Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens ancient dread, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on major streaming services

One bone-chilling occult terror film from narrative craftsman / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an forgotten curse when guests become tokens in a malevolent trial. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful tale of struggle and archaic horror that will reconstruct horror this scare season. Produced by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and tone-heavy story follows five people who arise trapped in a remote cabin under the ominous will of Kyra, a female presence possessed by a 2,000-year-old holy text monster. Get ready to be enthralled by a motion picture experience that blends intense horror with arcane tradition, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a classic fixture in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is twisted when the demons no longer form from external sources, but rather from their psyche. This symbolizes the most primal dimension of the victims. The result is a riveting mental war where the suspense becomes a unyielding battle between innocence and sin.


In a abandoned woodland, five young people find themselves stuck under the unholy grip and overtake of a mysterious apparition. As the team becomes vulnerable to oppose her will, exiled and stalked by creatures beyond reason, they are obligated to confront their raw vulnerabilities while the doomsday meter relentlessly strikes toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust swells and associations erode, requiring each individual to doubt their true nature and the concept of conscious will itself. The hazard accelerate with every tick, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that merges ghostly evil with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to dive into pure dread, an entity rooted in antiquity, embedding itself in our fears, and examining a power that peels away humanity when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra meant evoking something outside normal anguish. She is unaware until the haunting manifests, and that transformation is emotionally raw because it is so close.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be available for on-demand beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—ensuring horror lovers in all regions can face this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its original promo, which has attracted over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, delivering the story to a worldwide audience.


Avoid skipping this life-altering path of possession. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to confront these haunting secrets about mankind.


For behind-the-scenes access, set experiences, and press updates from those who lived it, follow @YACFilm across Facebook and TikTok and visit the movie’s homepage.





The horror genre’s tipping point: the 2025 cycle U.S. release slate Mixes legend-infused possession, art-house nightmares, stacked beside Franchise Rumbles

Spanning life-or-death fear drawn from old testament echoes and onward to IP renewals alongside keen independent perspectives, 2025 appears poised to be the most stratified as well as strategic year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. major banners lock in tentpoles with established lines, concurrently streamers prime the fall with new voices and ancestral chills. On another front, independent banners is surfing the echoes from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, and now, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are intentional, and 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Premium dread reemerges

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s schedule begins the calendar with a bold swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, instead in a current-day frame. Directed by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. arriving mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Under Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer winds down, Warner’s schedule sets loose the finale inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: vintage toned fear, trauma explicitly handled, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The ante is higher this round, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The new chapter enriches the lore, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, bridging teens and legacy players. It bows in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Platform Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, an intimate body horror unraveling including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. 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 horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is a clever angle. No overstuffed canon. No brand fatigue. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Series Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, steered by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

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.

Emerging Currents

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror returns
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
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival heat turns into 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.

Theaters are a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Forward View: Fall crush plus winter X factor

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The next genre lineup: next chapters, Originals, paired with A hectic Calendar geared toward nightmares

Dek The upcoming genre calendar stacks from day one with a January cluster, following that rolls through June and July, and carrying into the December corridor, braiding name recognition, new voices, and savvy offsets. Studios and streamers are betting on right-sized spends, theater-first strategies, and short-form initiatives that pivot these releases into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror momentum into 2026

This category has solidified as the steady release in release strategies, a corner that can break out when it hits and still safeguard the exposure when it stumbles. After 2023 reassured greenlighters that low-to-mid budget scare machines can shape the zeitgeist, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with visionary-driven titles and stealth successes. The momentum moved into 2025, where legacy revivals and premium-leaning entries highlighted there is space for diverse approaches, from sequel tracks to director-led originals that play globally. The sum for 2026 is a grid that presents tight coordination across the field, with purposeful groupings, a harmony of legacy names and untested plays, and a re-energized commitment on box-office windows that power the aftermarket on premium digital and digital services.

Distribution heads claim the category now serves as a wildcard on the rollout map. The genre can debut on most weekends, supply a clear pitch for trailers and UGC-friendly snippets, and exceed norms with moviegoers that turn out on early shows and hold through the follow-up frame if the title delivers. Exiting a work stoppage lag, the 2026 rhythm indicates trust in that approach. The year commences with a busy January block, then leans on spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while making space for a autumn push that carries into All Hallows period and beyond. The layout also illustrates the expanded integration of indie distributors and SVOD players that can nurture a platform play, fuel WOM, and go nationwide at the optimal moment.

A further high-level trend is IP cultivation across unified worlds and long-running brands. The companies are not just turning out another return. They are shaping as story carry-over with a sense of event, whether that is a brandmark that signals a reframed mood or a ensemble decision that ties a incoming chapter to a foundational era. At the concurrently, the directors behind the marquee originals are doubling down on real-world builds, in-camera effects and concrete locations. That blend offers 2026 a confident blend of assurance and shock, which is why the genre exports well.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount opens strong with two spotlight titles that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the center, framing it as both a handoff and a back-to-basics character-driven entry. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance suggests a nostalgia-forward framework without rehashing the last two entries’ sibling arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive rooted in heritage visuals, first-look character reveals, and a staggered trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

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 reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will lean on. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will generate mainstream recognition through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format enabling quick turns to whatever rules the social talk that spring.

Universal has three differentiated projects. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is tight, grief-rooted, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man brings home an algorithmic mate that turns into a deadly partner. The date sets it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s promo team likely to reprise uncanny live moments and micro spots that interlaces affection and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a public title to become an event moment closer to the early tease. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s pictures are presented as filmmaker events, with a mystery-first teaser and a subsequent trailers that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The late-October frame affords Universal to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has consistently shown that a in-your-face, practical-effects forward style can feel deluxe on a lean spend. Expect a hard-R summer horror surge that centers foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio deploys two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, carrying a bankable supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is calling a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both franchise faithful and casuals. The fall slot allows Sony to build campaign pieces around narrative world, and creature builds, elements that can fuel premium screens and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances Eggers’ run of period horror defined by obsessive craft and dialect, this time driven by werewolf stories. The label has already set the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is strong.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform strategies for 2026 run on established tracks. The studio’s horror films transition to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a tiered path that maximizes both week-one demand and sub growth in the after-window. Prime Video continues to mix library titles with global originals and targeted theatrical runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in back-catalog play, using prominent placements, October hubs, and handpicked rows to maximize the tail on lifetime take. Netflix stays nimble about Netflix films and festival pickups, scheduling horror entries near launch and staging as events releases with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a two-step of selective theatrical runs and swift platform pivots that turns chatter to conversion. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to pick up select projects with award winners or celebrity-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly activity when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 corridor with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is uncomplicated: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, recalibrated for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the late-season weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then leveraging the Christmas corridor to broaden. That positioning has been successful for filmmaker-first horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception justifies. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using mini theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Known brands versus new stories

By weight, 2026 leans toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use marquee value. The risk, as ever, is overexposure. The standing approach is to present each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is leading with relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-inflected take from a fresh helmer. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and director-first projects provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the assembly is anchored enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Recent-year comps contextualize the approach. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that kept clean windows did not preclude a parallel release from paying off when the brand was robust. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror outperformed in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they change perspective and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries 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 filmed in sequence, enables marketing to bridge entries through character web and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without doldrums.

How the look and feel evolve

The director conversations behind this year’s genre foreshadow a continued lean toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that centers tone and tension rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and historically Young & Cursed accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in deep-dive features and technical spotlights before rolling out a tease that withholds plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and earns shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta pivot that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature craft and set design, which fit with fan-con activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel essential. Look for trailers that highlight pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that work in PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is loaded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid marquee brands. 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 meaningful, but the spread of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth carries.

February through May tee up summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a transitional slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a mystery-first teaser plan and limited asset reveals that center concept over reveals.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can win the holiday when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift-card spend.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s digital partner mutates into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back 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 returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 demanding boss try to survive on a cut-off island as the hierarchy flips and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to dread, based on Cronin’s practical craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting setup that leverages the panic of a child’s inconsistent perspective. Rating: not his comment is here yet rated. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-financed and star-fronted supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A satire sequel that riffs on today’s horror trends and true crime preoccupations. Rating: to be announced. Production: production booked for 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 flares, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new household tethered to lingering terrors. Rating: pending. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A clean reboot designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-driven horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: to be announced. Production: underway. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

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 language and primordial menace. Rating: TBD. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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: date shifting, fall likely.

Why the moment is 2026

Three grounded forces shape this lineup. First, production that eased or re-sequenced in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, 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 outperformed straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work repeatable beats from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Calendar math also matters. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can capture a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will share space across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

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

The underdog chase continues in Q1, where value-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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a banquet, 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 gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, audio design, and imagery that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand heft where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, hold the mystery, and let the frights sell the seats.