Antediluvian Horror Reawakens within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling horror feature, premiering Oct 2025 on leading streamers

This eerie paranormal shockfest from dramatist / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an mythic horror when foreigners become pawns in a cursed struggle. Available October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing story of endurance and timeless dread that will alter fear-driven cinema this October. Created by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and gothic cinema piece follows five people who arise confined in a remote hideaway under the malignant dominion of Kyra, a cursed figure consumed by a prehistoric ancient fiend. Be warned to be gripped by a theatrical spectacle that intertwines visceral dread with biblical origins, streaming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a iconic trope in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is inverted when the entities no longer originate from an outside force, but rather from their psyche. This depicts the malevolent corner of the cast. The result is a riveting emotional conflict where the narrative becomes a soul-crushing fight between light and darkness.


In a abandoned wild, five friends find themselves cornered under the evil aura and haunting of a enigmatic female figure. As the group becomes incapacitated to fight her influence, severed and tracked by entities impossible to understand, they are pushed to deal with their darkest emotions while the hours ruthlessly pushes forward toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease swells and bonds crack, coercing each cast member to reconsider their true nature and the idea of autonomy itself. The tension magnify with every instant, delivering a terror ride that intertwines ghostly evil with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to channel deep fear, an entity rooted in antiquity, embedding itself in inner turmoil, and wrestling with a presence that redefines identity when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra needed manifesting something more primal than sorrow. She is unseeing until the control shifts, and that shift is eerie because it is so emotional.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for worldwide release beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—giving fans from coast to coast can dive into this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its original clip, which has earned over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, offering the tale to a worldwide audience.


Join this cinematic path of possession. Explore *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to face these dark realities about our species.


For featurettes, filmmaker commentary, and promotions from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your socials and visit our film’s homepage.





Today’s horror Turning Point: the year 2025 U.S. lineup braids together old-world possession, underground frights, in parallel with returning-series thunder

Across pressure-cooker survival tales rooted in near-Eastern lore and including canon extensions in concert with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is coalescing into the richest along with carefully orchestrated year in a decade.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio majors bookend the months with established lines, at the same time streaming platforms crowd the fall with debut heat plus scriptural shivers. In parallel, independent banners is catching the uplift of a record-setting 2024 festival season. As Halloween stays the prime week, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, distinctly in 2025, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are precise, hence 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

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

the Universal camp fires the first shot with a big gambit: a contemporary Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in a modern-day environment. From director Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. timed for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Under Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer winds down, the Warner Bros. banner drops the final chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Though the formula is familiar, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re boards, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: nostalgic menace, trauma as theme, with ghostly inner logic. This run ups the stakes, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The return delves further into myth, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, reaching teens and game grownups. It opens in December, locking down the winter tail.

SVOD Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

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

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a body horror duet pairing Alison Brie with 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 moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

In the mix sits Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and directed 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. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is a calculated bet. No heavy handed lore. No brand fatigue. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy IP: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, from Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Key Trends

Mythic lanes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Season Ahead: Fall pileup, winter curveball

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 scrap for air. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The approaching genre Year Ahead: returning titles, filmmaker-first projects, paired with A busy Calendar tailored for shocks

Dek: The incoming terror slate packs up front with a January glut, and then rolls through summer corridors, and deep into the holiday frame, marrying name recognition, untold stories, and data-minded counterprogramming. Studios and streamers are doubling down on cost discipline, exclusive theatrical windows first, and platform-native promos that elevate genre releases into mainstream chatter.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This space has become the surest tool in distribution calendars, a space that can accelerate when it clicks and still protect the drawdown when it misses. After 2023 reconfirmed for leaders that lean-budget entries can shape mainstream conversation, 2024 continued the surge with filmmaker-forward plays and under-the-radar smashes. The tailwind moved into 2025, where re-entries and festival-grade titles demonstrated there is appetite for a spectrum, from ongoing IP entries to one-and-done originals that resonate abroad. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a calendar that presents tight coordination across studios, with purposeful groupings, a pairing of legacy names and first-time concepts, and a renewed emphasis on exhibition windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium rental and OTT platforms.

Planners observe the space now slots in as a schedule utility on the rollout map. Horror can launch on nearly any frame, deliver a simple premise for spots and short-form placements, and lead with ticket buyers that appear on previews Thursday and stick through the week two if the entry lands. Post a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 configuration underscores faith in that playbook. The calendar opens with a weighty January run, then plants flags in spring and early summer for alternate plays, while keeping space for a September to October window that reaches into the Halloween frame and into the next week. The layout also illustrates the greater integration of specialized imprints and digital platforms that can platform a title, stoke social talk, and broaden at the precise moment.

A second macro trend is brand curation across unified worlds and storied titles. Major shops are not just pushing another chapter. They are aiming to frame continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a title treatment that broadcasts a refreshed voice or a casting pivot that anchors a next entry to a vintage era. At the alongside this, the creative leads behind the most buzzed-about originals are celebrating physical effects work, real effects and site-specific worlds. That combination affords 2026 a healthy mix of known notes and novelty, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount leads early with two spotlight projects that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, presenting it as both a baton pass and a foundation-forward relationship-driven entry. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture telegraphs a nostalgia-forward mode without replaying the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Plan for a rollout driven by legacy iconography, initial cast looks, and a promo sequence arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will double down on. As a summer counter-slot, this one will go after general-audience talk through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format allowing quick pivots to whatever dominates trend lines that spring.

Universal has three separate releases. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is crisp, tragic, and big-hook: a grieving man onboards an AI companion that unfolds into a lethal partner. The date sets it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with marketing at Universal likely to bring back uncanny live moments and bite-size content that blurs longing and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a official title to become an event moment closer to the initial tease. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele titles are marketed as signature events, with a opaque teaser and a second beat that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date allows Universal to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work 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 leads, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has made clear that a gritty, in-camera leaning approach can feel prestige on a disciplined budget. Look for a gore-forward summer horror jolt that centers worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio sets two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, maintaining a evergreen supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has repositioned 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 reappears in what the studio is calling a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both fans and new audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign creative around setting detail, and monster craft, elements that can increase premium booking interest and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on minute detail and archaic language, this time exploring werewolf lore. The label has already set the date for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that navigate to this website can build and expand if early reception is strong.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre slate window into copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a pacing that fortifies both FOMO and sub growth in the tail. Prime Video blends licensed films with international acquisitions and small theatrical windows when the data signals it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library engagement, using timely promos, spooky hubs, and curated rows to stretch the tail on the 2026 genre total. Netflix keeps optionality about first-party entries and festival snaps, dating horror entries closer to launch and coalescing around premieres with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a paired of tailored theatrical exposure and rapid platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has proven amenable to secure select projects with acclaimed directors or star packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation heats up.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 sequence with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is straightforward: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, reimagined for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a theatrical-first plan for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the October weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, guiding the film through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then turning to the December frame to increase reach. That positioning has paid off for craft-driven horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception supports. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using select theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their membership.

Balance of brands and originals

By tilt, 2026 skews toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage name recognition. The risk, as ever, is staleness. The preferred tactic is to package each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is foregrounding character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French-accented approach from a ascendant talent. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the deal build is comforting enough to spark pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Recent comps make sense of the strategy. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that maintained windows did not foreclose a day-date try from thriving when the brand was robust. In 2024, director-craft horror hit big in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they pivot perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds 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 shot in tandem, enables marketing to thread films through character arcs and themes and to sustain campaign assets without dead zones.

Technique and craft currents

The creative meetings behind the 2026 slate indicate a continued shift toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that foregrounds mood and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft coverage before rolling out a preview that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and creates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta recalibration that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature design and production design, which are ideal for con floor moments and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel necessary. Look for trailers that highlight fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that shine in top rooms.

The schedule at a glance

January is jammed. 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 moody palate cleanser amid big-brand pushes. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the variety of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Late Q1 and spring tee up summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Late-season stretch leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a late-September window that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a minimalist tease strategy and limited plot reveals that favor idea over plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card burn.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in 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 oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s intelligent companion escalates into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: atmospheric game 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 demanding boss battle to survive on a rugged island as the control dynamic reverses and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to terror, rooted in Cronin’s practical effects and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 premise that explores the chill of a child’s mercurial POV. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that pokes at current genre trends and true-crime buzz. 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 spreads, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a another family lashed to lingering terrors. Rating: pending. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A clean reboot designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward true survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: TBD. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: pending. Production: ongoing. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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 era-faithful speech and elemental menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three execution-level forces frame this lineup. First, production that downshifted or rearranged in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming releases. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work clippable moments 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 performs.

The slot calculus is real. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can seize a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will trade weekends across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can exploit 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 land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The sleeper chase continues in Q1, where midrange-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 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. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, efficient screen counts, 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 surface detail, aural design, and image-making 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, Ready To Roar

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is recognizable IP where it plays, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the shocks sell the seats.