Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a hair raising feature, rolling out October 2025 across premium platforms

A frightening supernatural shockfest from cinematographer / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an age-old curse when unfamiliar people become pawns in a cursed game. Available October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching chronicle of continuance and primordial malevolence that will remodel genre cinema this scare season. Crafted by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and tone-heavy motion picture follows five characters who come to imprisoned in a off-grid cottage under the menacing grip of Kyra, a mysterious girl dominated by a biblical-era ancient fiend. Brace yourself to be gripped by a immersive journey that harmonizes visceral dread with mystical narratives, premiering on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a classic motif in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is turned on its head when the presences no longer come outside the characters, but rather deep within. This marks the most sinister side of the group. The result is a bone-chilling emotional conflict where the narrative becomes a unforgiving conflict between right and wrong.


In a forsaken forest, five figures find themselves isolated under the sinister control and grasp of a uncanny spirit. As the ensemble becomes submissive to oppose her will, left alone and attacked by evils inconceivable, they are obligated to face their inner demons while the final hour coldly counts down toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust rises and alliances collapse, demanding each figure to examine their essence and the idea of independent thought itself. The threat rise with every fleeting time, delivering a chilling narrative that harmonizes otherworldly suspense with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to tap into primal fear, an malevolence from ancient eras, embedding itself in emotional fractures, and questioning a force that redefines identity when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra called for internalizing something unfamiliar to reason. She is unseeing until the haunting manifests, and that change is bone-chilling because it is so raw.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for on-demand beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—so that fans anywhere can get immersed in this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its first preview, which has attracted over 100,000 views.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, presenting the nightmare to a worldwide audience.


Witness this life-altering voyage through terror. Confront *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to experience these fearful discoveries about the psyche.


For exclusive trailers, director cuts, and insider scoops from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursed across entertainment pages and visit our film’s homepage.





Horror’s decisive shift: the 2025 season U.S. release slate braids together ancient-possession motifs, microbudget gut-punches, plus returning-series thunder

Spanning endurance-driven terror rooted in scriptural legend to legacy revivals alongside cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 looks like the most variegated together with intentionally scheduled year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. studio powerhouses set cornerstones using marquee IP, as OTT services load up the fall with debut heat paired with ancient terrors. On the festival side, the art-house flank is carried on the kinetic energy from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. With Halloween holding the peak, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A fat September–October lane is customary now, notably this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are disciplined, so 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Prestige fear returns

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal leads off the quarter with a headline swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Under director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. Booked into mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Eli Craig directs with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Initial heat flags it as potent.

When summer tapers, Warner Bros. Pictures releases the last chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Scott Derrickson again directs, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: throwback unease, trauma in the foreground, with ghostly inner logic. This run ups the stakes, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, courting teens and the thirty something base. It drops in December, pinning the winter close.

Digital Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While theaters lean on names and sequels, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a body horror duet featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, 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. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Also rising is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative with Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is an astute call. No puffed out backstory. No franchise baggage. 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 Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Legacy Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, from Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Emerging Currents

Myth turns mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror reemerges
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

The Road Ahead: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The forthcoming 2026 fear year to come: returning titles, non-franchise titles, plus A busy Calendar geared toward frights

Dek: The incoming genre calendar packs immediately with a January traffic jam, thereafter unfolds through the mid-year, and deep into the festive period, mixing brand equity, new concepts, and savvy counterplay. The big buyers and platforms are focusing on mid-range economics, theatrical-first rollouts, and shareable marketing that position genre releases into national conversation.

Where horror stands going into 2026

Horror has proven to be the surest swing in release strategies, a corner that can accelerate when it lands and still insulate the losses when it misses. After 2023 signaled to studio brass that mid-range genre plays can galvanize social chatter, the following year maintained heat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and quiet over-performers. The tailwind pushed into 2025, where reawakened brands and prestige plays demonstrated there is appetite for several lanes, from sequel tracks to director-led originals that travel well. The takeaway for 2026 is a lineup that feels more orchestrated than usual across distributors, with intentional bunching, a equilibrium of marquee IP and novel angles, and a refocused priority on theater exclusivity that boost PVOD and platform value on premium rental and platforms.

Studio leaders note the space now acts as a utility player on the programming map. The genre can arrive on many corridors, supply a grabby hook for creative and reels, and punch above weight with moviegoers that appear on opening previews and keep coming through the next weekend if the offering connects. On the heels of a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 cadence reflects faith in that dynamic. The year kicks off with a weighty January run, then exploits spring through early summer for contrast, while clearing room for a fall cadence that reaches into late October and into early November. The grid also includes the tightening integration of boutique distributors and OTT outlets that can stage a platform run, spark evangelism, and expand at the timely point.

Another broad trend is IP cultivation across brand ecosystems and legacy IP. Studios are not just releasing another entry. They are shaping as brand continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a title presentation that telegraphs a refreshed voice or a ensemble decision that reconnects a new installment to a vintage era. At the very same time, the writer-directors behind the most buzzed-about originals are championing practical craft, physical gags and concrete locations. That interplay hands the 2026 slate a smart balance of comfort and discovery, which is how the films export.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount defines the early cadence with two prominent moves that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the center, positioning the film as both a lineage transfer and a DNA-forward character-focused installment. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach conveys a nostalgia-forward treatment without looping the last two entries’ sisters storyline. The studio is likely to mount a drive rooted in legacy iconography, initial cast looks, and a tease cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will lean on. As a summer contrast play, this one will pursue four-quadrant chatter through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format enabling quick turns to whatever tops pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three specific strategies. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is tight, sorrow-tinged, and concept-forward: a grieving man activates an artificial companion that evolves into a fatal companion. The date places it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s marketing likely to recreate eerie street stunts and micro spots that hybridizes longing and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title drop to become an fan moment closer to the early tease. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. His projects are framed as must-see filmmaker statements, with a teaser that holds back and a second trailer wave that shape mood without giving away the concept. The late-month date gives the studio room to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate 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 helms, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has long shown that a gritty, makeup-driven method can feel deluxe on a tight budget. Position this as a blood-and-grime summer horror charge that spotlights international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio books two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, continuing a steady supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is presenting 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 franchise faithful and newcomers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build campaign creative around universe detail, and creature effects, elements that can increase premium booking interest and fandom activation.

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 extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by immersive craft and period language, this time engaging werewolf myth. The distributor has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform windowing in 2026 run on known playbooks. The studio’s horror films flow to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a cadence that amplifies both opening-weekend urgency and platform bumps in the later window. Prime Video continues to mix outside acquisitions with global pickups and limited cinema engagements when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in catalog engagement, using timely promos, genre hubs, and collection rows to keep attention on 2026 genre cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about internal projects and festival buys, dating horror entries on shorter runways and staging as events go-lives with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a laddered of targeted cinema placements and prompt platform moves that monetizes buzz via trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has shown a willingness to take on select projects with recognized filmmakers or star packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for monthly activity when the genre conversation builds.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 lane with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is no-nonsense: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, recalibrated for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a theatrical rollout for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the October weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday frame to go wider. That positioning has been successful for auteur horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception encourages. Do not be surprised by 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 partners, using targeted theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their user base.

Series vs standalone

By proportion, the 2026 slate tips toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on marquee value. The concern, as ever, is viewer burnout. The pragmatic answer is to market each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is bringing forward relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-accented approach from a ascendant talent. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and talent-first projects provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the assembly is comforting enough to drive advance ticketing and early previews.

Past-three-year patterns clarify the model. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that kept clean windows did not obstruct a day-and-date experiment from working when the brand was potent. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror popped in premium screens. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they alter lens and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward 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 lensed sequentially, lets marketing to tie installments through cast and motif and to keep assets alive without dead zones.

Craft and creative trends

The creative meetings behind the upcoming entries indicate a continued bias toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that leans on texture and dread rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in long-lead press and artisan spotlights before rolling out a tease that leans on mood over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and creates shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta-horror reset that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature and environment design, which match well with convention activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel irresistible. Look for trailers that center hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that benefit on big speakers.

Calendar cadence

January is crowded. Universal’s 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 brooding contrast amid big-brand pushes. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the menu of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth spreads.

Q1 into Q2 load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Late summer into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a slow-reveal plan and limited previews that put concept first.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card spend.

Title snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s artificial companion turns into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with 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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively 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 goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: ambience-forward adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her severe boss fight to survive on a desolate island as the power dynamic reverses and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to fright, rooted in Cronin’s practical effects and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. 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 household haunting story that refracts terror through a child’s wavering inner lens. Rating: TBA. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: major-studio and star-fronted supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A genre lampoon that pokes at in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fascinations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a new clan anchored to past horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A fresh restart designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survivalist horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: active. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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 period language and primordial menace. Rating: pending. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 lands now

Three pragmatic forces structure this lineup. First, production that slowed or re-slotted in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine turnkey scare beats from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, clearing runway for genre entries that can lead a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will jostle across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where midrange-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience cadence through 2026

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

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, acoustics, and imagery that horror movies 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

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is franchise muscle where it helps, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, guard the secrets, and let the gasps sell the seats.