Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases antediluvian malevolence, a chilling supernatural thriller, bowing October 2025 across top digital platforms

This haunting mystic shockfest from storyteller / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an mythic evil when foreigners become proxies in a fiendish contest. Hitting screens this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, Google’s YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching journey of living through and archaic horror that will transform the fear genre this season. Realized by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and immersive fearfest follows five strangers who find themselves stuck in a cut-off cabin under the unfriendly control of Kyra, a female lead haunted by a prehistoric ancient fiend. Brace yourself to be shaken by a narrative presentation that combines gut-punch terror with ancient myths, arriving on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a classic concept in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is subverted when the beings no longer come outside the characters, but rather through their own souls. This represents the most terrifying layer of the protagonists. The result is a gripping inner struggle where the plotline becomes a ongoing fight between good and evil.


In a desolate wild, five campers find themselves imprisoned under the possessive aura and control of a mysterious being. As the ensemble becomes paralyzed to fight her manipulation, severed and tormented by presences inconceivable, they are obligated to battle their worst nightmares while the countdown mercilessly edges forward toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion amplifies and partnerships shatter, pushing each protagonist to examine their values and the idea of personal agency itself. The danger intensify with every beat, delivering a frightening tale that marries otherworldly suspense with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to channel basic terror, an malevolence older than civilization itself, influencing emotional vulnerability, and challenging a darkness that peels away humanity when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra asked for exploring something unfamiliar to reason. She is oblivious until the evil takes hold, and that change is gut-wrenching because it is so visceral.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for home viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—allowing viewers worldwide can dive into this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its intro video, which has been viewed over a viral response.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, giving access to the movie to a global viewership.


Witness this life-altering trip into the unknown. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to confront these chilling revelations about the psyche.


For director insights, production insights, and updates from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across Instagram and Twitter and visit the official digital haunt.





Today’s horror inflection point: calendar year 2025 U.S. lineup blends biblical-possession ideas, art-house nightmares, together with returning-series thunder

Moving from fight-to-live nightmare stories rooted in ancient scripture as well as series comebacks as well as pointed art-house angles, 2025 appears poised to be the genre’s most multifaceted in tandem with precision-timed year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. top-tier distributors bookend the months with known properties, at the same time premium streamers stack the fall with first-wave breakthroughs plus legend-coded dread. On the independent axis, the independent cohort is propelled by the carry of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, notably this year, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are disciplined, as a result 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige terror resurfaces

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s schedule sets the tone with a statement play: a refreshed Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, but a crisp modern milieu. Under director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Booked into 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 conversion presented as stripped terror. From director Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

At summer’s close, Warner Bros. Pictures drops the final chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Despite a known recipe, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

After that, The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re teams, and the tone that worked before is intact: throwback unease, trauma in the foreground, with spooky supernatural reasoning. Here the stakes rise, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, grows the animatronic horror lineup, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It posts in December, locking down the winter tail.

Platform Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

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

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold case horror anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a room scale body horror descent starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through 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

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Written and helmed 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. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces 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 a smart play. No heavy handed lore. No canon weight. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

What to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror resurges
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Badges become bargaining chips
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Outlook: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

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.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The oncoming genre season: next chapters, original films, as well as A stacked Calendar aimed at shocks

Dek: The incoming horror year packs at the outset with a January glut, then stretches through the mid-year, and well into the winter holidays, marrying legacy muscle, new voices, and savvy counterplay. Studios and streamers are embracing smart costs, box-office-first windows, and viral-minded pushes that elevate these releases into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This category has grown into the dependable swing in release strategies, a pillar that can lift when it resonates and still cushion the drag when it stumbles. After the 2023 year showed greenlighters that efficiently budgeted scare machines can own pop culture, 2024 extended the rally with auteur-driven buzzy films and quiet over-performers. The head of steam moved into 2025, where revivals and prestige plays proved there is room for varied styles, from returning installments to original features that scale internationally. The sum for the 2026 slate is a calendar that looks unusually coordinated across distributors, with defined corridors, a pairing of legacy names and untested plays, and a recommitted strategy on box-office windows that fuel later windows on premium home window and OTT platforms.

Distribution heads claim the genre now behaves like a wildcard on the calendar. Horror can debut on many corridors, deliver a sharp concept for spots and social clips, and outpace with crowds that respond on Thursday previews and return through the week two if the title works. In the wake of a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 layout signals confidence in that engine. The slate begins with a crowded January band, then primes spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while carving room for a autumn push that connects to late October and into November. The schedule also includes the increasing integration of indie arms and OTT outlets that can stage a platform run, create conversation, and widen at the optimal moment.

A companion trend is brand management across interlocking continuities and classic IP. Studios are not just mounting another continuation. They are moving to present story carry-over with a headline quality, whether that is a title treatment that indicates a reframed mood or a talent selection that ties a upcoming film to a foundational era. At the parallel to that, the creative teams behind the eagerly awaited originals are embracing hands-on technique, practical effects and specific settings. That convergence gives 2026 a smart balance of home base and unexpected turns, which is what works overseas.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount leads early with two prominent titles that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, marketing it as both a succession moment and a return-to-roots character-focused installment. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the creative stance signals a legacy-leaning strategy without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Plan for a rollout driven by franchise iconography, first images of characters, and a rollout cadence slated for 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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will emphasize. As a summer counter-slot, this one will chase large awareness through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format supporting quick updates to whatever rules genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three unique bets. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is tight, soulful, and logline-clear: a grieving man implements an machine companion that grows into a murderous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s team likely to echo odd public stunts and short reels that threads intimacy and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a final title to become an PR pop closer to the first trailer. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele projects are sold as must-see filmmaker statements, with a minimalist tease and a subsequent trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The late-month date gives the studio room to command 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, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has long shown that a blood-soaked, in-camera leaning strategy can feel cinematic on a moderate cost. Frame it as a gore-forward summer horror shot that pushes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio lines up two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, holding a consistent supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is describing as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both devotees and novices. The fall slot lets Sony to build promo materials around setting detail, and creature builds, elements that can lift premium format interest and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by historical precision and linguistic texture, this time orbiting lycan myth. Focus Features has already locked the day for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is warm.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform tactics for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s releases shift to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a structure that fortifies both initial urgency and platform bumps in the after-window. Prime Video pairs licensed content with world buys and small theatrical windows when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in deep cuts, using editorial spots, holiday hubs, and staff picks to lengthen the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix stays nimble about in-house releases and festival deals, finalizing horror entries with shorter lead times and staging as events premieres with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a two-step of selective theatrical runs and rapid platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has signaled readiness to invest in select projects with recognized filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation spikes.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 lane with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is straightforward: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, reimagined for modern sound and cinematography. 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 big-screen first plan for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the October weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the Christmas window to widen. That positioning has shown results for auteur horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception justifies. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using boutique theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their user base.

Legacy titles versus originals

By count, 2026 leans toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit cultural cachet. The caveat, as ever, is viewer burnout. The pragmatic answer is to present each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is foregrounding character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-tinted vision from a ascendant talent. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and visionary-led titles provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the assembly is comforting enough to generate pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years make sense of the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that kept clean windows did not preclude a dual release from succeeding when the brand was robust. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror hit big in premium formats. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they rotate perspective and grow scope. 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 filmed consecutively, gives leeway to marketing to interlace chapters through character arcs and themes and to hold creative in the market without extended gaps.

How the films are being made

The craft rooms behind these films signal a continued bias toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that leans on grain and menace rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in craft journalism and craft spotlights before rolling out a preview that withholds plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and gathers shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta recalibration that re-centers the original lead. Resident this website Evil will fly or stall on creature craft and set design, which align with convention activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel definitive. Look for trailers that accent disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in premium houses.

Annual flow

January is heavy. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a foggy reset amid marquee brands. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the palette of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

Post-January through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to 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 playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late summer into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a transitional slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a opaque tease strategy and limited disclosures that favor idea over plot.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and card redemption.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s machine mate unfolds into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem 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 finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: mood-led 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 tough boss claw to survive on a remote island as the power balance turns and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to terror, shaped by Cronin’s on-set craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting piece that toys with the fear of a child’s unreliable point of view. Rating: TBA. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A genre lampoon that lampoons current genre trends and true crime fixations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 erupts, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new family bound to long-buried horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A clean reboot designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in classic survival-horror tone over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: TBD. Production: in progress. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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-accurate language and ancient menace. Rating: TBA. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a big-screen run before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three execution-level forces inform this lineup. First, production that slowed or reshuffled in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and accelerated 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 exceeded straight-to-streaming releases. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on turnkey scare beats from test screenings, managed scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

A fourth factor is programming math. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will compete across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings More about the author 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 surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, 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 cinematography 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

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is franchise muscle where it helps, creative ambition where it counts, 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 late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, lock the reveals, and let the gasps sell the seats.