Mythic Terror Reawakens within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked supernatural thriller, rolling out October 2025 across global platforms

This chilling spiritual fear-driven tale from author / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an primordial horror when unknowns become tokens in a dark contest. Streaming on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful narrative of continuance and mythic evil that will resculpt fear-driven cinema this harvest season. Helmed by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and claustrophobic tale follows five figures who awaken imprisoned in a remote shelter under the malevolent command of Kyra, a tormented girl controlled by a biblical-era scriptural evil. Get ready to be drawn in by a audio-visual spectacle that intertwines gut-punch terror with arcane tradition, hitting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a long-standing foundation in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is reimagined when the demons no longer originate beyond the self, but rather inside them. This suggests the deepest version of the protagonists. The result is a harrowing inner struggle where the suspense becomes a relentless face-off between light and darkness.


In a forsaken wilderness, five teens find themselves caught under the fiendish dominion and inhabitation of a unidentified figure. As the characters becomes defenseless to oppose her control, abandoned and pursued by entities beyond reason, they are thrust to wrestle with their darkest emotions while the hours mercilessly ticks onward toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension escalates and associations disintegrate, demanding each protagonist to challenge their identity and the idea of free will itself. The tension mount with every beat, delivering a frightening tale that integrates mystical fear with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to evoke instinctual horror, an power before modern man, operating within soul-level flaws, and exposing a spirit that erodes the self when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra was centered on something beyond human emotion. She is in denial until the entity awakens, and that change is haunting because it is so raw.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for public screening beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—ensuring customers anywhere can witness this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its first preview, which has been viewed over six-figure audience.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, offering the tale to lovers of terror across nations.


Be sure to catch this mind-warping path of possession. Stream *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to uncover these ghostly lessons about human nature.


For teasers, set experiences, and reveals via the production team, follow @YoungAndCursed across your favorite networks and visit youngandcursed.com.





Horror’s decisive shift: the 2025 season U.S. Slate Mixes Mythic Possession, underground frights, paired with series shake-ups

Kicking off with last-stand terror drawn from biblical myth and including returning series paired with incisive indie visions, 2025 is coalescing into the most dimensioned together with precision-timed year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. Top studios stabilize the year with franchise anchors, at the same time streaming platforms prime the fall with first-wave breakthroughs plus scriptural shivers. On another front, the art-house flank is carried on the tailwinds from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. With Halloween holding the peak, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, distinctly in 2025, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are intentional, hence 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Premium genre swings back

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s slate lights the fuse with an audacious swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, but a crisp modern milieu. Led by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. targeting mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Led by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside 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. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

Toward summer’s end, the Warner Bros. banner releases the last chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson returns to the helm, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: vintage toned fear, trauma as narrative engine, plus otherworld rules that chill. This time, the stakes are raised, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The return delves further into myth, thickens the animatronic pantheon, courting teens and the thirty something base. It hits in December, securing the winter cap.

Platform Plays: Tight funds, wide impact

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a tight space body horror vignette fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Also rising is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Written and helmed by 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. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No overweight mythology. No legacy baggage. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

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

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy IP: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Trend Lines

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror comes roaring back
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Laurels convert to leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Season Ahead: Fall stack and winter swing card

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The upcoming chiller release year: follow-ups, filmmaker-first projects, together with A busy Calendar geared toward jolts

Dek The brand-new horror slate lines up at the outset with a January cluster, before it spreads through the mid-year, and well into the holidays, combining legacy muscle, inventive spins, and data-minded counterplay. Major distributors and platforms are relying on cost discipline, box-office-first windows, and shareable marketing that transform genre titles into mainstream chatter.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror filmmaking has established itself as the sturdy release in studio slates, a segment that can break out when it catches and still cushion the floor when it misses. After the 2023 year signaled to greenlighters that disciplined-budget pictures can own pop culture, 2024 extended the rally with director-led heat and unexpected risers. The head of steam rolled into 2025, where revivals and prestige plays proved there is space for varied styles, from franchise continuations to standalone ideas that resonate abroad. The takeaway for 2026 is a programming that looks unusually coordinated across the major shops, with purposeful groupings, a equilibrium of legacy names and fresh ideas, and a refocused attention on exclusive windows that feed downstream value on premium rental and digital services.

Insiders argue the category now slots in as a swing piece on the programming map. The genre can launch on many corridors, furnish a clean hook for teasers and vertical videos, and outstrip with patrons that come out on previews Thursday and continue through the follow-up frame if the picture pays off. Post a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 cadence telegraphs confidence in that logic. The year launches with a stacked January stretch, then leans on spring and early summer for balance, while saving space for a late-year stretch that extends to the Halloween frame and past the holiday. The map also underscores the tightening integration of indie distributors and streamers that can stage a platform run, spark evangelism, and broaden at the strategic time.

A second macro trend is franchise tending across ongoing universes and storied titles. Big banners are not just rolling another return. They are setting up continuity with a specialness, whether that is a title design that flags a new vibe or a lead change that connects a new entry to a vintage era. At the alongside this, the creative leads behind the most anticipated originals are championing on-set craft, physical gags and distinct locales. That combination affords 2026 a vital pairing of comfort and newness, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount marks the early tempo with two headline releases that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the center, setting it up as both a cross-generational handoff and a origin-leaning relationship-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance suggests a throwback-friendly treatment without covering again the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Count on a promo wave centered on classic imagery, character previews, and a tease cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will lean on. As a summer contrast play, this one will drive broad awareness through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format inviting quick updates to whatever rules trend lines that spring.

Universal Check This Out has three defined plays. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is efficient, tragic, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man activates an synthetic partner that unfolds into a lethal partner. The date nudges it to the front of a competition-heavy month, with the Universal machine likely to renew uncanny live moments and snackable content that interweaves intimacy and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a official title to become an attention spike closer to the first trailer. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. His entries are set up as filmmaker events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a second trailer wave that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The late-month date affords Universal to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has proven that a gritty, physical-effects centered method can feel deluxe on a efficient spend. Expect a hard-R summer horror shot that spotlights global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio launches two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, carrying a proven supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is framing as a ground-zero 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 well-defined brief to serve both fans and novices. The fall slot gives Sony time to build campaign pieces around mythos, and creature effects, elements that can amplify IMAX and PLF uptake and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances Eggers’ run of period horror defined by obsessive craft and textual fidelity, this time driven by werewolf stories. Focus has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on tested paths. Universal titles head to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a pacing that expands both FOMO and subscriber lifts in the after-window. Prime Video interleaves acquired titles with world buys and short theatrical plays when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library pulls, using in-app campaigns, Halloween hubs, and handpicked rows to increase tail value on lifetime take. Netflix stays nimble about first-party entries and festival deals, timing horror entries toward the drop and positioning as event drops releases with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a two-step of targeted theatrical exposure and speedy platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown a willingness to board select projects with established auteurs or A-list packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation swells.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 arc with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is clean: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, refined for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has indicated a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the September weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, curating the rollout through festival season if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday dates to move out. That positioning has been successful for craft-driven horror with broader reach. 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 reasonable expectation is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception warrants. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using limited runs to spark the evangelism that fuels their subs.

Balance of brands and originals

By count, the 2026 slate skews toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on brand equity. The question, as ever, is diminishing returns. The operating solution is to brand each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is foregrounding character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a Francophone tone from a emerging director. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and director-first projects keep the lungs full. 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 island survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period weblink specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the team and cast is grounded enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday-night turnout.

Comparable trends from recent years illuminate the strategy. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that kept clean windows did not preclude a parallel release from succeeding when the brand was potent. In 2024, auteur craft horror exceeded expectations in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they pivot perspective and widen scale. 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 double feature plan, with chapters filmed in sequence, creates space for marketing to interlace chapters through character and theme and to keep materials circulating without lulls.

Production craft signals

The creative meetings behind the 2026 entries hint at a continued bias toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that spotlights tone and tension rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in craft journalism and artisan spotlights before rolling out a tease that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On this website the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at gross-out texture, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and sparks shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a self-referential reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature work and production design, which play well in expo activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel necessary. Look for trailers that spotlight pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that land in premium houses.

Calendar map: winter through the 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. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid heftier brand moves. The month finishes 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 real, but the tonal variety carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

February through May load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. Universal’s 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 sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can hit 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 run their PLF course.

Back half into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a pre-October slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited pre-release reveals that favor idea over plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card burn.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s intelligent companion evolves into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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

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 encounter a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 claw to survive on a uninhabited island as the power balance swivels and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

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 modern reconception that returns the monster to chill, based on Cronin’s on-set craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting premise that pipes the unease through a little one’s unreliable POV. Rating: to be announced. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-supported and marquee-led haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that targets in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime buzz. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new household tethered to ancient dread. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A clean reboot designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward pure survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: forthcoming. Production: active. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and raw menace. Rating: pending. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. 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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 and why now

Three pragmatic forces define this lineup. First, production that paused or rearranged in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming releases. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage turnkey scare beats from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can capture a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will trade weekends across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 breakout 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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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 momentum and variety. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two 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 keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, disciplined footprints, 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 surface detail, soundscape, 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.

2026, Ready To Roar

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand gravity where needed, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, guard the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.