Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on leading streamers

An unnerving spiritual shockfest from screenwriter / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an primeval evil when outsiders become conduits in a satanic ritual. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving story of continuance and old world terror that will revamp horror this ghoul season. Visualized by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and eerie film follows five people who awaken confined in a hidden structure under the aggressive rule of Kyra, a tormented girl possessed by a millennia-old scriptural evil. Be prepared to be captivated by a immersive spectacle that combines visceral dread with mythic lore, unleashing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a iconic concept in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is subverted when the dark entities no longer develop from beyond, but rather through their own souls. This embodies the malevolent facet of each of them. The result is a intense moral showdown where the drama becomes a soul-crushing struggle between purity and corruption.


In a barren terrain, five figures find themselves sealed under the possessive rule and inhabitation of a unidentified being. As the survivors becomes unresisting to break her power, severed and hunted by entities beyond reason, they are cornered to deal with their emotional phantoms while the time without pause counts down toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion mounts and links splinter, urging each survivor to scrutinize their identity and the philosophy of autonomy itself. The tension accelerate with every short lapse, delivering a cinematic nightmare that merges demonic fright with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to tap into raw dread, an threat older than civilization itself, channeling itself through fragile psyche, and navigating a force that questions who we are when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra meant channeling something unfamiliar to reason. She is oblivious until the takeover begins, and that metamorphosis is gut-wrenching because it is so deep.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for on-demand beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—allowing horror lovers globally can face this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its first trailer, which has received over a viral response.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, delivering the story to thrill-seekers globally.


Don’t miss this heart-stopping descent into hell. Stream *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to survive these unholy truths about human nature.


For director insights, production insights, and alerts from those who lived it, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across fan hubs and visit youngandcursed.com.





U.S. horror’s decisive shift: 2025 for genre fans U.S. calendar blends legend-infused possession, microbudget gut-punches, alongside tentpole growls

Spanning last-stand terror infused with old testament echoes through to returning series paired with sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is tracking to be the most textured together with strategic year in the past ten years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. top-tier distributors set cornerstones via recognizable brands, even as streaming platforms front-load the fall with unboxed visions and ancestral chills. In parallel, indie storytellers is drafting behind the afterglow from a record 2024 festival run. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The fall stretch is the proving field, but this year, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are methodical, hence 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The top end is active. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s slate starts the year with a headline swing: a modernized Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, but a sharp contemporary setting. Led by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. arriving mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Directed by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

When summer tapers, Warner’s slate delivers the closing chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Though the outline is tried, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re boards, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: old school creep, trauma centered writing, with ghostly inner logic. This time the stakes climb, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, stretches the animatronic parade, bridging teens and legacy players. It opens in December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Firsts: Modest spend, serious shock

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a room scale body horror descent fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Also notable is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga featuring Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is a smart play. No heavy handed lore. No canon weight. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Legacy Brands: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Dials to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror resurges
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Laurels convert to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Forward View: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

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

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The upcoming fear year to come: returning titles, original films, and also A packed Calendar designed for nightmares

Dek: The new scare slate crams early with a January wave, subsequently stretches through summer corridors, and continuing into the late-year period, marrying brand heft, original angles, and well-timed counterprogramming. Studios with streamers are committing to right-sized spends, theatrical leads, and viral-minded pushes that transform these releases into mainstream chatter.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The genre has emerged as the dependable tool in studio calendars, a lane that can expand when it connects and still insulate the risk when it doesn’t. After 2023 showed leaders that efficiently budgeted chillers can command the discourse, the following year kept energy high with filmmaker-forward plays and under-the-radar smashes. The head of steam fed into 2025, where reawakened brands and elevated films signaled there is capacity for varied styles, from legacy continuations to director-led originals that carry overseas. The net effect for 2026 is a schedule that feels more orchestrated than usual across the major shops, with clear date clusters, a harmony of household franchises and first-time concepts, and a revived attention on exclusive windows that power the aftermarket on premium digital and streaming.

Studio leaders note the space now behaves like a wildcard on the programming map. Horror can kick off on virtually any date, deliver a simple premise for previews and short-form placements, and outperform with ticket buyers that appear on Thursday previews and hold through the next weekend if the picture works. Emerging from a production delay era, the 2026 pattern underscores faith in that dynamic. The year gets underway with a stacked January band, then uses spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while saving space for a late-year stretch that carries into the fright window and into early November. The map also illustrates the greater integration of specialty distributors and SVOD players that can develop over weeks, grow buzz, and go nationwide at the sweet spot.

A parallel macro theme is IP cultivation across unified worlds and storied titles. Distribution groups are not just making another follow-up. They are trying to present continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a title presentation that conveys a fresh attitude or a lead change that bridges a fresh chapter to a classic era. At the meanwhile, the helmers behind the most buzzed-about originals are celebrating material texture, practical effects and site-specific worlds. That combination delivers 2026 a confident blend of home base and surprise, which is how the films export.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount plants an early flag with two headline pushes that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the lead, steering it as both a passing of the torch and a return-to-roots character-forward chapter. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance signals a heritage-honoring mode without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign built on franchise iconography, first images of characters, and a tiered teaser plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is cinema-first 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 back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will play up. As a summer counter-slot, this one will hunt broad awareness through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format allowing quick adjustments to whatever owns trend lines that spring.

Universal has three differentiated entries. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is tidy, tragic, and easily pitched: a grieving man brings home an algorithmic mate that shifts into a killer companion. The date puts it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s promo team likely to recreate eerie street stunts and short-cut promos that interlaces intimacy and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a branding reveal to become an fan moment closer to the first look. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s releases are set up as must-see filmmaker statements, with a minimalist tease and a second trailer wave that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot lets the studio to take 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 is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has shown that a raw, prosthetic-heavy execution can feel deluxe on a moderate cost. Position this as a gore-forward summer horror charge that embraces worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio rolls out two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, continuing a dependable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is framing 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 charge to serve both players and curious audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build marketing units around lore, and creature builds, elements that can drive large-format demand and cosplayer momentum.

Focus click site Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by obsessive craft and language, this time exploring werewolf lore. The company has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a bold stance in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is supportive.

How the platforms plan to play it

Digital strategies for 2026 run on tested paths. The Universal horror run shift to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a sequence that enhances both launch urgency and subscriber lifts in the tail. Prime Video continues to mix acquired titles with global acquisitions and targeted theatrical runs when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in catalog engagement, using editorial spots, spooky hubs, and staff picks to sustain interest on aggregate take. Netflix keeps optionality about originals and festival snaps, timing horror entries toward the drop and staging as events releases with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a dual-phase of precision releases and prompt platform moves that translates talk to trials. That will be key 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+ continues to weigh horror on a per-project basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to take on select projects with recognized filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation intensifies.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 lane with two label plays. 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 atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, modernized for modern audio-visual craft. 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 announced a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the fall weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then deploying the December frame to widen. That positioning has shown results for director-led genre with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception drives. 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 hand in hand, using limited theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their audience.

Franchise entries versus originals

By number, the 2026 slate leans toward the brand side. 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 near-term solution is to pitch each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is centering character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-tinted vision from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and talent-first projects add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, 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 steady enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Recent comps frame the method. In 2023, a exclusive window model that held distribution windows did not deter a day-and-date experiment from thriving when the brand was sticky. In 2024, art-forward horror outperformed in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel new when they reorient and stretch the story. 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-step approach, with chapters lensed back-to-back, creates space for marketing to tie installments through cast and motif and to keep assets in-market without doldrums.

How the films are being made

The craft rooms behind the upcoming entries signal a continued shift toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that underscores creep and texture rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in feature stories and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a preview that keeps plot minimal, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and generates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a self-aware reset that centers its original star. Resident Evil will live or die on monster work and world-building, which lend themselves to convention activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel key. Look for trailers that foreground fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in premium houses.

Annual flow

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 atmospheric change-up amid larger brand plays. The month closes 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 thick, but the menu of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Post-January through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

End of summer through fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited pre-release reveals that put concept first.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and card redemption.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s algorithmic partner evolves into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal 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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

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 be swallowed by a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. 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 scramble to survive on a remote island as the power balance of power inverts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to menace, based on Cronin’s on-set craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting story that routes the horror through a minor’s unsteady inner lens. Rating: pending. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A send-up revival that targets hot-button genre motifs and true-crime manias. Rating: TBD. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience great post to read summer option.

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 multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. 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 caught in lingering terrors. Rating: pending. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A fresh restart designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on true survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: undetermined. Production: in progress. 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 antique diction and primal menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the moment is 2026

Three nuts-and-bolts forces frame this lineup. First, production that decelerated or shifted in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine clippable moments from test screenings, metered scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can command a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will stack across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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-hit hunt continues in Q1, where modest-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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever 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 rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, 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 maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, acoustics, and framing 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 firm. There is IP strength where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, hold the mystery, and let the scares Young & Cursed sell the seats.