Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts age-old dread, a nightmare fueled supernatural thriller, bowing October 2025 across major platforms

An frightening spectral horror tale from storyteller / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an prehistoric force when unfamiliar people become vehicles in a hellish conflict. Airings begin October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing journey of continuance and prehistoric entity that will redefine the fear genre this ghoul season. Directed by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and gothic story follows five characters who wake up caught in a hidden lodge under the aggressive control of Kyra, a central character haunted by a two-thousand-year-old sacred-era entity. Ready yourself to be seized by a screen-based spectacle that merges visceral dread with folklore, streaming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a long-standing fixture in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is inverted when the presences no longer manifest externally, but rather within themselves. This illustrates the grimmest part of all involved. The result is a bone-chilling moral showdown where the emotions becomes a unyielding conflict between virtue and vice.


In a remote wild, five campers find themselves sealed under the sinister effect and grasp of a shadowy apparition. As the youths becomes defenseless to evade her influence, disconnected and stalked by evils beyond reason, they are forced to wrestle with their deepest fears while the seconds relentlessly ticks toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety builds and ties dissolve, forcing each person to challenge their character and the principle of liberty itself. The stakes escalate with every second, delivering a scare-fueled ride that harmonizes occult fear with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to evoke basic terror, an force from ancient eras, channeling itself through psychological breaks, and challenging a spirit that dismantles free will when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra was about accessing something unfamiliar to reason. She is uninformed until the curse activates, and that flip is gut-wrenching because it is so intimate.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for public screening beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—making sure users everywhere can watch this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its first preview, which has been viewed over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, taking the terror to a global viewership.


Join this soul-jarring fall into madness. Enter *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to explore these ghostly lessons about our species.


For bonus footage, filmmaker commentary, and social posts via the production team, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across Facebook and TikTok and visit youngandcursed.com.





Today’s horror inflection point: the 2025 season U.S. release slate integrates archetypal-possession themes, Indie Shockers, in parallel with returning-series thunder

Across endurance-driven terror drawn from primordial scripture all the way to franchise returns together with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is tracking to be the genre’s most multifaceted combined with intentionally scheduled year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. major banners set cornerstones with known properties, concurrently platform operators load up the fall with debut heat alongside archetypal fear. At the same time, the independent cohort is carried on the kinetic energy of a record-setting 2024 festival season. As Halloween stays the prime week, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, however this time, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are precise, as a result 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: High-craft horror returns

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s distribution arm opens the year with a confident swing: a modernized Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Directed by Leigh Whannell 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 delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Directed by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

When summer fades, Warner’s schedule unveils the final movement from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson re engages, and the tone that worked before is intact: retrograde shiver, trauma centered writing, and eerie supernatural logic. The bar is raised this go, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The continuation widens the legend, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It lands in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Platform Plays: Modest spend, serious shock

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

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a body horror chamber piece starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. 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.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend led by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It is a calculated bet. No heavy handed lore. No legacy baggage. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Long Running Lines: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

What to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

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

SVOD originals harden up
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Near Term Outlook: 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, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The coming 2026 spook slate: follow-ups, original films, and also A loaded Calendar geared toward screams

Dek The upcoming genre calendar stacks from the jump with a January wave, before it carries through the mid-year, and far into the winter holidays, combining franchise firepower, original angles, and strategic counterweight. Studios and streamers are doubling down on tight budgets, cinema-first plans, and influencer-ready assets that pivot these offerings into water-cooler talk.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The horror sector has proven to be the consistent lever in release strategies, a corner that can break out when it resonates and still cushion the risk when it fails to connect. After 2023 reconfirmed for decision-makers that disciplined-budget fright engines can galvanize pop culture, the following year maintained heat with filmmaker-forward plays and stealth successes. The trend rolled into 2025, where returns and festival-grade titles showed there is a lane for a variety of tones, from legacy continuations to filmmaker-driven originals that play globally. The aggregate for 2026 is a grid that looks unusually coordinated across distributors, with planned clusters, a equilibrium of established brands and new pitches, and a renewed attention on theater exclusivity that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium rental and SVOD.

Insiders argue the space now behaves like a versatile piece on the grid. The genre can bow on nearly any frame, generate a tight logline for previews and platform-native cuts, and lead with patrons that lean in on Thursday previews and sustain through the second weekend if the release satisfies. In the wake of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 mapping indicates certainty in that playbook. The year kicks off with a busy January corridor, then primes spring and early summer for counterweight, while carving room for a fall cadence that connects to the Halloween frame and afterwards. The schedule also reflects the ongoing integration of indie arms and platforms that can launch in limited release, grow buzz, and grow at the proper time.

An added macro current is series management across linked properties and heritage properties. Studio teams are not just producing another sequel. They are shaping as story carry-over with a headline quality, whether that is a art treatment that signals a refreshed voice or a casting move that bridges a latest entry to a original cycle. At the concurrently, the filmmakers behind the headline-grabbing originals are celebrating hands-on technique, on-set effects and location-forward worlds. That fusion affords the 2026 slate a strong blend of assurance and freshness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount marks the early tempo with two front-of-slate moves that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, framing it as both a passing of the torch and a DNA-forward character-focused installment. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the tonal posture signals a classic-referencing angle without going over the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Expect a marketing push rooted in legacy iconography, character spotlights, and a promo sequence arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will emphasize. As a summer relief option, this one will build general-audience talk through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format making room for quick redirects to whatever shapes the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three discrete plays. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is straightforward, somber, and commercial: a grieving man installs an intelligent companion that unfolds into a dangerous lover. The date places it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s campaign likely to echo uncanny live moments and bite-size content that threads romance and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a proper title to become an fan moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. The filmmaker’s films are marketed as director events, with a mystery-first teaser and a later trailer push that signal tone without plot the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor lets the studio to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has consistently shown that a gnarly, makeup-driven method can feel cinematic on a tight budget. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror surge that maximizes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio books two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, continuing a evergreen supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is positioning as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both devotees and new audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build marketing units around narrative world, and creature builds, elements that can increase IMAX and PLF uptake and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances Eggers’ run of period horror built on immersive craft and textual fidelity, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus Features has already locked the day for a holiday release, a bold stance in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is supportive.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on predictable routes. The studio’s horror films land on copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a ordering that boosts both first-week urgency and trial spikes in the after-window. Prime Video balances third-party pickups with global acquisitions and limited cinema engagements when the data supports it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in deep cuts, using in-app campaigns, fright rows, and curated strips to prolong the run on the annual genre haul. Netflix stays opportunistic about originals and festival grabs, timing horror entries closer to launch and eventizing releases with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a laddered of selective theatrical runs and prompt platform moves that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a selective basis. The platform has signaled readiness to take on select projects with top-tier auteurs or star-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for monthly engagement when the genre conversation builds.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 arc 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 simple: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, reimagined for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the autumn weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, marshalling the project through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then working the holiday corridor to go wider. That positioning has delivered for arthouse horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception drives. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using small theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their user base.

Series vs standalone

By number, the 2026 slate skews toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit name recognition. The potential drawback, as ever, is brand wear. The preferred tactic is to position each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is elevating relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French sensibility from a rising filmmaker. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and talent-first projects keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a survival shocker premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the package is anchored enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday previews.

Comps from the last three years contextualize the approach. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that maintained windows did not block a dual release from working when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror popped in premium formats. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga demonstrated click to read more that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they rotate perspective and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters shot in tandem, permits marketing to relate entries through character and theme and to keep assets in-market without doldrums.

Behind-the-camera trends

The director conversations behind the 2026 entries telegraph a continued move toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that elevates creep and texture rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and medieval diction, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in long-lead press and technical spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and creates shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta inflection that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature execution and sets, which are ideal for expo activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel primary. Look for trailers that elevate pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that play in premium auditoriums.

Calendar cadence

January is jammed. 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 moody palate cleanser amid marquee brands. The month concludes 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 tonal variety gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth carries.

Winter into spring tee up summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens 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 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

August and September into October leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited asset reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and holiday gift-card burn.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s algorithmic partner escalates into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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

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 be swallowed by a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: gothic-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 prickly boss battle to survive on a uninhabited island as the pecking order inverts and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to dread, rooted in Cronin’s in-camera craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal 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 residential haunting premise that toys with the panic of a child’s inconsistent perceptions. Rating: rating pending. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-crafted and name-above-title eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that lampoons hot-button genre motifs and true crime preoccupations. Rating: undetermined. Production: production booked 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 flares, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new clan linked to residual nightmares. Rating: TBD. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward pure survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: TBD. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: TBD. Production: ongoing. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

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 time-true diction and primordial menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three hands-on forces drive this lineup. First, production that eased or shifted in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming releases. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage repeatable beats from test screenings, curated scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

A fourth factor is programming math. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can control a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will stack across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

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

The search for sleepers continues in Q1, where lower and mid-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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance 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, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, sound, and picture 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 Strong 2026 Horizon

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is recognizable IP where it plays, original vision where it matters, 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 late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, guard the secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.