Antediluvian Terror rises: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling horror feature, bowing Oct 2025 on major streaming services

An haunting spectral fright fest from creator / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an archaic horror when strangers become tools in a devilish experiment. Premiering on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing narrative of living through and mythic evil that will revolutionize horror this fall. Helmed by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and claustrophobic screenplay follows five teens who suddenly rise caught in a wilderness-bound dwelling under the oppressive power of Kyra, a troubled woman inhabited by a prehistoric sacrosanct terror. Steel yourself to be drawn in by a narrative adventure that fuses visceral dread with mythic lore, landing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a well-established pillar in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is radically shifted when the dark entities no longer appear from beyond, but rather within themselves. This suggests the deepest shade of the group. The result is a edge-of-seat spiritual tug-of-war where the emotions becomes a constant face-off between right and wrong.


In a unforgiving wilderness, five teens find themselves confined under the malevolent aura and possession of a enigmatic entity. As the ensemble becomes unable to combat her manipulation, marooned and tracked by forces inconceivable, they are required to battle their core terrors while the moments ruthlessly ticks onward toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease deepens and connections crack, pushing each character to doubt their identity and the principle of personal agency itself. The cost magnify with every minute, delivering a cinematic nightmare that marries occult fear with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to awaken deep fear, an spirit that existed before mankind, embedding itself in inner turmoil, and testing a entity that challenges autonomy when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra called for internalizing something darker than pain. She is unseeing until the control shifts, and that conversion is haunting because it is so raw.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for on-demand beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—giving fans across the world can enjoy this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its original promo, which has seen over strong viewer count.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, taking the terror to thrill-seekers globally.


Avoid skipping this life-altering descent into darkness. Confront *Young & Cursed* this launch day to acknowledge these evil-rooted truths about existence.


For director insights, making-of footage, and updates from behind the lens, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across online outlets and visit our horror hub.





Current horror’s major pivot: the 2025 season American release plan weaves biblical-possession ideas, indie terrors, paired with legacy-brand quakes

Across life-or-death fear inspired by near-Eastern lore through to returning series and focused festival visions, 2025 is tracking to be the richest along with intentionally scheduled year of the last decade.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. major banners lay down anchors with established lines, as streaming platforms stack the fall with new voices in concert with old-world menace. On the independent axis, independent banners is buoyed by the kinetic energy of 2024’s record festival wave. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are disciplined, as a result 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Premium dread reemerges

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s slate opens the year with a big gambit: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, instead in a current-day frame. Guided by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. dated for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Guided by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with 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. Early reactions hint at fangs.

When summer fades, Warner Bros. Pictures drops the final chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. While the template is known, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson returns to the helm, and those signature textures resurface: throwback unease, trauma driven plotting, plus otherworld rules that chill. Here the stakes rise, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The next entry deepens the tale, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It hits in December, cornering year end horror.

Streamer Exclusives: Low budgets, big teeth

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a room scale body horror descent fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale with Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, 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 menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is a smart play. No overstuffed canon. No IP hangover. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy Lines: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, under Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Trend Lines

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

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

SVOD originals harden up
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Forecast: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

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



The next scare Year Ahead: returning titles, standalone ideas, plus A loaded Calendar geared toward goosebumps

Dek: The brand-new horror season lines up at the outset with a January logjam, thereafter stretches through the warm months, and carrying into the festive period, combining brand equity, untold stories, and data-minded counter-scheduling. Distributors with platforms are doubling down on right-sized spends, exclusive theatrical windows first, and buzz-forward plans that turn these films into all-audience topics.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The horror sector has shown itself to be the sturdy move in annual schedules, a lane that can expand when it hits and still mitigate the floor when it falls short. After the 2023 year re-taught decision-makers that modestly budgeted pictures can command the zeitgeist, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with visionary-driven titles and word-of-mouth wins. The momentum extended into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and arthouse crossovers proved there is room for diverse approaches, from brand follow-ups to non-IP projects that travel well. The aggregate for 2026 is a run that feels more orchestrated than usual across the major shops, with planned clusters, a equilibrium of legacy names and first-time concepts, and a revived strategy on exhibition windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on paid VOD and SVOD.

Executives say the space now slots in as a utility player on the schedule. The genre can open on a wide range of weekends, provide a quick sell for creative and vertical videos, and punch above weight with moviegoers that respond on first-look nights and continue through the week two if the feature hits. Emerging from a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 setup shows certainty in that setup. The year commences with a crowded January band, then turns to spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while clearing room for a September to October window that reaches into late October and into the next week. The layout also illustrates the tightening integration of indie distributors and streaming partners that can platform a title, build word of mouth, and widen at the optimal moment.

Another broad trend is IP stewardship across shared universes and legacy franchises. Distribution groups are not just pushing another installment. They are aiming to frame ongoing narrative with a occasion, whether that is a title design that flags a reframed mood or a casting pivot that reconnects a new installment to a classic era. At the alongside this, the filmmakers behind the high-profile originals are leaning into in-camera technique, in-camera effects and grounded locations. That interplay gives 2026 a lively combination of known notes and invention, which is the formula for international play.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount plants an early flag with two marquee bets that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the center, positioning the film as both a passing of the torch and a rootsy relationship-driven entry. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the authorial approach indicates a memory-charged approach without looping the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Look for a marketing run driven by heritage visuals, character previews, and a staggered trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will emphasize. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will generate wide appeal through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick switches to whatever owns the social talk that spring.

Universal has three discrete releases. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is crisp, heartbroken, and easily pitched: a grieving man activates an algorithmic mate that grows into a dangerous lover. The date places it at the front of a front-loaded month, with marketing at Universal likely to iterate on creepy live activations and micro spots that blurs affection and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits 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 take the main frames.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s releases are framed as marquee events, with a teaser that holds back and a my company later trailer push that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween runway opens a lane to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has consistently shown that a raw, in-camera leaning mix can feel deluxe on a disciplined budget. Expect a grime-caked summer horror charge that spotlights offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio books two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, maintaining a evergreen supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is framing 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 mission to serve both core fans and newcomers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build materials around setting detail, and creature effects, elements that can increase large-format demand and fan-culture participation.

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 sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by rigorous craft and language, this time engaging werewolf myth. Focus has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is glowing.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform windowing in 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s genre entries flow to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a sequence that optimizes both debut momentum and viewer acquisition in the late-window. Prime Video interleaves licensed titles with global acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in back-catalog play, using curated hubs, horror hubs, and handpicked rows to lengthen the tail on the 2026 genre total. Netflix stays nimble about internal projects and festival acquisitions, timing horror entries tight to release and elevating as drops drops with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a tiered of focused cinema runs and quick platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has proven amenable to take on select projects with accomplished filmmakers or marquee packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly activity when the genre conversation ramps.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 lane with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is no-nonsense: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, refined for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the late-season weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then pressing the Christmas corridor to broaden. That positioning has helped for auteur horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception drives. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using mini theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their user base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By volume, 2026 is weighted toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit legacy awareness. The challenge, as ever, is diminishing returns. The pragmatic answer is to brand each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is underscoring relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a Francophone tone from a emerging director. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a stranded survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the package is recognizable enough to build pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Recent comps announce the approach. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that maintained windows did not hamper a day-and-date experiment from thriving when the brand was powerful. In horror 2024, craft-first auteur horror exceeded expectations in large-format rooms. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they reframe POV 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 dual-chapter plan, with chapters shot consecutively, enables marketing to relate entries through character web and themes and to continue assets in field without extended gaps.

How the films are being made

The craft rooms behind these films point to a continued preference for in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that emphasizes tone and tension rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in craft profiles and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a tease that leans on mood over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and sparks shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a self-aware reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will live or die on creature execution and sets, which match well with convention floor stunts and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel compelling. Look for trailers that underscore pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that explode in larger rooms.

Release calendar overview

January is heavy. 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 moody palate cleanser amid heftier brand moves. The month winds down 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 thick, but the mix of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth stays strong.

February through May seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

August and September into October leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a late-September window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited teasers that trade in concept over detail.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card burn.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s synthetic partner grows into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 severe boss try to survive on a rugged island as the control dynamic upends and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to fear, grounded in Cronin’s physical craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting scenario that explores the terror of a child’s shaky senses. Rating: pending. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-financed and headline-actor led haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that teases in-vogue horror tropes and true crime preoccupations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 breaks out, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a different family bound to old terrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-first horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: TBA. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: pending. Production: in progress. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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 period-specific language and ancient menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why this year, why now

Three operational forces frame this lineup. First, production that slowed or re-slotted in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming landings. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest shareable moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

The slot calculus is real. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can control a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will jostle across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

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

The dark-horse 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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, 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 sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, sonics, and cinematography 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

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand heft where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, lock the reveals, and let the fear sell the seats.