Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primordial evil, a nerve shredding feature, launching October 2025 across top digital platforms

An bone-chilling mystic thriller from scriptwriter / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an timeless curse when outsiders become pawns in a cursed ceremony. Dropping on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful portrayal of endurance and forgotten curse that will reshape genre cinema this cool-weather season. Helmed by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and emotionally thick suspense flick follows five young adults who snap to isolated in a unreachable cabin under the unfriendly control of Kyra, a cursed figure haunted by a two-thousand-year-old scriptural evil. Brace yourself to be seized by a visual display that unites raw fear with timeless legends, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a well-established motif in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is twisted when the forces no longer appear from elsewhere, but rather from their core. This symbolizes the grimmest shade of the cast. The result is a edge-of-seat mind game where the story becomes a unyielding push-pull between innocence and sin.


In a haunting natural abyss, five individuals find themselves contained under the possessive sway and control of a enigmatic figure. As the survivors becomes submissive to resist her manipulation, isolated and stalked by terrors beyond reason, they are compelled to wrestle with their emotional phantoms while the seconds relentlessly runs out toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear escalates and associations splinter, urging each participant to evaluate their true nature and the nature of volition itself. The intensity intensify with every heartbeat, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that blends otherworldly suspense with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to draw upon pure dread, an threat that existed before mankind, influencing our weaknesses, and testing a spirit that dismantles free will when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra demanded embodying something unfamiliar to reason. She is innocent until the possession kicks in, and that evolution is bone-chilling because it is so private.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for audience access beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—delivering audiences no matter where they are can watch this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its original clip, which has earned over strong viewer count.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, bringing the film to global fright lovers.


Be sure to catch this visceral descent into hell. Face *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to witness these haunting secrets about inner darkness.


For teasers, special features, and reveals from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across entertainment pages and visit the official movie site.





Today’s horror inflection point: the 2025 cycle U.S. rollouts melds Mythic Possession, art-house nightmares, alongside brand-name tremors

From grit-forward survival fare rooted in mythic scripture to franchise returns and incisive indie visions, 2025 stands to become the most complex in tandem with deliberate year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. leading studios bookend the months by way of signature titles, concurrently digital services pack the fall with new voices and ancestral chills. In parallel, the independent cohort is surfing the kinetic energy from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, and now, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are surgical, as a result 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Premium genre swings back

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s distribution arm lights the fuse with a confident swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, but a crisp modern milieu. From director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. targeting mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Led by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer wanes, Warner’s pipeline launches the swan song of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. While the template is known, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson is back, and the memorable motifs return: nostalgic menace, trauma as text, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This time, the stakes are raised, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The next entry deepens the tale, grows the animatronic horror lineup, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It hits in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Firsts: No Budget, No Problem

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a forensic chill anthology lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a body horror chamber piece including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend starring Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Shaped 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 dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as 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 canny scheduling. No heavy handed lore. No sequel clutter. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. 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, under Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

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

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror reemerges
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Season Ahead: Autumn Overload and the 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 centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The next terror Year Ahead: continuations, filmmaker-first projects, together with A jammed Calendar aimed at chills

Dek: The fresh genre season lines up from day one with a January crush, following that carries through the summer months, and running into the holiday frame, mixing brand equity, novel approaches, and data-minded counterplay. Major distributors and platforms are relying on right-sized spends, theatrical leads, and viral-minded pushes that elevate these offerings into water-cooler talk.

How the genre looks for 2026

This space has turned into the most reliable release in programming grids, a segment that can expand when it lands and still protect the exposure when it fails to connect. After 2023 reminded strategy teams that modestly budgeted chillers can lead the national conversation, the following year carried the beat with visionary-driven titles and word-of-mouth wins. The momentum translated to the 2025 frame, where returns and festival-grade titles demonstrated there is demand for many shades, from sequel tracks to standalone ideas that play globally. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a slate that seems notably aligned across the major shops, with strategic blocks, a equilibrium of brand names and fresh ideas, and a renewed attention on cinema windows that drive downstream revenue on premium rental and OTT platforms.

Planners observe the space now behaves like a fill-in ace on the slate. The genre can kick off on a wide range of weekends, supply a simple premise for spots and reels, and over-index with demo groups that turn out on preview nights and stick through the second frame if the entry works. In the wake of a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 layout exhibits belief in that dynamic. The year launches with a busy January window, then exploits spring through early summer for counterweight, while holding room for a autumn stretch that extends to late October and into November. The schedule also highlights the deeper integration of indie distributors and platforms that can stage a platform run, create conversation, and move wide at the inflection point.

A notable top-line trend is brand strategy across shared universes and veteran brands. Distribution groups are not just pushing another chapter. They are aiming to frame ongoing narrative with a heightened moment, whether that is a graphic identity that flags a fresh attitude or a lead change that links a new entry to a heyday. At the same time, the helmers behind the marquee originals are doubling down on physical effects work, special makeup and place-driven backdrops. That interplay hands 2026 a strong blend of recognition and newness, which is how the genre sells abroad.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount sets the tone early with two prominent releases that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, setting it up as both a legacy handover and a heritage-centered character-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach telegraphs a legacy-leaning mode without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run rooted in heritage visuals, early character teases, and a rollout cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will feature. As a summer contrast play, this one will go after wide buzz through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format allowing quick turns to whatever leads the conversation that spring.

Universal has three defined lanes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is tight, soulful, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man purchases an machine companion that evolves into a lethal partner. The date puts it at the front of a heavy month, with the Universal machine likely to revisit eerie street stunts and bite-size content that fuses attachment and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a title drop to become an event moment closer to the first trailer. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. His entries are positioned as signature events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a second beat that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The late-October frame creates space for Universal to dominate 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, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has consistently shown that a raw, physical-effects centered aesthetic can feel high-value on a moderate cost. Frame it as a red-band summer horror shot that embraces international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio mounts two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, preserving a proven supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is framing as a reimagined 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 mission to serve both core fans and newcomers. The fall slot provides the studio time to build assets around mythos, and monster aesthetics, elements that can accelerate IMAX and PLF uptake and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in meticulous craft and archaic language, this time focused on werewolf legend. The specialty arm has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is enthusiastic.

How the platforms plan to play it

Windowing plans in 2026 run on established tracks. The Universal horror run land on copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a structure that fortifies both initial urgency and sign-up spikes in the back half. Prime Video combines acquired titles with worldwide entries and short theatrical plays when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu work their edges in archive usage, using curated hubs, fright rows, and featured rows to maximize the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix stays nimble about Netflix originals and festival additions, finalizing horror entries with shorter lead times and staging as events launches with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a paired of tailored theatrical exposure and swift platform pivots that converts WOM to subscribers. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre 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 purchase select projects with accomplished filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for platform stickiness when the genre conversation swells.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 corridor with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is clear: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, recalibrated for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the fall weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, marshalling the project through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then using the holiday slot to widen. That positioning has delivered for elevated genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception supports. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using limited theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Known brands versus new stories

By number, 2026 tips toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage legacy awareness. The watch-out, as ever, is overexposure. The go-to fix is to package each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is leading with character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-tinted vision from a buzzed-about director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and director-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the cast-creatives package is steady enough to accelerate early sales and preview-night crowds.

Recent-year comps make sense of the method. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that respected streaming windows did not prevent a day-and-date experiment from hitting when the brand was robust. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror surged in premium large format. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they alter lens and grow 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 linked-chapter plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, enables marketing to interlace chapters through relationships and themes and to keep assets in-market without long gaps.

Technique and craft currents

The craft conversations behind these films suggest a continued turn toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that leans on creep and texture rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and era-correct language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in trade spotlights and technical spotlights before rolling out a teaser that withholds plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and drives shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a self-referential reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature work and production design, which play well in con floor moments and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel essential. Look for trailers that elevate pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that explode in larger rooms.

Release calendar overview

January is full. 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 quiet contrast amid big-brand pushes. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the variety of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

Winter into spring prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Late summer into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a late-September window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a opaque tease strategy and limited pre-release reveals that elevate concept over story.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can win the holiday when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, 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 TBA in phases as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s AI companion evolves into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

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 back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 fight to survive on a uninhabited island as the control balance reverses and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to fright, grounded in Cronin’s hands-on craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting narrative that refracts terror through a child’s uncertain internal vantage. Rating: TBD. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-grade and marquee-led paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that skewers hot-button genre motifs and true crime fascinations. Rating: undetermined. 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: to be announced. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further widens again, with a another family linked to long-buried horrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece navigate here in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A clean reboot designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival-core horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: TBD. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: closely held. Rating: TBD. Production: advancing. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

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

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three execution-level forces structure this lineup. First, production that paused or shuffled in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming drops. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work clippable moments from test screenings, metered scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will jostle across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where lower and 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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, 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 keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, sound, and visual design 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

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand heft where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, keep the secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.