Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons ancient dread, a bone chilling horror feature, bowing October 2025 across top digital platforms

This blood-curdling metaphysical suspense film from dramatist / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an prehistoric nightmare when unfamiliar people become tools in a hellish maze. Releasing October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing tale of perseverance and ancient evil that will resculpt horror this scare season. Crafted by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and emotionally thick story follows five strangers who wake up imprisoned in a isolated cottage under the aggressive power of Kyra, a troubled woman dominated by a ancient biblical demon. Ready yourself to be hooked by a cinematic outing that fuses deep-seated panic with mythic lore, hitting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a legendary narrative in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is radically shifted when the monsters no longer arise from elsewhere, but rather inside them. This echoes the darkest corner of the protagonists. The result is a emotionally raw inner struggle where the plotline becomes a soul-crushing push-pull between right and wrong.


In a barren forest, five figures find themselves sealed under the fiendish rule and curse of a elusive spirit. As the survivors becomes paralyzed to deny her command, isolated and followed by presences beyond reason, they are thrust to wrestle with their worst nightmares while the deathwatch without pause winds toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust grows and links crack, compelling each member to reflect on their character and the philosophy of personal agency itself. The cost intensify with every passing moment, delivering a nightmarish journey that intertwines unearthly horror with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to extract primitive panic, an entity from ancient eras, filtering through our weaknesses, and questioning a force that challenges autonomy when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra called for internalizing something rooted in terror. She is uninformed until the entity awakens, and that shift is gut-wrenching because it is so visceral.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be available for audience access beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring fans worldwide can engage with this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its release of trailer #1, which has earned over six-figure audience.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, exporting the fear to scare fans abroad.


Don’t miss this cinematic spiral into evil. Join *Young & Cursed* this launch day to see these unholy truths about the human condition.


For teasers, production news, and reveals straight from the filmmakers, follow @YACMovie across fan hubs and visit the movie’s homepage.





Today’s horror major pivot: 2025 across markets U.S. release slate weaves archetypal-possession themes, festival-born jolts, stacked beside series shake-ups

Ranging from survivor-centric dread steeped in ancient scripture all the way to canon extensions as well as focused festival visions, 2025 is emerging as the most stratified paired with calculated campaign year of the last decade.

Call it full, but it is also focused. studio powerhouses stabilize the year through proven series, even as subscription platforms load up the fall with debut heat plus scriptural shivers. In parallel, independent banners is catching the carry of 2024’s record festival wave. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, 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 primed, studios are surgical, which means 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Prestige fear returns

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s schedule fires the first shot with a marquee bet: a contemporary Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in a clear present-tense world. Guided by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Slated for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Under Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer eases, Warner’s slate delivers the closing chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Next is The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Scott Derrickson again directs, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: throwback unease, trauma as text, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This pass pushes higher, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It drops in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streamer Exclusives: Tight funds, wide impact

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a tight space body horror vignette anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

In the mix sits Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative led by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, 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 unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is canny scheduling. No puffed out backstory. No IP hangover. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Series Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, guided by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

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.

Dials to Watch

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror ascends again
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Near Term Outlook: Fall pileup, winter curveball

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The upcoming terror Year Ahead: entries, fresh concepts, in tandem with A stacked Calendar optimized for screams

Dek The brand-new terror calendar clusters immediately with a January wave, thereafter unfolds through summer, and straight through the late-year period, braiding franchise firepower, untold stories, and shrewd alternatives. Studios and streamers are betting on responsible budgets, theater-first strategies, and influencer-ready assets that shape these films into cross-demo moments.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The field has emerged as the most reliable tool in distribution calendars, a category that can lift when it clicks and still insulate the drawdown when it misses. After 2023 showed greenlighters that low-to-mid budget pictures can lead social chatter, the following year kept energy high with filmmaker-forward plays and unexpected risers. The head of steam flowed into 2025, where legacy revivals and prestige plays showed there is an opening for many shades, from sequel tracks to one-and-done originals that scale internationally. The sum for the 2026 slate is a lineup that presents tight coordination across distributors, with intentional bunching, a blend of brand names and first-time concepts, and a revived emphasis on exclusive windows that enhance post-theatrical value on paid VOD and home platforms.

Studio leaders note the horror lane now acts as a flex slot on the calendar. Horror can bow on most weekends, furnish a clear pitch for spots and UGC-friendly snippets, and exceed norms with ticket buyers that turn out on previews Thursday and continue through the second frame if the movie lands. Post a production delay era, the 2026 plan indicates faith in that engine. The year rolls out with a busy January schedule, then uses spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while clearing room for a fall cadence that flows toward All Hallows period and into the next week. The gridline also highlights the expanded integration of specialized imprints and home platforms that can develop over weeks, spark evangelism, and roll out at the sweet spot.

A notable top-line trend is IP cultivation across connected story worlds and classic IP. Studio teams are not just rolling another chapter. They are aiming to frame connection with a headline quality, whether that is a title presentation that announces a fresh attitude or a casting pivot that reconnects a new installment to a classic era. At the very same time, the filmmakers behind the most anticipated originals are favoring hands-on technique, practical gags and concrete locations. That interplay delivers the 2026 slate a healthy mix of home base and novelty, which is the formula for international play.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount defines the early cadence with two headline pushes that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the spine, angling it as both a succession moment and a rootsy character-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the story approach announces a throwback-friendly treatment without replaying the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. The studio is likely to mount a drive centered on signature symbols, initial cast looks, and a promo sequence landing toward late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

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 paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will stress. As a summer alternative, this one will hunt wide buzz through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format inviting quick turns to whatever rules pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three clear plays. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is crisp, horror movies heartbroken, and easily pitched: a grieving man implements an digital partner that becomes a harmful mate. The date positions it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with the Universal machine likely to echo creepy live activations and quick hits that interweaves attachment and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a proper title to become an event moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s pictures are positioned as auteur events, with a teaser that reveals little and a subsequent trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The spooky-season slot opens a lane 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, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has consistently shown that a in-your-face, makeup-driven mix can feel cinematic on a efficient spend. Expect a hard-R summer horror shot that embraces international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio rolls out two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, extending a trusty supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is calling a new foundation 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 focus to serve both longtime followers and first-timers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build marketing units around setting detail, and creature builds, elements that can accelerate IMAX and PLF uptake and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by meticulous craft and language, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is supportive.

Digital platform strategies

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on proven patterns. The studio’s horror films flow to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a tiered path that expands both launch urgency and viewer acquisition in the post-theatrical. Prime Video continues to mix outside acquisitions with worldwide buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in catalog engagement, using featured rows, holiday hubs, and editorial rows to prolong the run on overall cume. Netflix keeps options open about original films and festival pickups, finalizing horror entries with shorter lead times and staging as events go-lives with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a two-step of focused cinema runs and quick platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has shown appetite to secure select projects with prestige directors or celebrity-led packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for sustained usage when the genre conversation builds.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 runway with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is direct: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, modernized for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late-season weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, shepherding the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then working the Christmas corridor to go wider. That positioning has been successful for director-led genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception merits. Keep an eye on an weblink 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 together, using mini theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their audience.

Legacy titles versus originals

By tilt, the 2026 slate favors the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on franchise value. The risk, as ever, is viewer burnout. The operating solution is to sell each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is elevating character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French sensibility from a ascendant talent. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the deal build is known enough to spark pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Rolling three-year comps frame the logic. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that observed windows did not foreclose a day-date try from performing when the brand was powerful. In 2024, director-craft horror exceeded expectations in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they shift POV and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta check over here from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters shot consecutively, gives leeway to marketing to thread films through relationships and themes and to leave creative active without pause points.

Craft and creative trends

The shop talk behind the 2026 slate suggest a continued move toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that highlights unease and texture rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in craft journalism and guild coverage before rolling out a mood teaser that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and generates shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta pivot that centers an original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature execution and sets, which are ideal for expo activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel necessary. Look for trailers that accent razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in big rooms.

How the year maps out

January is crowded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid macro-brand pushes. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the menu of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Early-year through spring build the summer base. Scream 7 opens February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can thrive 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 shuffled through big rooms.

August into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited disclosures that center concept over reveals.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card use.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s artificial companion mutates into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back 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 journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. 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 difficult boss struggle to survive on a cut-off island as the control balance turns and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to dread, grounded in Cronin’s material craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. 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 household haunting piece that leverages the dread of a child’s inconsistent interpretations. Rating: forthcoming. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that satirizes hot-button genre motifs and true crime fervors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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 erupts, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new family caught in returning horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survivalist horror over action spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: continuing. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

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 primal menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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 in flux, fall expected.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three nuts-and-bolts forces shape this lineup. First, production that stalled or re-slotted in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and shorter 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, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work repeatable beats from test screenings, controlled scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can lead a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will share space across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, 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 dark-horse hunt 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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, 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 stack through the year, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, soundcraft, and visuals 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

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is IP strength where it matters, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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, cut sharp trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the gasps sell the seats.