Primordial Evil Stirs in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling horror feature, launching Oct 2025 across major platforms

An terrifying spiritual fright fest from screenwriter / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an prehistoric horror when unrelated individuals become conduits in a fiendish conflict. Streaming October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching portrayal of resistance and primordial malevolence that will transform terror storytelling this cool-weather season. Guided by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and gothic suspense flick follows five individuals who wake up locked in a cut-off structure under the hostile sway of Kyra, a female presence overtaken by a time-worn biblical force. Prepare to be hooked by a big screen outing that intertwines deep-seated panic with spiritual backstory, debuting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a legendary foundation in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is inverted when the presences no longer emerge outside the characters, but rather within themselves. This illustrates the grimmest aspect of the cast. The result is a harrowing mind game where the story becomes a unforgiving face-off between light and darkness.


In a isolated natural abyss, five individuals find themselves contained under the malevolent sway and spiritual invasion of a mysterious woman. As the protagonists becomes powerless to deny her control, abandoned and targeted by evils ungraspable, they are made to endure their emotional phantoms while the timeline mercilessly runs out toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust swells and teams shatter, compelling each person to evaluate their identity and the principle of autonomy itself. The hazard climb with every heartbeat, delivering a chilling narrative that marries occult fear with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to awaken deep fear, an malevolence from prehistory, emerging via soul-level flaws, and dealing with a will that strips down our being when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra was about accessing something past sanity. She is blind until the entity awakens, and that evolution is haunting because it is so emotional.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be released for worldwide release beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—ensuring viewers across the world can enjoy this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its original clip, which has earned over a viral response.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, presenting the nightmare to fans of fear everywhere.


Join this soul-jarring descent into darkness. Stream *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to dive into these dark realities about the human condition.


For exclusive trailers, filmmaker commentary, and reveals from inside the story, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across your socials and visit the movie’s homepage.





U.S. horror’s Turning Point: 2025 for genre fans stateside slate fuses primeval-possession lore, art-house nightmares, plus IP aftershocks

Across life-or-death fear suffused with mythic scripture and extending to brand-name continuations set beside acutely observed indies, 2025 is coalescing into the genre’s most multifaceted along with deliberate year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. top-tier distributors bookend the months with familiar IP, in tandem digital services saturate the fall with new voices together with mythic dread. In the indie lane, the independent cohort is carried on the echoes from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, but this year, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are precise, thus 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Premium genre swings back

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal Pictures kicks off the frame with a big gambit: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, but a crisp modern milieu. With Leigh Whannell at the helm with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. dated for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Directed by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

When summer tapers, the Warner Bros. banner drops the final chapter from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re engages, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: retro dread, trauma as text, with ghostly inner logic. This run ups the stakes, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The continuation widens the legend, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, courting teens and the thirty something base. It opens in December, securing the winter cap.

Streamer Exclusives: Economy, maximum dread

While theaters lean on names and sequels, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

More contained by design is Together, a tight space body horror vignette starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in 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 canny scheduling. No bloated mythology. No series drag. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy IP: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, guided by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Key Trends

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

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

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Outlook: Fall crush plus winter X factor

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. 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 success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The coming 2026 genre year to come: Sequels, filmmaker-first projects, and also A packed Calendar Built For screams

Dek: The new scare cycle stacks immediately with a January bottleneck, thereafter rolls through summer, and pushing into the winter holidays, mixing brand heft, new concepts, and well-timed calendar placement. The big buyers and platforms are focusing on cost discipline, big-screen-first runs, and short-form initiatives that turn these pictures into culture-wide discussion.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The horror marketplace has turned into the dependable option in annual schedules, a corner that can lift when it performs and still limit the drawdown when it does not. After the 2023 year signaled to buyers that modestly budgeted genre plays can lead the national conversation, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with auteur-driven buzzy films and surprise hits. The momentum pushed into 2025, where revivals and festival-grade titles highlighted there is room for varied styles, from returning installments to non-IP projects that resonate abroad. The combined impact for 2026 is a run that seems notably aligned across the field, with mapped-out bands, a balance of brand names and original hooks, and a refocused emphasis on cinema windows that drive downstream revenue on premium on-demand and OTT platforms.

Executives say the horror lane now works like a utility player on the calendar. The genre can arrive on a wide range of weekends, furnish a tight logline for previews and TikTok spots, and outstrip with patrons that appear on opening previews and return through the sophomore frame if the title works. Post a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 mapping exhibits assurance in that logic. The year launches with a stacked January stretch, then targets spring into early summer for alternate plays, while clearing room for a fall corridor that pushes into Halloween and into early November. The gridline also reflects the increasing integration of specialty distributors and SVOD players that can build gradually, stoke social talk, and roll out at the right moment.

Another broad trend is franchise tending across linked properties and established properties. Big banners are not just releasing another return. They are shaping as threaded continuity with a specialness, whether that is a art treatment that suggests a new tone or a cast configuration that anchors a next film to a classic era. At the simultaneously, the writer-directors behind the high-profile originals are prioritizing tactile craft, real effects and grounded locations. That interplay delivers the 2026 slate a healthy mix of known notes and surprise, which is why the genre exports well.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount defines the early cadence with two headline entries that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the lead, setting it up as both a legacy handover and a DNA-forward character piece. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture points to a fan-service aware campaign without recycling the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign centered on iconic art, character-first teases, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm aimed at late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will foreground. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will seek general-audience talk through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format fitting quick updates to whatever leads trend lines that spring.

Universal has three separate entries. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is straightforward, tragic, and easily pitched: a grieving man brings home an intelligent companion that shifts into a killer companion. The date puts it at the front of a stacked January, with the marketing arm likely to recreate eerie street stunts and short-cut promos that blurs companionship and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a public title to become an teaser payoff closer to the first trailer. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s releases are positioned as event films, with a teaser that reveals little and a later trailer push that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The late-October frame gives the studio room to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to 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 directs, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has made clear that a in-your-face, on-set effects led aesthetic can feel prestige on a moderate cost. Look for a splatter summer horror shot that leans into global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio deploys two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, extending a evergreen supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is describing as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both loyalists and fresh viewers. The fall slot provides the studio time to build assets around universe detail, and creature builds, elements that can increase IMAX and PLF uptake and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by historical precision and language, this time circling werewolf lore. The imprint has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is strong.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform plans for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s slate shift to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a pacing that fortifies both opening-weekend urgency and sub growth in the late-window. Prime Video will mix library titles with global acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in catalog discovery, using featured rows, horror hubs, and editorial rows to stretch the tail on lifetime take. Netflix keeps options open about originals and festival deals, slotting horror entries closer to launch and coalescing around launches with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a hybrid of targeted theatrical exposure and prompt platform moves that translates talk to trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has shown appetite to acquire select projects with award winners or celebrity-led packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation spikes.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 arc with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is no-nonsense: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, refined for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has indicated a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the fall weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then deploying the year-end corridor to broaden. That positioning has worked well for prestige horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception prompts. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using precision theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subs.

Franchise entries versus originals

By weight, 2026 skews toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage legacy awareness. The caveat, as ever, is brand wear. The workable fix is to position each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is foregrounding relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is floating a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a continental coloration from a new voice. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the packaging is familiar enough to build pre-sales and Thursday previews.

The last three-year set illuminate the get redirected here model. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that kept clean windows did not hamper a simultaneous release test from winning when the brand was robust. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror punched above its weight in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they reorient and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, lets marketing to tie installments through protagonists and motifs and to keep materials circulating without dead zones.

Craft and creative trends

The craft rooms behind these films indicate a continued bias toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that elevates grain and menace rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft features before rolling out a mood teaser that withholds plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for red-band excess, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and sparks shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a self-referential reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster work and world-building, which match well with fan conventions and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel compelling. Look for trailers that foreground precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that land in premium houses.

Calendar cadence

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 somber counterpoint amid larger brand plays. The month closes 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 serious, but the palette of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth persists.

Late winter and spring set up the summer. Scream 7 opens February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Back half into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited plot reveals that elevate concept over story.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can win the holiday when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift card usage.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces 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 widowed man’s AI companion becomes something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

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 be swallowed by a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. 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 try to survive on a lonely island as the chain of command tilts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to horror, grounded in Cronin’s on-set craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 chill of a child’s mercurial POV. Rating: TBD. Production: post-ready. Positioning: major-studio and headline-actor led supernatural mood piece.

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 parody return that lampoons today’s horror trends and true crime fervors. Rating: TBA. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 detonates, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further widens again, with a fresh family caught in past horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on classic survival-horror tone over action spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: TBD. Production: continuing. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and elemental fear. Rating: TBA. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three hands-on forces frame this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or shifted in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly 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 landings. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

There is also the slotting calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will share space across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where disciplined-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first 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.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, 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 keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, soundscape, 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 Strong 2026 Horizon

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is name recognition where it counts, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the frights sell the seats.