Age-old Horror Returns within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising shocker, debuting Oct 2025 on major platforms

This bone-chilling spiritual fright fest from creator / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an archaic force when newcomers become tools in a devilish experiment. Available on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving narrative of struggle and primordial malevolence that will revamp scare flicks this season. Guided by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and atmospheric feature follows five characters who find themselves stranded in a cut-off dwelling under the aggressive influence of Kyra, a cursed figure haunted by a prehistoric biblical demon. Be prepared to be immersed by a visual presentation that unites soul-chilling terror with ancient myths, arriving on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a historical narrative in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is reversed when the beings no longer appear from an outside force, but rather inside their minds. This depicts the malevolent layer of the cast. The result is a edge-of-seat mental war where the tension becomes a unyielding face-off between righteousness and malevolence.


In a isolated wilderness, five individuals find themselves confined under the ominous sway and possession of a uncanny female presence. As the cast becomes vulnerable to fight her power, cut off and tracked by beings inconceivable, they are made to encounter their darkest emotions while the deathwatch ruthlessly strikes toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion amplifies and teams dissolve, coercing each member to challenge their character and the philosophy of decision-making itself. The danger accelerate with every heartbeat, delivering a terror ride that intertwines occult fear with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to evoke pure dread, an spirit from prehistory, feeding on our fears, and exposing a entity that redefines identity when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra involved tapping into something rooted in terror. She is in denial until the spirit seizes her, and that pivot is soul-crushing because it is so emotional.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for streaming beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—offering fans in all regions can dive into this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its first trailer, which has earned over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, spreading the horror to viewers around the world.


Join this soul-jarring descent into darkness. Confront *Young & Cursed* this launch day to face these haunting secrets about free will.


For exclusive trailers, set experiences, and updates from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YACMovie across fan hubs and visit youngandcursed.com.





Modern horror’s decisive shift: 2025 across markets U.S. Slate blends ancient-possession motifs, festival-born jolts, and series shake-ups

From grit-forward survival fare infused with primordial scripture to series comebacks paired with surgical indie voices, 2025 is tracking to be the most stratified along with deliberate year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. leading studios lock in tentpoles via recognizable brands, even as platform operators crowd the fall with discovery plays and ancient terrors. In parallel, indie storytellers is buoyed by the momentum from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. With Halloween holding the peak, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, notably this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are precise, so 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: High-craft horror returns

The majors are assertive. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s distribution arm starts the year with a headline swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, inside today’s landscape. Directed by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. Booked into mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Directed by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer winds down, Warner’s pipeline delivers the closing chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson re engages, and those signature textures resurface: throwback unease, trauma as theme, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This pass pushes higher, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The new chapter enriches the lore, thickens the animatronic pantheon, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It bows in December, holding the cold season’s end.

SVOD Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a body horror chamber piece pairing Alison Brie with 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. Even without a formal platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Next comes Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: 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 Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of 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 terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It looks like sharp programming. No bloated mythology. No IP hangover. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy Lines: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, led by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

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.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror returns
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Season Ahead: 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 such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The new fear year to come: brand plays, standalone ideas, plus A hectic Calendar geared toward jolts

Dek The incoming scare year builds at the outset with a January traffic jam, following that unfolds through peak season, and deep into the winter holidays, marrying brand heft, new concepts, and well-timed release strategy. The big buyers and platforms are prioritizing cost discipline, big-screen-first runs, and social-fueled campaigns that elevate these releases into culture-wide discussion.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

Horror filmmaking has solidified as the most reliable option in release strategies, a space that can surge when it lands and still safeguard the downside when it does not. After the 2023 year signaled to decision-makers that efficiently budgeted shockers can shape social chatter, the following year extended the rally with buzzy auteur projects and word-of-mouth wins. The carry flowed into 2025, where revivals and festival-grade titles underscored there is space for different modes, from continued chapters to non-IP projects that play globally. The result for 2026 is a calendar that appears tightly organized across companies, with defined corridors, a equilibrium of marquee IP and new packages, and a refocused emphasis on exhibition windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium home window and home streaming.

Buyers contend the horror lane now works like a fill-in ace on the distribution slate. The genre can premiere on most weekends, create a quick sell for promo reels and social clips, and outstrip with patrons that arrive on early shows and hold through the second weekend if the picture works. After a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 rhythm exhibits belief in that playbook. The calendar starts with a loaded January schedule, then turns to spring and early summer for contrast, while reserving space for a autumn push that carries into spooky season and into November. The schedule also spotlights the stronger partnership of specialty arms and streaming partners that can stage a platform run, fuel WOM, and move wide at the right moment.

A parallel macro theme is brand management across unified worlds and storied titles. Studio teams are not just pushing another return. They are working to present threaded continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a graphic identity that conveys a new vibe or a talent selection that binds a new entry to a classic era. At the very same time, the directors behind the most watched originals are returning to on-set craft, special makeup and site-specific worlds. That blend provides the 2026 slate a solid mix of assurance and unexpected turns, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount sets the tone early with two spotlight releases that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, setting it up as both a passing of the torch and a back-to-basics character-forward chapter. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the creative posture announces a legacy-leaning campaign without covering again the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Anticipate a campaign fueled by signature symbols, initial cast looks, and a rollout cadence targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will spotlight. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will drive broad awareness through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format fitting quick turns to whatever defines trend lines that spring.

Universal has three unique strategies. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is simple, somber, and high-concept: a grieving man adopts an digital partner that grows into a fatal companion. The date positions it at the front of a front-loaded month, with the Universal machine likely to renew off-kilter promo beats and short-cut promos that threads affection and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as 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 official title to become an marketing beat closer to the early tease. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. His entries are set up as signature events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a later creative that shape mood without giving away the concept. The spooky-season slot lets the studio to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has consistently shown that a flesh-and-blood, makeup-driven aesthetic can feel big on a lean spend. Position this as a blood-and-grime summer horror shock that spotlights global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio places two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, carrying a consistent supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is framing as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both longtime followers and new audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign creative around universe detail, and creature work, elements that can amplify IMAX and PLF uptake and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in rigorous craft and dialect, this time set against lycan legends. Focus’s team 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 warm.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform strategies for 2026 run on predictable routes. The studio’s horror films feed copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a structure that boosts both initial urgency and sign-up spikes in the tail. Prime Video continues to mix library titles with global pickups and limited cinema engagements when the data signals it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in back-catalog play, using editorial spots, genre hubs, and handpicked rows to keep attention on lifetime take. Netflix keeps options open about in-house releases and festival additions, timing horror entries near launch and elevating as drops launches with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a hybrid of limited theatrical footprints and prompt platform moves that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has indicated interest to board select projects with acclaimed directors or celebrity-led packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for platform stickiness when the genre conversation peaks.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is curating a 2026 runway with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is clear: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, recalibrated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late-season weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday dates to broaden. That positioning has been successful for director-led genre with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception allows. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using boutique theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Series vs standalone

By proportion, 2026 leans in favor of the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness brand equity. The risk, as ever, is staleness. The standing approach is to sell each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is spotlighting character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-flavored turn from a ascendant talent. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a stranded survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the bundle is grounded enough to drive advance ticketing and preview-night turnout.

Comparable trends from recent years illuminate the logic. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that kept streaming intact did not obstruct a dual release from winning when the brand was robust. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror over-performed in premium formats. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel new when they alter lens and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters filmed in sequence, lets marketing to link the films through character spine and themes and to sustain campaign assets without long gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The director conversations behind the 2026 entries suggest a continued move toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that highlights tone and tension rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in craft journalism and craft coverage before rolling out a teaser that withholds plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and generates shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta-horror reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature and environment design, which are ideal for booth activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel necessary. Look for trailers that foreground pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that work in PLF.

How the year maps out

January is heavy. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid heftier brand moves. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the variety of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth persists.

Early-year through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Back half into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited advance reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card redemption.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s machine mate escalates into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: 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 heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. 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 work to survive on a remote island as the hierarchy turns and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to terror, grounded in Cronin’s hands-on craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting chiller that toys with the fright of a child’s fragile impressions. Rating: rating pending. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-built and A-list fronted supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A satirical comeback that teases of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime obsessions. Rating: not yet rated. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 detonates, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new family tethered to old terrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: pending. Logline: A restart designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on true survival horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: to be announced. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: to be announced. Production: proceeding. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 antique diction and primordial menace. Rating: pending. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. 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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why 2026 and why now

Three pragmatic forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that decelerated or re-slotted in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and leaner 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 overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming releases. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work shareable moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will stack across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of 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 stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 midrange-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to work those windows. January could easily deliver the first surprise 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit 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 chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has see here at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, sound, and visual design that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand heft 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the shudders sell the seats.