Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens primeval malevolence, a hair raising feature, launching October 2025 across top streaming platforms

One frightening supernatural suspense story from screenwriter / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an primordial fear when outsiders become conduits in a malevolent experiment. Premiering October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful depiction of living through and archaic horror that will remodel scare flicks this autumn. Directed by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and claustrophobic film follows five figures who come to imprisoned in a isolated shelter under the oppressive dominion of Kyra, a cursed figure controlled by a ancient biblical demon. Arm yourself to be hooked by a big screen event that harmonizes soul-chilling terror with biblical origins, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a iconic tradition in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is inverted when the presences no longer originate from a different plane, but rather from their psyche. This represents the most hidden version of these individuals. The result is a harrowing moral showdown where the drama becomes a constant face-off between righteousness and malevolence.


In a desolate wilderness, five adults find themselves imprisoned under the evil grip and overtake of a enigmatic female figure. As the characters becomes incapable to fight her rule, exiled and tormented by entities unnamable, they are thrust to battle their inner demons while the final hour relentlessly counts down toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion amplifies and bonds implode, pushing each participant to question their personhood and the structure of independent thought itself. The threat accelerate with every minute, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that fuses otherworldly panic with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to explore raw dread, an darkness beyond time, embedding itself in inner turmoil, and examining a entity that strips down our being when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra required summoning something unfamiliar to reason. She is unseeing until the demon emerges, and that shift is terrifying because it is so emotional.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for audiences beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—allowing audiences no matter where they are can be part of this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its first preview, which has collected over notable views.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, taking the terror to scare fans abroad.


Tune in for this life-altering descent into hell. Confront *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to uncover these haunting secrets about the psyche.


For teasers, special features, and press updates from inside the story, follow @YACFilm across social media and visit the movie’s homepage.





Modern horror’s watershed moment: calendar year 2025 U.S. calendar fuses legend-infused possession, independent shockers, plus franchise surges

From pressure-cooker survival tales suffused with ancient scripture all the way to brand-name continuations alongside surgical indie voices, 2025 is emerging as the genre’s most multifaceted in tandem with calculated campaign year in ten years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. the big studios lock in tentpoles by way of signature titles, even as premium streamers stack the fall with first-wave breakthroughs in concert with archetypal fear. On another front, indie storytellers is buoyed by the kinetic energy of a peak 2024 circuit. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, yet in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are exacting, hence 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: The Return of Prestige Fear

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s schedule sets the tone with a headline swing: a modernized Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, but a sharp contemporary setting. Under director Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. arriving mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. From director Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Initial heat flags it as potent.

When summer tapers, Warner’s schedule rolls out the capstone from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Though the outline is tried, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson resumes command, and the tone that worked before is intact: retro dread, trauma driven plotting, and eerie supernatural logic. This time, the stakes are raised, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, broadens the animatronic terror cast, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It lands in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. 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.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a room scale body horror descent anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held 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 horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is a clever angle. No overinflated mythology. No canon weight. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

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 bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter 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.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Franchise Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, steered by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

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.

Dials to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
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 does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror returns
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Outlook: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The oncoming Horror lineup: returning titles, original films, in tandem with A hectic Calendar optimized for frights

Dek: The brand-new scare season packs up front with a January cluster, then carries through the summer months, and well into the holiday stretch, balancing franchise firepower, inventive spins, and savvy release strategy. Studio marketers and platforms are leaning into mid-range economics, exclusive theatrical windows first, and buzz-forward plans that position these pictures into all-audience topics.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The horror sector has solidified as the sturdy release in distribution calendars, a genre that can spike when it catches and still cushion the drag when it stumbles. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for top brass that cost-conscious genre plays can own the zeitgeist, the following year continued the surge with festival-darling auteurs and quiet over-performers. The momentum extended into 2025, where revived properties and premium-leaning entries demonstrated there is an opening for diverse approaches, from returning installments to one-and-done originals that translate worldwide. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a lineup that feels more orchestrated than usual across the industry, with defined corridors, a combination of established brands and original hooks, and a tightened priority on theatrical windows that increase tail monetization on premium rental and OTT platforms.

Planners observe the space now performs as a utility player on the schedule. The genre can arrive on a wide range of weekends, deliver a simple premise for promo reels and UGC-friendly snippets, and outstrip with fans that line up on early shows and maintain momentum through the next pass if the film fires. Post a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 rhythm telegraphs conviction in that logic. The year opens with a heavy January band, then uses spring and early summer for alternate plays, while keeping space for a autumn push that stretches into All Hallows period and afterwards. The program also highlights the increasing integration of boutique distributors and platforms that can nurture a platform play, build word of mouth, and expand at the timely point.

A further high-level trend is brand curation across linked properties and long-running brands. Studios are not just pushing another entry. They are looking to package brand continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a typeface approach that indicates a recalibrated tone or a casting move that threads a next film to a vintage era. At the concurrently, the directors behind the most watched originals are favoring physical effects work, makeup and prosthetics and distinct locales. That alloy gives 2026 a solid mix of comfort and freshness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount leads early with two big-ticket pushes that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, great post to read with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the front, positioning the film as both a passing of the torch and a return-to-roots character-forward chapter. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach announces a memory-charged angle without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected driven by iconic art, initial cast looks, and a rollout cadence hitting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will stress. As a counterweight in summer, this one will drive wide appeal through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format allowing quick adjustments to whatever rules the social talk that spring.

Universal has three specific strategies. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is efficient, grief-rooted, and commercial: a grieving man adopts an synthetic partner that unfolds into a harmful mate. The date locates it at the front of a thick month, with marketing at Universal likely to revisit uncanny live moments and short reels that hybridizes longing and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a name unveil to become an marketing beat closer to the first look. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele’s releases are presented as event films, with a hinting teaser and a later creative that shape mood without giving away the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor creates space for Universal to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has made clear that a gnarly, practical-first mix can feel prestige on a tight budget. Position this as a hard-R summer horror shot that leans into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio lines up two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, sustaining a proven supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is positioning as a ground-zero restart 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 diehards and curious audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build campaign creative around world-building, and monster aesthetics, elements that can amplify deluxe auditorium demand 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 follows Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by meticulous craft and linguistic texture, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is warm.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform windowing in 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s horror titles move to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a ladder that enhances both premiere heat and viewer acquisition in the post-theatrical. Prime Video continues to mix library titles with global originals and limited runs in theaters when the data points to it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library pulls, using editorial spots, fright rows, and featured rows to increase tail value on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix stays opportunistic about originals and festival wins, securing horror entries closer to launch and turning into events drops with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a laddered of precision releases and accelerated platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a per-project basis. The platform has indicated interest to board select projects with accomplished filmmakers or A-list packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly activity when the genre conversation intensifies.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 track with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is uncomplicated: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, refined for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a cinema-first plan for the title, an good sign for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late stretch.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then using the December frame to move out. That positioning has proved effective for elevated genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception prompts. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using boutique theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their user base.

Brands and originals

By count, the 2026 slate bends toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness cultural cachet. The challenge, as ever, is diminishing returns. The go-to fix is to present each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is elevating character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-tinted vision from a buzzed-about director. Those click site choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the cast-creatives package is steady enough to generate pre-sales and early previews.

Comps from the last three years make sense of the template. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that observed windows did not foreclose a hybrid test from succeeding when the brand was potent. In 2024, precision craft horror hit big in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they rotate perspective and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to tie installments through relationships and themes and to sustain campaign assets without lulls.

Craft and creative trends

The production chatter behind 2026 horror telegraph a continued bias toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that elevates creep and texture rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in long-lead features and guild coverage before rolling out a first look that keeps plot minimal, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and gathers shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta-horror reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature craft and set design, 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 auditorium case feel primary. Look for trailers that center surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that benefit on big speakers.

The schedule at a glance

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 tonal palate cleanser amid larger brand plays. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the tonal variety carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth persists.

Post-January through spring prepare summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now accommodates 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 lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil follows September 18, a late-September window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited plot reveals that center concept over reveals.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and holiday gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s digital partner evolves into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 prickly boss claw to survive on a isolated island as the hierarchy tilts and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. 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 TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to terror, built on Cronin’s material craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting chiller that mediates the fear via a youngster’s unreliable subjective lens. Rating: TBA. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A genre lampoon that skewers of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fixations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: lensing scheduled 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 breaks out, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a unlucky family linked to lingering terrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival-first horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: pending. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: TBD. Production: in progress. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

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 historical diction and bone-deep menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. 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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three execution-level forces frame this lineup. First, production that eased or migrated in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming drops. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work social-ready stingers from test screenings, managed scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

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 deep PLF penetration without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The sleeper-hit hunt continues in Q1, where 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 left-field winner 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, lean 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 grain, soundscape, 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.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is franchise muscle where it helps, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, guard the secrets, and let the frights sell the seats.