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.

Back half into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited teasers that favor idea over plot.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can play the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and card redemption.

Film-by-film briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s AI companion unfolds into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. 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 abrasive boss battle to survive on a desolate island as the control dynamic inverts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

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 contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to terror, driven by Cronin’s tactile craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. 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 home-set haunting scenario that teases the fright of a child’s wobbly interpretations. Rating: to be announced. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that skewers of-the-moment horror beats and true crime preoccupations. Rating: undetermined. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 breaks out, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a another family bound to older hauntings. Rating: not yet rated. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A restart designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survivalist horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: TBA. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: closely held. Rating: undetermined. Production: continuing. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-specific language and bone-deep menace. Rating: TBD. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. 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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why this year, why now

Three operational forces structure this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or shuffled in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on shareable moments from test screenings, managed scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

The slot calculus is real. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, offering breathing room for genre entries that can control a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will stack across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

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

The sleeper chase continues in Q1, where lower and 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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, 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 cadence and diversity. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, sound field, 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 Is Well Positioned

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand heft where it matters, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, keep the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.