Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primeval horror, a pulse pounding shocker, premiering Oct 2025 on major streaming services

A terrifying ghostly scare-fest from literary architect / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an primordial entity when unrelated individuals become victims in a dark experiment. Available on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful portrayal of resistance and primordial malevolence that will alter horror this ghoul season. Created by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and atmospheric fearfest follows five characters who find themselves ensnared in a wilderness-bound house under the malignant control of Kyra, a troubled woman dominated by a time-worn sacred-era entity. Be warned to be ensnared by a theatrical spectacle that intertwines raw fear with mystical narratives, unleashing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a iconic element in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is flipped when the beings no longer develop beyond the self, but rather through their own souls. This marks the haunting layer of all involved. The result is a intense emotional conflict where the story becomes a constant conflict between righteousness and malevolence.


In a forsaken outland, five young people find themselves trapped under the fiendish grip and domination of a unknown person. As the team becomes vulnerable to fight her power, abandoned and attacked by terrors unimaginable, they are thrust to face their emotional phantoms while the final hour without pause pushes forward toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease intensifies and connections splinter, pressuring each character to evaluate their existence and the structure of self-determination itself. The threat amplify with every breath, delivering a nightmarish journey that blends otherworldly panic with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to explore pure dread, an malevolence beyond recorded history, channeling itself through soul-level flaws, and challenging a being that challenges autonomy when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra was about accessing something beneath mortal despair. She is innocent until the control shifts, and that metamorphosis is deeply unsettling because it is so intimate.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for audiences beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—offering viewers in all regions can enjoy this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its original promo, which has earned over notable views.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, presenting the nightmare to global fright lovers.


Witness this unforgettable trip into the unknown. Explore *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to see these haunting secrets about our species.


For featurettes, filmmaker commentary, and news from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across social media and visit our film’s homepage.





The horror genre’s Turning Point: 2025 in focus stateside slate interlaces old-world possession, indie terrors, alongside series shake-ups

Beginning with life-or-death fear rooted in primordial scripture and extending to canon extensions together with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is lining up as the most variegated in tandem with blueprinted year in years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. the big studios are anchoring the year via recognizable brands, simultaneously platform operators flood the fall with debut heat alongside archetypal fear. On the independent axis, festival-forward creators is buoyed by the echoes from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, and now, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are precise, therefore 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The top end is active. If 2024 set the base, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s slate sets the tone with an audacious swing: a modernized Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, but a sharp contemporary setting. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Slated for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. From director Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer wanes, the Warner Bros. banner delivers the closing chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re engages, and those signature textures resurface: retrograde shiver, trauma foregrounded, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The bar is raised this go, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, grows the animatronic horror lineup, bridging teens and legacy players. It lands in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streaming Offerings: Modest spend, serious shock

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

On the quieter side is Together, a room scale body horror descent with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn led by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Penned and steered 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. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is a calculated bet. No bloated mythology. No brand fatigue. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

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

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Lines: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, from Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

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

Emerging Currents

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Laurels convert to leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

What’s Next: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The 2026 spook release year: returning titles, non-franchise titles, plus A hectic Calendar tailored for goosebumps

Dek The current scare calendar crams from day one with a January cluster, before it unfolds through the summer months, and far into the winter holidays, marrying IP strength, untold stories, and strategic offsets. Distributors with platforms are doubling down on cost discipline, theatrical leads, and buzz-forward plans that transform these films into national conversation.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The horror sector has emerged as the predictable option in studio slates, a space that can grow when it connects and still hedge the losses when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year signaled to greenlighters that modestly budgeted shockers can shape mainstream conversation, the following year sustained momentum with visionary-driven titles and surprise hits. The tailwind carried into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and critical darlings confirmed there is appetite for a variety of tones, from series extensions to filmmaker-driven originals that perform internationally. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a calendar that seems notably aligned across the field, with purposeful groupings, a harmony of legacy names and fresh ideas, and a re-energized attention on box-office windows that increase tail monetization on premium video on demand and OTT platforms.

Planners observe the horror lane now works like a fill-in ace on the programming map. Horror can kick off on numerous frames, yield a clean hook for trailers and short-form placements, and over-index with ticket buyers that lean in on opening previews and return through the sophomore frame if the entry lands. Emerging from a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 rhythm reflects comfort in that approach. The calendar opens with a front-loaded January run, then turns to spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while holding room for a late-year stretch that carries into All Hallows period and afterwards. The map also underscores the ongoing integration of boutique distributors and subscription services that can platform a title, spark evangelism, and broaden at the precise moment.

A reinforcing pattern is legacy care across shared universes and legacy IP. The studios are not just releasing another return. They are moving to present threaded continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a art treatment that suggests a tonal shift or a cast configuration that anchors a next film to a vintage era. At the alongside this, the directors behind the most buzzed-about originals are prioritizing material texture, physical gags and place-driven backdrops. That pairing produces 2026 a solid mix of assurance and unexpected turns, which is how the films export.

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

Paramount leads early with two prominent releases that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the center, setting it up as both a legacy handover and a classic-mode character-first story. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the creative stance signals a nostalgia-forward approach without recycling the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign anchored in heritage visuals, character-first teases, and a two-beat trailer plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is big-screen 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 behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will emphasize. As a summer alternative, this one will build mass reach through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format inviting quick turns to whatever tops the social talk that spring.

Universal has three specific strategies. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is straightforward, loss-driven, and commercial: a grieving man installs an AI companion that evolves into a deadly partner. The date sets it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s promo team likely to recreate uncanny-valley stunts and snackable content that hybridizes devotion and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a public title to become an attention spike closer to the first look. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. The filmmaker’s films are framed as event films, with a hinting teaser and a second trailer wave that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The prime October weekend gives Universal room to lead 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, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has made clear that a flesh-and-blood, physical-effects centered aesthetic can feel elevated on a disciplined budget. Position this as a blood-soaked summer horror blast that spotlights international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio lines up two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, holding a steady supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is positioning as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both players and new audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build campaign creative around world-building, and creature builds, elements that can boost deluxe auditorium demand and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in obsessive craft and period speech, this time orbiting lycan myth. Focus Features has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a promissory note in get redirected here Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is robust.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform tactics for 2026 run on tested paths. The studio’s horror films shift to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a pacing that elevates both opening-weekend urgency and platform bumps in the late-window. Prime Video pairs acquired titles with global acquisitions and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data points to it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library engagement, using editorial spots, Halloween hubs, and handpicked rows to prolong the run on the horror cume. Netflix plays opportunist about internal projects and festival snaps, scheduling horror entries near launch and elevating as drops releases with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a staged of selective theatrical runs 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 using horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a selective basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to acquire select projects with acclaimed directors or marquee packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation spikes.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 slate 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 offer is tight: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, retooled for modern soundscapes and visuals. 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 big-screen first plan for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the autumn weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then activating the Christmas window to expand. That positioning has worked well for filmmaker-driven genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception prompts. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using targeted theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their community.

Balance of brands and originals

By tilt, 2026 bends toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate cultural cachet. The challenge, as ever, is staleness. The near-term solution is to pitch each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is elevating character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-accented approach from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the assembly is comforting enough to build pre-sales and early previews.

Comparable trends from recent years clarify the approach. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that maintained windows did not foreclose a day-date try from thriving when the brand was big. In 2024, director-craft horror punched above its weight in premium screens. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they rotate perspective and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends 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 produced back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to bridge entries through character web and themes and to keep materials circulating without dead zones.

Technique and craft currents

The creative meetings behind the 2026 slate indicate a continued bias toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that centers grain and menace rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse see here partnership allowing budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and era-correct language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and generates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta-horror reset that centers its original star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature craft and set design, which match well with convention floor stunts and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel primary. Look for trailers that underscore pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that benefit on big speakers.

From winter to holidays

January is crowded. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid big-brand pushes. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the tonal variety carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

Early-year through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls 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 lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Back half into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a early fall window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited pre-release reveals that elevate concept over story.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card use.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s machine mate becomes something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: mood-led adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her difficult boss scramble to survive on a remote island as the chain of command swivels and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to menace, founded on Cronin’s physical craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 home-set haunting setup that twists the unease of a child’s uncertain perspective. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A satire sequel that satirizes of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime manias. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: production booked 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 erupts, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a fresh family tethered to past horrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A reboot designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in classic survival-horror tone over action spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

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

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and ancient menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three pragmatic forces frame this lineup. First, production that slowed or shifted in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and pared-down 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 exceeded straight-to-streaming landings. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on meme-ready beats from test screenings, metered scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

The slot calculus is real. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can command a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will compete 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 benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The search for sleepers continues in Q1, where lean-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 surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience journey through the year

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

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, sound, 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.

2026 Shapes Up Strong

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand equity where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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, edit tight trailers, hold the mystery, and let the fear sell the seats.