Ancient Terror Emerges within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding horror thriller, landing October 2025 across major streaming services

A terrifying mystic scare-fest from cinematographer / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an ancient terror when foreigners become vehicles in a hellish contest. Going live October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing portrayal of survival and age-old darkness that will revamp horror this harvest season. Produced by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and claustrophobic suspense flick follows five strangers who emerge ensnared in a isolated cabin under the aggressive dominion of Kyra, a troubled woman haunted by a prehistoric scriptural evil. Be warned to be ensnared by a narrative outing that intertwines instinctive fear with ancestral stories, coming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a legendary foundation in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is redefined when the fiends no longer originate from external sources, but rather deep within. This echoes the darkest element of every character. The result is a intense cognitive warzone where the intensity becomes a intense confrontation between light and darkness.


In a abandoned forest, five young people find themselves imprisoned under the fiendish force and domination of a haunted figure. As the youths becomes vulnerable to combat her control, disconnected and targeted by entities ungraspable, they are driven to face their core terrors while the countdown without pause winds toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion intensifies and relationships splinter, pressuring each figure to rethink their existence and the concept of volition itself. The tension escalate with every tick, delivering a chilling narrative that combines occult fear with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to extract ancestral fear, an entity from prehistory, manipulating psychological breaks, and navigating a will that threatens selfhood when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra was about accessing something far beyond human desperation. She is unaware until the possession kicks in, and that pivot is haunting because it is so deep.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for audiences beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—giving fans no matter where they are can watch this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its initial teaser, which has seen over a viral response.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, spreading the horror to viewers around the world.


Do not miss this bone-rattling exploration of dread. Confront *Young & Cursed* this launch day to confront these dark realities about free will.


For film updates, director cuts, and news from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across Instagram and Twitter and visit our film’s homepage.





Horror’s pivotal crossroads: 2025 for genre fans U.S. calendar integrates biblical-possession ideas, festival-born jolts, plus series shake-ups

Across pressure-cooker survival tales rooted in near-Eastern lore and stretching into canon extensions and incisive indie visions, 2025 appears poised to be the most stratified paired with intentionally scheduled year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. Top studios set cornerstones with known properties, concurrently streaming platforms load up the fall with unboxed visions as well as mythic dread. On another front, independent banners is carried on the afterglow from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, however this time, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are intentional, thus 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s pipeline lights the fuse with a headline swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, instead in a current-day frame. Led by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. Booked into mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Eli Craig directs fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Initial heat flags it as potent.

When summer tapers, the Warner Bros. banner bows the concluding entry from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Though the formula is familiar, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re engages, and the tone that worked before is intact: old school creep, trauma explicitly handled, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This pass pushes higher, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The return delves further into myth, stretches the animatronic parade, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It lands in December, locking down the winter tail.

Platform Plays: Tight funds, wide impact

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a tight space body horror vignette including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within 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 clever angle. No swollen lore. No legacy baggage. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

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, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Key Trends

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The forthcoming 2026 genre lineup: next chapters, universe starters, plus A busy Calendar geared toward jolts

Dek The upcoming scare calendar crams up front with a January glut, before it spreads through summer, and well into the late-year period, weaving brand equity, original angles, and strategic release strategy. Studios and platforms are relying on efficient budgets, exclusive theatrical windows first, and buzz-forward plans that shape genre titles into culture-wide discussion.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror sector has grown into the bankable lever in release strategies, a space that can accelerate when it hits and still safeguard the drawdown when it doesn’t. After 2023 reminded top brass that mid-range horror vehicles can dominate social chatter, 2024 maintained heat with festival-darling auteurs and unexpected risers. The momentum pushed into the 2025 frame, where revived properties and awards-minded projects showed there is capacity for diverse approaches, from series extensions to director-led originals that scale internationally. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a grid that appears tightly organized across the market, with purposeful groupings, a balance of known properties and new packages, and a tightened strategy on big-screen windows that drive downstream revenue on premium on-demand and home streaming.

Marketers add the horror lane now operates like a fill-in ace on the release plan. Horror can kick off on a wide range of weekends, offer a sharp concept for teasers and reels, and outperform with fans that turn out on first-look nights and stick through the second frame if the release satisfies. On the heels of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 layout exhibits conviction in that equation. The slate begins with a front-loaded January band, then taps spring and early summer for counterweight, while holding room for a fall cadence that connects to Halloween and afterwards. The grid also spotlights the ongoing integration of boutique distributors and streamers that can stage a platform run, create conversation, and grow at the right moment.

A parallel macro theme is franchise tending across ongoing universes and established properties. Big banners are not just greenlighting another continuation. They are shaping as story carry-over with a sense of event, whether that is a typeface approach that suggests a new tone or a talent selection that reconnects a next entry to a first wave. At the meanwhile, the auteurs behind the marquee originals are embracing hands-on technique, in-camera effects and vivid settings. That fusion produces the 2026 slate a lively combination of brand comfort and invention, which is the formula for international play.

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

Paramount defines the early cadence with two headline moves that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the center, positioning the film as both a legacy handover and a DNA-forward character-focused installment. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance indicates a memory-charged strategy without looping the last two entries’ sisters storyline. The studio is likely to mount a drive driven by iconic art, early character teases, and a promo sequence arriving in late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will emphasize. As a summer contrast play, this one will build broad awareness through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick shifts to whatever tops genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three separate lanes. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is tidy, sorrow-tinged, and logline-clear: a grieving man brings home an digital partner that grows into a lethal partner. The date puts it at the front of a packed window, with the studio’s marketing likely to bring back off-kilter promo beats and short-cut promos that threads love and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a title drop to become an headline beat closer to the initial tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele projects are marketed as auteur events, with a teaser that holds back and a later creative that define feel without revealing the concept. The Halloween runway opens a lane to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has long shown that a blood-soaked, prosthetic-heavy execution can feel high-value on a lean spend. Position this as a splatter summer horror shock that leans into global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio rolls out two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, carrying a proven supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is framing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both diehards and casuals. The fall slot offers Sony space to build campaign creative around world-building, and creature effects, elements that can increase premium screens and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror built on careful craft and period speech, this time orbiting lycan myth. Focus Features has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is robust.

How the platforms plan to play it

Digital strategies for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s releases feed copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a stair-step that expands both FOMO and platform bumps in the after-window. Prime Video continues to mix licensed content with global pickups and limited cinema engagements when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in deep cuts, using prominent placements, spooky hubs, and editorial rows to extend momentum on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix remains opportunistic about originals and festival buys, timing horror entries toward the drop and eventizing rollouts with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a one-two of precision theatrical plays and accelerated platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has been willing to invest in select projects with recognized filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation intensifies.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 pipeline with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is no-nonsense: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, refined for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the late stretch.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday frame to increase reach. That positioning has been successful for filmmaker-first horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception drives. Do not be surprised by 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 as partners, using limited theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Balance of brands and originals

By volume, the 2026 slate favors the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate name recognition. The watch-out, as ever, is diminishing returns. The pragmatic answer is to package each entry as a new angle. Paramount is spotlighting core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is indicating 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 prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the package is anchored enough to drive advance ticketing and preview-night crowds.

Rolling three-year comps clarify the plan. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that kept clean windows did not hamper a parallel release from hitting when the brand was sticky. In 2024, auteur craft horror rose in premium formats. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they shift POV and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues 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 filmed consecutively, builds a path for marketing to interlace chapters through relationships and themes and to hold creative in the market without lulls.

Technique and craft currents

The shop talk behind the 2026 slate forecast a continued bias toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that emphasizes mood and dread rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in craft profiles and artisan spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, check over here Evil Dead Burn is tuned for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and spurs shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta recalibration that centers an original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature execution and sets, which lend themselves to convention activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel primary. Look for trailers that highlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts 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 atmospheric change-up amid larger brand plays. The month caps 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 serious, but the mix of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth persists.

Pre-summer months seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Back half into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a late-September window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a minimalist tease strategy and limited information drops that lean on concept not plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and card redemption.

Project briefs

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 oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s digital partner turns into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: aura-driven 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 abrasive boss scramble to survive on a remote island as the hierarchy swivels and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 in the vault in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to terror, rooted in Cronin’s practical effects and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting scenario that threads the dread through a kid’s uncertain internal vantage. Rating: not yet rated. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-scale and toplined spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that pokes at current genre trends and true-crime manias. Rating: TBA. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 bursts, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further reopens, with a fresh family bound to ancient dread. Rating: pending. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to reconstitute the Source franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: to be announced. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: undetermined. Production: underway. 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 time-true diction and ancient menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. 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 2026, why now

Three hands-on forces organize this lineup. First, production that downshifted or rearranged in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, 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 outperformed straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on turnkey scare beats from test screenings, curated scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

There is also the slotting calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will cluster across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can exploit 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 land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The sleeper-hit hunt 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 maximize those pockets. 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. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall 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 steady Thursday pops, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, soundcraft, and visuals that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is franchise muscle where it helps, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the gasps sell the seats.