Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens primeval malevolence, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, landing Oct 2025 on major streaming services

An frightening otherworldly suspense film from storyteller / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an prehistoric force when unrelated individuals become tools in a satanic trial. Available this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching story of resistance and mythic evil that will transform terror storytelling this ghoul season. Helmed by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and claustrophobic suspense flick follows five teens who suddenly rise stranded in a hidden shelter under the dark influence of Kyra, a tormented girl controlled by a millennia-old holy text monster. Get ready to be captivated by a filmic event that intertwines gut-punch terror with spiritual backstory, releasing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a time-honored narrative in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is twisted when the dark entities no longer originate from an outside force, but rather through their own souls. This marks the most terrifying part of the protagonists. The result is a relentless identity crisis where the emotions becomes a relentless push-pull between light and darkness.


In a desolate outland, five individuals find themselves sealed under the malicious control and possession of a secretive figure. As the characters becomes incapacitated to reject her will, exiled and tracked by unknowns beyond reason, they are required to confront their inner horrors while the clock relentlessly ticks toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease deepens and teams crack, prompting each member to scrutinize their identity and the structure of liberty itself. The tension mount with every fleeting time, delivering a paranormal ride that blends mystical fear with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to draw upon ancestral fear, an power rooted in antiquity, manipulating emotional vulnerability, and confronting a entity that forces self-examination when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra demanded embodying something more primal than sorrow. She is unseeing until the entity awakens, and that shift is shocking because it is so intimate.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for worldwide release beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—giving viewers no matter where they are can engage with this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its first trailer, which has racked up over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, making the film to global fright lovers.


Experience this heart-stopping descent into darkness. Confront *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to see these evil-rooted truths about free will.


For director insights, set experiences, and alerts from the cast and crew, follow @YACFilm across fan hubs and visit youngandcursed.com.





Current horror’s Turning Point: the 2025 season stateside slate melds ancient-possession motifs, indie terrors, and returning-series thunder

Beginning with life-or-death fear infused with scriptural legend all the way to legacy revivals in concert with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is tracking to be the most variegated combined with deliberate year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. the big studios lock in tentpoles through proven series, while SVOD players saturate the fall with emerging auteurs set against primordial unease. On the festival side, horror’s indie wing is propelled by the carry from a record 2024 festival run. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, but this year, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are calculated, hence 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Premium genre swings back

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal banner opens the year with a big gambit: a modernized Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Steered by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. targeting mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Eli Craig directs with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

By late summer, the Warner lot unveils the final movement from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Though the formula is familiar, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson again directs, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: retro dread, trauma driven plotting, and eerie supernatural logic. This time, the stakes are raised, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The continuation widens the legend, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, reaching teens and game grownups. It hits in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Platform Plays: No Budget, No Problem

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a sealed box body horror arc pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story featuring Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting 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 From Within: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and helmed 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. 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. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in 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 an astute call. No swollen lore. No legacy baggage. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Franchise Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, steered by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Trend Lines

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror comes roaring back
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Season Ahead: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

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 play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The approaching spook release year: brand plays, filmmaker-first projects, And A hectic Calendar geared toward nightmares

Dek The fresh scare calendar lines up from the jump with a January glut, then extends through the warm months, and pushing into the late-year period, blending IP strength, new concepts, and savvy release strategy. Studios and platforms are embracing tight budgets, exclusive theatrical windows first, and social-driven marketing that shape genre releases into water-cooler talk.

Horror momentum into 2026

The genre has proven to be the most reliable play in studio slates, a corner that can break out when it resonates and still mitigate the exposure when it does not. After 2023 signaled to greenlighters that modestly budgeted fright engines can galvanize the national conversation, the following year kept the drumbeat going with filmmaker-forward plays and stealth successes. The head of steam flowed into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and premium-leaning entries confirmed there is appetite for a variety of tones, from series extensions to original one-offs that export nicely. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a programming that feels more orchestrated than usual across studios, with obvious clusters, a blend of familiar brands and fresh ideas, and a recommitted attention on big-screen windows that drive downstream revenue on PVOD and digital services.

Schedulers say the genre now slots in as a flex slot on the programming map. Horror can launch on nearly any frame, generate a tight logline for previews and vertical videos, and overperform with ticket buyers that turn out on first-look nights and sustain through the next weekend if the feature connects. On the heels of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 setup telegraphs comfort in that playbook. The year gets underway with a heavy January run, then uses spring and early summer for contrast, while clearing room for a fall run that pushes into the fright window and past the holiday. The layout also shows the tightening integration of boutique distributors and platforms that can platform and widen, generate chatter, and go nationwide at the proper time.

A reinforcing pattern is brand curation across unified worlds and heritage properties. Studio teams are not just rolling another follow-up. They are shaping as ongoing narrative with a occasion, whether that is a title design that broadcasts a fresh attitude or a casting move that bridges a incoming chapter to a early run. At the concurrently, the filmmakers behind the top original plays are favoring hands-on technique, on-set effects and concrete locations. That pairing offers 2026 a solid mix of brand comfort and invention, which is how the genre sells abroad.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount leads early with two marquee releases that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the heart, setting it up as both a cross-generational handoff and a origin-leaning character-centered film. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the story approach suggests a legacy-leaning mode without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected rooted in brand visuals, character-first teases, and a trailer cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also reignites 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 as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will feature. As a summer counter-slot, this one will build large awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format supporting quick adjustments to whatever rules trend lines that spring.

Universal has three unique pushes. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is simple, melancholic, and high-concept: a grieving man activates an artificial companion that evolves into a killer companion. The date slots it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s marketing likely to replay off-kilter promo beats and brief clips that hybridizes affection and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a title drop to become an attention spike closer to the initial promo. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. His entries are presented as marquee events, with a concept-forward tease and a second trailer wave that define feel without revealing the concept. The prime October weekend opens a lane to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has established that a visceral, on-set effects led method can feel premium on a middle budget. Frame it as a hard-R summer horror shock that spotlights foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio mounts two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, extending a consistent supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is selling as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both longtime followers and general audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign creative around setting detail, and monster craft, elements that can fuel format premiums and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by careful craft and linguistic texture, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is positive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s genre slate head to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a tiered path that elevates both initial urgency and subscriber lifts in the downstream. Prime Video blends catalogue additions with worldwide buys and limited cinema engagements when the data points to it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in back-catalog play, using seasonal hubs, horror hubs, and editorial rows to lengthen the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps optionality about first-party entries and festival snaps, dating horror entries closer to launch and positioning as event drops go-lives with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a paired of targeted cinema placements and prompt platform moves that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a per-project basis. The platform has signaled readiness to invest in select projects with acclaimed directors or A-list packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for platform stickiness when the genre conversation intensifies.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 lane with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is direct: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, reimagined for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a theatrical rollout for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the late stretch.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then working the holiday slot to open out. That positioning has delivered for director-led genre with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception allows. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using targeted theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their audience.

IP versus fresh ideas

By tilt, the 2026 slate leans toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on brand equity. The caveat, as ever, is brand erosion. The standing approach is to position each entry as a new angle. Paramount is elevating character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-inflected take from a buzzed-about director. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and director-first projects keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the assembly is anchored enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Three-year comps contextualize the method. In 2023, a theater-first model that respected streaming windows did not hamper a day-date move from hitting when the brand was big. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror surged in premium screens. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they change perspective and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, creates space for marketing to relate entries through personae and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without long gaps.

How the look and feel evolve

The craft rooms behind this slate suggest a continued bias toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that spotlights unease and texture rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in feature stories and craft coverage 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 calibrated for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and earns shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta pivot that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on monster realization and design, which play well in convention activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel essential. Look for trailers that accent pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that benefit on big speakers.

Annual flow

January is jammed. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a foggy reset amid bigger brand plays. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the spread of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Pre-summer months build the summer base. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, 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 finished their premium pass.

Shoulder season into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil follows September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a slow-reveal plan and limited teasers that favor idea over plot.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can play the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and holiday card usage.

One-sentence dossiers

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s virtual companion unfolds into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. 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 prickly boss scramble to survive on a rugged island as the power balance of power upends and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to nightmare, driven by Cronin’s practical craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting piece that filters its scares through a child’s uncertain subjective view. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven 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 spoof revival that needles today’s horror trends and true crime fascinations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: shoot planned 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 ignites, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new family snared by long-buried horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on classic survival-horror tone over action spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: forthcoming. Production: active. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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-faithful speech and raw menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three workable forces define this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or re-slotted in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming landings. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest meme-ready beats from test screenings, controlled scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can command a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will line up across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can benefit from 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 live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where disciplined-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to use those gaps. 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a sampler, 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 turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, right-sized allotments, 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, my review here and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, sound field, 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.

2026 Shapes Up Strong

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand gravity where needed, distinct vision 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, deliver taut trailers, guard the secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.