Ancient Evil Surfaces within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling chiller, debuting Oct 2025 on top streaming platforms

A chilling unearthly nightmare movie from cinematographer / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an forgotten evil when guests become proxies in a supernatural contest. Available this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a intense portrayal of endurance and old world terror that will reshape fear-driven cinema this harvest season. Guided by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and claustrophobic motion picture follows five strangers who regain consciousness confined in a isolated lodge under the hostile sway of Kyra, a tormented girl consumed by a ancient sacred-era entity. Anticipate to be absorbed by a narrative adventure that integrates intense horror with spiritual backstory, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a mainstay concept in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is radically shifted when the malevolences no longer form from an outside force, but rather from within. This illustrates the darkest part of the victims. The result is a riveting mind game where the tension becomes a perpetual push-pull between moral forces.


In a desolate forest, five friends find themselves sealed under the dark rule and spiritual invasion of a haunted apparition. As the team becomes incapacitated to combat her power, cut off and tormented by evils beyond comprehension, they are obligated to wrestle with their deepest fears while the hours coldly winds toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension builds and alliances crack, prompting each individual to question their character and the integrity of independent thought itself. The cost mount with every second, delivering a nightmarish journey that marries occult fear with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to dig into instinctual horror, an threat that predates humanity, influencing inner turmoil, and highlighting a darkness that strips down our being when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra called for internalizing something beyond human emotion. She is unaware until the curse activates, and that transformation is emotionally raw because it is so intimate.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for on-demand beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—providing fans anywhere can watch this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its original promo, which has been viewed over 100K plays.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, delivering the story to viewers around the world.


Avoid skipping this unforgettable path of possession. Face *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to see these fearful discoveries about the soul.


For sneak peeks, on-set glimpses, and press updates directly from production, follow @YACFilm across your socials and visit our film’s homepage.





American horror’s tipping point: 2025 in focus stateside slate interlaces old-world possession, underground frights, stacked beside returning-series thunder

Moving from survivor-centric dread suffused with legendary theology and stretching into brand-name continuations and focused festival visions, 2025 is coalescing into the most textured paired with deliberate year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. studio majors are anchoring the year with known properties, in parallel subscription platforms load up the fall with unboxed visions set against scriptural shivers. On the independent axis, the art-house flank is carried on the afterglow of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, notably this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are exacting, which means 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The top end is active. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s schedule kicks off the frame with a statement play: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, but a crisp modern milieu. With Leigh Whannell at the helm with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. landing in mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Guided by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s schedule sets loose the finale from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson returns, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: old school creep, trauma in the foreground, along with eerie supernatural rules. This pass pushes higher, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, courting teens and the thirty something base. It arrives in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Firsts: No Budget, No Problem

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a sealed box body horror arc led 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 feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall 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 period vampire folk story fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, 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 threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one bores into 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.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. That is a savvy move. No overstuffed canon. No IP hangover. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

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, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Series Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, from Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Key Trends

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror returns
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Projection: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

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

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The coming 2026 Horror season: next chapters, new stories, in tandem with A busy Calendar Built For chills

Dek The emerging scare slate packs in short order with a January crush, following that extends through summer corridors, and well into the winter holidays, fusing name recognition, novel approaches, and tactical counterprogramming. The major players are prioritizing efficient budgets, exclusive theatrical windows first, and short-form initiatives that pivot these releases into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The field has emerged as the steady swing in programming grids, a space that can accelerate when it hits and still mitigate the floor when it falls short. After the 2023 year proved to executives that efficiently budgeted shockers can galvanize pop culture, the following year held pace with auteur-driven buzzy films and slow-burn breakouts. The head of steam translated to the 2025 frame, where returns and filmmaker-prestige bets showed there is demand for a spectrum, from series extensions to non-IP projects that scale internationally. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a slate that seems notably aligned across the major shops, with strategic blocks, a equilibrium of brand names and new pitches, and a renewed focus on big-screen windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on paid VOD and platforms.

Executives say the category now acts as a plug-and-play option on the schedule. Horror can open on open real estate, furnish a simple premise for promo reels and shorts, and outperform with ticket buyers that line up on Thursday nights and stick through the second frame if the title delivers. Exiting a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 configuration underscores assurance in that engine. The calendar rolls out with a thick January window, then leans on spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while keeping space for a autumn stretch that extends to All Hallows period and past Halloween. The arrangement also illustrates the continuing integration of specialized labels and platforms that can platform and widen, spark evangelism, and expand at the right moment.

A second macro trend is brand management across brand ecosystems and long-running brands. The studios are not just mounting another entry. They are looking to package continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a typeface approach that signals a fresh attitude or a star attachment that binds a new entry to a original cycle. At the same time, the creative leads behind the headline-grabbing originals are embracing material texture, special makeup and place-driven backdrops. That alloy produces the 2026 slate a healthy mix of recognition and surprise, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount leads early with two high-profile releases that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the spine, angling it as both a relay and a return-to-roots character-focused installment. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the artistic posture points to a classic-referencing bent without retreading the last two entries’ sibling arc. Watch for a push centered on recognizable motifs, character-first teases, and a trailer cadence hitting late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will double down on. As a summer alternative, this one will pursue mainstream recognition through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick redirects to whatever drives the social talk that spring.

Universal has three discrete plays. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is crisp, tragic, and commercial: a grieving man onboards an algorithmic mate that turns into a lethal partner. The date lines it up at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s campaign likely to recreate viral uncanny stunts and brief clips that blurs affection and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under internal 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 final title to become an teaser payoff closer to the first trailer. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. His projects are positioned as must-see filmmaker statements, with a mystery-first teaser and a later trailer push that signal tone without plot the concept. The prime October weekend affords Universal to own 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, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has consistently shown that a gnarly, practical-effects forward treatment can feel elevated on a lean spend. Position this as a hard-R summer horror charge that pushes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio places two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, extending a proven supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is billing as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both devotees and new audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build assets around world-building, and creature design, elements that can accelerate format premiums and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in textural authenticity and linguistic texture, this time focused on werewolf legend. Focus Features has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is supportive.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform plans for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s releases window into copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a stair-step that enhances both FOMO and sign-up momentum in the tail. Prime Video continues to mix licensed titles with worldwide buys and brief theater runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in catalog discovery, using editorial spots, October hubs, and collection rows to sustain interest on lifetime take. Netflix plays opportunist about internal projects and festival snaps, timing horror entries closer to launch and making event-like debuts with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a one-two of precision theatrical plays and prompt platform moves that translates talk to trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a selective basis. The platform has indicated interest to buy select projects with award winners or A-list packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for platform stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 corridor with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is no-nonsense: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, modernized for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has signaled a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late stretch.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, stewarding the film through select festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday slot to move out. That positioning has proved effective for auteur horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception justifies. Plan on 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 in concert, using boutique theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their community.

Known brands versus new stories

By share, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage franchise value. The trade-off, as ever, is brand wear. The near-term solution is to sell each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is elevating character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is floating a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French-accented approach from a fresh helmer. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and visionary-led titles keep oxygen in the system. 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 survival shocker premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the assembly is recognizable enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Rolling three-year comps make sense of the approach. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that respected streaming windows did not obstruct a simultaneous release test from paying off when the brand was powerful. In 2024, director-craft horror outperformed in premium formats. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel new when they reframe POV and raise the stakes. 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 shot back-to-back, permits marketing to thread films through character spine and themes and to keep assets in-market without long breaks.

Creative tendencies and craft

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind these films forecast a continued shift toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that emphasizes mood and dread rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and produces shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta pivot that centers its original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on monster work and world-building, which align with convention activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that underscore fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that work in PLF.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is busy. 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 foggy reset amid heavier IP. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the spread of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Early-year through spring prepare summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The Source spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

August and September into October leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited information drops that elevate concept over story.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can win the holiday when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card redemption.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around 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 grieving man’s algorithmic partner mutates into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: aura-driven 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 demanding boss try to survive on a uninhabited island as the chain of command shifts and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. 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 under wraps in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to horror, rooted in Cronin’s practical craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting piece that plays with the unease of a child’s fragile point of view. Rating: pending. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-crafted and A-list fronted occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A parody return that skewers contemporary horror memes and true-crime manias. Rating: not yet rated. Production: cameras due to roll 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 surges, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a different family anchored to long-buried horrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A restart designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward pure survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: closely held. Rating: undetermined. Production: proceeding. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 raw menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a cinema-first path before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026, why now

Three grounded forces frame this lineup. First, production that slowed or rearranged in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more strategic 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 dumps. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on clippable moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will share space 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 pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

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

The stealth-hit search 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 maximize those pockets. 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. Expect a healthy 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.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives 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 wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, audio design, and cinematography that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Promising 2026

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is franchise muscle where it helps, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the fear sell the seats.