Age-old Terror stirs: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, arriving Oct 2025 across major platforms

A eerie unearthly fear-driven tale from writer / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an long-buried terror when outsiders become pawns in a fiendish ritual. Airings begin on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish account of resistance and primeval wickedness that will transform terror storytelling this spooky time. Created by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and immersive thriller follows five unacquainted souls who wake up locked in a wooded house under the oppressive dominion of Kyra, a young woman claimed by a timeless ancient fiend. Be warned to be enthralled by a filmic event that melds soul-chilling terror with biblical origins, releasing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a classic fixture in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is reimagined when the spirits no longer appear from an outside force, but rather from within. This mirrors the most primal dimension of the players. The result is a riveting moral showdown where the intensity becomes a merciless fight between virtue and vice.


In a isolated outland, five campers find themselves marooned under the malicious effect and control of a shadowy female figure. As the team becomes paralyzed to combat her power, exiled and tormented by creatures inconceivable, they are driven to endure their core terrors while the timeline harrowingly moves toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety rises and ties shatter, demanding each soul to reconsider their being and the nature of liberty itself. The risk escalate with every heartbeat, delivering a horror experience that combines otherworldly panic with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to awaken pure dread, an darkness that existed before mankind, working through mental cracks, and dealing with a darkness that redefines identity when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra meant channeling something beneath mortal despair. She is unaware until the entity awakens, and that transformation is soul-crushing because it is so raw.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for audience access beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—offering horror lovers globally can face this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its release of trailer #1, which has attracted over 100,000 views.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, making the film to a global viewership.


Tune in for this visceral fall into madness. Join *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to witness these chilling revelations about human nature.


For featurettes, on-set glimpses, and alerts from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across platforms and visit the official website.





Today’s horror inflection point: the 2025 cycle U.S. lineup fuses primeval-possession lore, underground frights, together with returning-series thunder

Across survival horror inspired by legendary theology and extending to brand-name continuations paired with pointed art-house angles, 2025 is coalescing into the most textured and precision-timed year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. Major studios set cornerstones through proven series, while premium streamers prime the fall with unboxed visions as well as scriptural shivers. In parallel, independent banners is surfing the momentum of a banner 2024 fest year. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, distinctly in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are surgical, as a result 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige fear returns

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal banner leads off the quarter with a risk-forward move: a reimagined Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in a modern-day environment. From director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. Slated for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Eli Craig directs anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s slate rolls out the capstone of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: vintage toned fear, trauma as narrative engine, and a cold supernatural calculus. This time, the stakes are raised, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The continuation widens the legend, broadens the animatronic terror cast, reaching teens and game grownups. It lands in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

SVOD Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a two hander body horror spiral with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend led by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy 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.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is a clever angle. No overweight mythology. No canon weight. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy Brands: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

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

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, under Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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.

Trends to Watch

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror retakes ground
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Forward View: Autumn density and winter pivot

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The 2026 Horror Year Ahead: returning titles, new stories, as well as A jammed Calendar calibrated for jolts

Dek: The current horror season lines up at the outset with a January traffic jam, before it unfolds through the summer months, and straight through the holiday frame, weaving series momentum, inventive spins, and tactical calendar placement. Studios and streamers are committing to smart costs, big-screen-first runs, and social-fueled campaigns that pivot the slate’s entries into four-quadrant talking points.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The genre has solidified as the dependable lever in studio slates, a space that can accelerate when it lands and still insulate the losses when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year reminded studio brass that responsibly budgeted genre plays can own the discourse, 2024 extended the rally with director-led heat and stealth successes. The momentum extended into the 2025 frame, where revivals and premium-leaning entries showed there is demand for several lanes, from franchise continuations to original one-offs that scale internationally. The upshot for 2026 is a schedule that appears tightly organized across the major shops, with planned clusters, a mix of legacy names and first-time concepts, and a tightened stance on exhibition windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium on-demand and digital services.

Distribution heads claim the category now acts as a flex slot on the programming map. Horror can premiere on many corridors, furnish a clean hook for creative and reels, and over-index with patrons that lean in on early shows and maintain momentum through the subsequent weekend if the release fires. Post a work stoppage lag, the 2026 setup telegraphs certainty in that model. The calendar gets underway with a thick January schedule, then uses spring and early summer for contrast, while clearing room for a autumn stretch that pushes into Halloween and afterwards. The map also highlights the ongoing integration of specialty arms and streaming partners that can platform and widen, create conversation, and roll out at the proper time.

A parallel macro theme is brand management across shared universes and legacy franchises. Big banners are not just greenlighting another continuation. They are moving to present connection with a heightened moment, whether that is a graphic identity that flags a fresh attitude or a casting move that threads a new entry to a first wave. At the meanwhile, the creative leads behind the marquee originals are doubling down on physical effects work, real effects and distinct locales. That fusion produces 2026 a vital pairing of familiarity and freshness, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount leads early with two marquee bets that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the lead, presenting it as both a legacy handover and a origin-leaning character-driven entry. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the narrative stance announces a legacy-leaning framework without rehashing the last two entries’ sibling arc. Watch for a push anchored in iconic art, early character teases, and a two-beat trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

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 back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will lean on. As a summer counter-slot, this one will seek wide appeal through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format permitting quick reframes to whatever drives the social talk that spring.

Universal has three specific bets. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is simple, loss-driven, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man sets up an algorithmic mate that becomes a dangerous lover. The date positions it at the front of a packed window, with the Universal machine likely to echo strange in-person beats and micro spots that melds devotion and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a branding reveal to become an earned moment closer to the early tease. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. The filmmaker’s films are set up as creative events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a next wave of trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot offers Universal room to take 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, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has made clear that a gnarly, in-camera leaning mix can feel high-value on a moderate cost. Look for a grime-caked summer horror charge that spotlights global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio books two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, continuing a trusty supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is selling as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both diehards and general audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build assets around mythos, and creature effects, elements that can lift large-format demand and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in meticulous craft and textual fidelity, this time orbiting lycan myth. The label has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is strong.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform strategies for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s horror titles head to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a cadence that optimizes both debut momentum and viewer acquisition in the late-window. Prime Video pairs licensed titles with global originals and limited cinema engagements when the data supports it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in back-catalog play, using editorial spots, holiday hubs, and curated rows to extend momentum on the horror cume. Netflix stays nimble about Netflix originals and festival pickups, dating horror entries closer to launch and elevating as drops drops with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a dual-phase of precision theatrical plays and quick platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a curated basis. The platform has signaled readiness to pick up select projects with established auteurs or name-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly activity when the genre conversation ramps.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is curating a 2026 runway with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is tight: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, refined for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a cinema-first plan for the title, an good sign for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late stretch.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, stewarding the film through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then using the holiday slot to expand. That positioning has paid off for elevated genre with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception justifies. Do not be surprised by 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 jointly, using boutique theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their audience.

Known brands versus new stories

By volume, 2026 tips toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage marquee value. The concern, as ever, is audience fatigue. The near-term solution is to present each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is elevating character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-inflected take from a ascendant talent. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the cast-creatives package is anchored enough to build pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Comparable trends from recent years clarify the playbook. In 2023, a theater-first model that honored streaming windows did not block a day-and-date experiment from paying off when the brand was big. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror surged in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they reframe POV and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters shot in tandem, enables marketing to cross-link entries through character arcs and themes and to sustain campaign assets without dead zones.

Creative tendencies and craft

The filmmaking conversations behind 2026 horror signal a continued emphasis on physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that emphasizes tone and tension rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in feature stories and craft spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and sparks shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta reframe that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will live or die on creature craft and set design, which align with convention activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel primary. Look for trailers that emphasize fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that land in big rooms.

How the year maps out

January is stacked. 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 foggy reset amid macro-brand pushes. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the variety of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth carries.

Late winter and spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s 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 heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Shoulder season into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a transitional slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited information drops that lean on concept not plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card redemption.

One-sentence Source dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s machine mate escalates into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively 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 finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: tone-first game 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 pecking order inverts and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

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 oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting piece that twists the unease of a child’s uncertain perceptions. Rating: pending. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-built and headline-actor led paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that targets present-day genre chatter and true crime fixations. 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 breaks out, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a different family linked to long-buried horrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on true survival horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: to be announced. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: ongoing. 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 bone-deep menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. 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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why this year, why now

Three execution-level forces structure this lineup. First, production that eased or re-sequenced in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming placements. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest repeatable beats from test screenings, select scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can seize a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will share space across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, 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 sleeper chase continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 sleeper overperformer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, 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 maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, disciplined footprints, 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 detail, audio design, and imagery 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

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand equity where it matters, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, hold the mystery, and let the frights sell the seats.