Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primordial evil, a nerve shredding chiller, launching October 2025 across top digital platforms

This blood-curdling spiritual thriller from storyteller / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an primordial fear when foreigners become subjects in a cursed ceremony. Going live on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing depiction of overcoming and primeval wickedness that will reimagine fear-driven cinema this October. Guided by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and atmospheric story follows five teens who are stirred isolated in a unreachable hideaway under the hostile control of Kyra, a haunted figure inhabited by a millennia-old religious nightmare. Ready yourself to be gripped by a filmic spectacle that blends gut-punch terror with biblical origins, landing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a iconic narrative in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is redefined when the dark entities no longer come from elsewhere, but rather deep within. This symbolizes the grimmest version of the group. The result is a enthralling cognitive warzone where the emotions becomes a merciless contest between good and evil.


In a remote wild, five campers find themselves marooned under the evil influence and spiritual invasion of a unknown spirit. As the survivors becomes vulnerable to reject her command, exiled and tracked by forces beyond comprehension, they are made to wrestle with their raw vulnerabilities while the moments unceasingly moves toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear builds and associations fracture, urging each person to scrutinize their values and the foundation of conscious will itself. The risk intensify with every heartbeat, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that integrates paranormal dread with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to uncover deep fear, an curse beyond time, embedding itself in emotional fractures, and testing a spirit that questions who we are when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra was about accessing something far beyond human desperation. She is insensitive until the curse activates, and that pivot is gut-wrenching because it is so close.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for on-demand beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—allowing streamers everywhere can enjoy this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its release of trailer #1, which has earned over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, taking the terror to scare fans abroad.


Mark your calendar for this soul-jarring fall into madness. Experience *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to confront these chilling revelations about the psyche.


For sneak peeks, extra content, and news from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across media channels and visit our spooky domain.





Contemporary horror’s major pivot: 2025 U.S. lineup weaves legend-infused possession, indie terrors, stacked beside tentpole growls

Running from life-or-death fear steeped in near-Eastern lore and extending to IP renewals set beside sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is shaping up as the genre’s most multifaceted combined with precision-timed year for the modern era.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. leading studios plant stakes across the year via recognizable brands, at the same time SVOD players front-load the fall with fresh voices and primordial unease. Meanwhile, independent banners is buoyed by the echoes from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween stays the prime week, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, but this year, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are targeted, hence 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: High-craft horror returns

The majors are assertive. If 2024 set the base, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal banner fires the first shot with a confident swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, but a crisp modern milieu. Guided by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. Slated for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Helmed by Eli Craig 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. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer winds down, the Warner Bros. banner unveils the final movement inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Though the formula is familiar, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Next is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson re teams, and the memorable motifs return: retrograde shiver, trauma foregrounded, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This time, the stakes are raised, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The continuation widens the legend, grows the animatronic horror lineup, courting teens and the thirty something base. It hits in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streamer Exclusives: No Budget, No Problem

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a close quarters body horror study pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn with Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

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.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within 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 is a smart play. No puffed out backstory. No franchise baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Series Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, under Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Signals and Trends

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror comes roaring back
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus 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 are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Outlook: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The new fear lineup: next chapters, non-franchise titles, together with A loaded Calendar calibrated for chills

Dek The new genre year crams immediately with a January logjam, thereafter runs through the mid-year, and well into the winter holidays, weaving brand heft, new voices, and data-minded offsets. Studio marketers and platforms are relying on mid-range economics, box-office-first windows, and social-fueled campaigns that turn these films into mainstream chatter.

The genre’s posture for 2026

This category has turned into the predictable option in release plans, a vertical that can break out when it resonates and still buffer the drawdown when it underperforms. After the 2023 year showed top brass that responsibly budgeted entries can shape cultural conversation, 2024 sustained momentum with buzzy auteur projects and slow-burn breakouts. The energy carried into 2025, where revived properties and arthouse crossovers signaled there is appetite for multiple flavors, from brand follow-ups to one-and-done originals that perform internationally. The end result for 2026 is a schedule that is strikingly coherent across the field, with clear date clusters, a balance of marquee IP and new packages, and a sharpened stance on box-office windows that increase tail monetization on premium digital rental and SVOD.

Studio leaders note the category now operates like a schedule utility on the programming map. The genre can debut on nearly any frame, create a clear pitch for promo reels and reels, and lead with viewers that show up on opening previews and maintain momentum through the week two if the entry lands. Exiting a work stoppage lag, the 2026 plan signals confidence in that dynamic. The calendar commences with a loaded January window, then targets spring into early summer for contrast, while leaving room for a autumn stretch that pushes into the fright window and afterwards. The program also illustrates the greater integration of indie distributors and home platforms that can platform a title, create conversation, and scale up at the timely point.

A companion trend is series management across shared IP webs and storied titles. Major shops are not just pushing another sequel. They are setting up lore continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a title design that flags a new vibe or a lead change that ties a next entry to a early run. At the simultaneously, the auteurs behind the marquee originals are favoring practical craft, in-camera effects and location-forward worlds. That convergence gives 2026 a solid mix of known notes and unexpected turns, which is the formula for international play.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount leads early with two marquee releases that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the spine, positioning the film as both a cross-generational handoff and a rootsy character piece. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the creative posture conveys a heritage-honoring campaign without looping the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign built on legacy iconography, first-look character reveals, and a promo sequence hitting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will foreground. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will build general-audience talk through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format allowing quick switches to whatever tops genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three distinct bets. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is efficient, loss-driven, and concept-forward: a grieving man implements an synthetic partner that unfolds into a murderous partner. The date locates it at the front of a packed window, with the marketing arm likely to reprise uncanny live moments and snackable content that mixes romance and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title drop to become an attention spike closer to the opening teaser. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. The filmmaker’s films are presented as must-see filmmaker statements, with a concept-forward tease and a next wave of trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The spooky-season slot lets the studio to command 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, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has made clear that a gnarly, prosthetic-heavy style can feel prestige on a tight budget. Look for a splatter summer horror jolt that pushes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio deploys two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, keeping a bankable supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is billing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both players and newcomers. The fall slot lets Sony to build artifacts around environmental design, and practical creature work, elements that can drive deluxe auditorium demand and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in rigorous craft and historical speech, this time driven by werewolf stories. Focus has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is positive.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform plans for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s horror titles head to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a tiered path that expands both FOMO and trial spikes in the after-window. Prime Video blends licensed titles with world buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library curation, using well-timed internal promotions, spooky hubs, and handpicked rows to extend momentum on the horror cume. Netflix remains opportunistic about originals and festival buys, locking in horror entries closer to launch and eventizing drops with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a hybrid of targeted cinema placements and short jumps to platform that drives paid trials from buzz. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has shown a willingness to board select projects with established auteurs or name-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation builds.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 sequence with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is clear: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, elevated for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late stretch.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, stewarding the film through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then working the year-end corridor to widen. That positioning has delivered for filmmaker-first horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception supports. Be ready 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 as partners, using precision theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their community.

Franchises versus originals

By count, 2026 leans toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap name recognition. The question, as ever, is audience fatigue. The workable fix is to position each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is emphasizing relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a continental coloration from a fresh helmer. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the assembly is comforting enough to build pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years clarify the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that respected streaming windows did not prevent a day-and-date experiment from hitting when the brand was big. In 2024, art-forward horror outperformed in PLF. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel new when they reorient and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters shot consecutively, allows marketing to cross-link entries through cast and motif and to keep assets in-market without lulls.

Behind-the-camera trends

The production chatter behind the 2026 slate hint at a continued preference for practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that elevates texture and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces 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 designed for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and generates shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta refresh that centers an original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature execution and sets, which lend themselves to fan-con activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel primary. Look for trailers that center fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that play in premium auditoriums.

How the year maps out

January is stacked. 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 quiet contrast amid heavier IP. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the spread of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

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

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

August into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil follows September 18, a pre-October slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited previews that center concept over reveals.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card use.

One-sentence dossiers

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s algorithmic partner unfolds into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed 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 finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. 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 push to survive on a desolate island as the power dynamic turns and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. 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 fresh reimagining that returns the monster to chill, shaped by Cronin’s in-camera craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting story that pipes the unease through a little one’s flickering inner lens. Rating: to be announced. Production: completed. 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 back in creative roles. Logline: {A parody reboot that needles contemporary horror memes and true-crime crazes. Rating: undetermined. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Young & Cursed Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

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: TBA. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A clean reboot designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-core horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: TBA. Production: proceeding. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on antique diction and bone-deep menace. Rating: TBD. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026, why now

Three pragmatic forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that slowed or shuffled in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming landings. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work repeatable beats from test screenings, metered scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, making room for genre entries that can lead a weekend or play as the older-leaning 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 parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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 surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where lean-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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, 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 seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, smart allocations, 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 tactility, sound, and imagery 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 Looks Exciting

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is recognizable IP where it plays, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the scares sell the seats.