Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens primeval malevolence, a spine tingling feature, launching October 2025 across major platforms

A unnerving occult horror tale from narrative craftsman / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an prehistoric malevolence when outsiders become tokens in a dark ceremony. Dropping October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking episode of staying alive and prehistoric entity that will resculpt the horror genre this season. Visualized by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and moody fearfest follows five young adults who snap to confined in a secluded shack under the ominous control of Kyra, a tormented girl possessed by a antiquated biblical force. Prepare to be enthralled by a filmic experience that intertwines bone-deep fear with mythic lore, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a time-honored theme in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is turned on its head when the demons no longer develop from beyond, but rather from their core. This symbolizes the most hidden corner of the victims. The result is a intense mind game where the narrative becomes a perpetual push-pull between virtue and vice.


In a barren wild, five adults find themselves imprisoned under the ghastly force and grasp of a unidentified being. As the protagonists becomes defenseless to withstand her rule, detached and chased by presences ungraspable, they are cornered to deal with their soulful dreads while the timeline brutally pushes forward toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear intensifies and associations break, pressuring each member to scrutinize their values and the notion of free will itself. The intensity amplify with every short lapse, delivering a scare-fueled ride that harmonizes unearthly horror with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to awaken primitive panic, an evil older than civilization itself, embedding itself in human fragility, and questioning a darkness that dismantles free will when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra needed manifesting something darker than pain. She is unaware until the haunting manifests, and that change is soul-crushing because it is so personal.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for public screening beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—delivering subscribers from coast to coast can survive this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its intro video, which has racked up over strong viewer count.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, extending the thrill to thrill-seekers globally.


Tune in for this gripping path of possession. Explore *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to experience these unholy truths about our species.


For bonus footage, production insights, and insider scoops from the story's source, follow @YACMovie across your favorite networks and visit the movie portal.





Today’s horror inflection point: 2025 U.S. lineup integrates old-world possession, signature indie scares, stacked beside legacy-brand quakes

From grit-forward survival fare saturated with ancient scripture and including franchise returns together with sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is emerging as horror’s most layered together with strategic year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. the big studios lay down anchors with franchise anchors, simultaneously digital services stack the fall with new voices plus ancestral chills. On the independent axis, independent banners is surfing the echoes of a banner 2024 fest year. As Halloween stays the prime week, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, and now, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are surgical, accordingly 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 set the base, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal Pictures begins the calendar with a big gambit: a contemporary Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in a clear present-tense world. From director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. dated for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Under Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer winds down, Warner Bros. Pictures unveils the final movement from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson re teams, and those signature textures resurface: throwback unease, trauma driven plotting, plus otherworld rules that chill. This time the stakes climb, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The return delves further into myth, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It arrives in December, pinning the winter close.

SVOD Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

With cinemas leaning into known IP, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a close quarters body horror study starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Then there is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is a smart play. No overweight mythology. No continuity burden. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Brands: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

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

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

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, guided by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Trend Lines

Mythic horror goes 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 does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror resurges
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Forward View: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. 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. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The 2026 terror Year Ahead: brand plays, non-franchise titles, as well as A hectic Calendar optimized for chills

Dek: The new scare season crams early with a January pile-up, thereafter unfolds through the mid-year, and straight through the festive period, blending brand heft, creative pitches, and strategic calendar placement. Studios and streamers are embracing right-sized spends, theatrical leads, and social-driven marketing that turn the slate’s entries into all-audience topics.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The genre has turned into the dependable option in annual schedules, a pillar that can break out when it resonates and still insulate the drawdown when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year reminded studio brass that mid-range horror vehicles can galvanize the national conversation, the following year held pace with signature-voice projects and under-the-radar smashes. The head of steam flowed into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and prestige plays proved there is a lane for several lanes, from ongoing IP entries to original features that play globally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a schedule that looks unusually coordinated across the field, with purposeful groupings, a combination of familiar brands and fresh ideas, and a tightened stance on big-screen windows that enhance post-theatrical value on paid VOD and OTT platforms.

Planners observe the category now behaves like a schedule utility on the release plan. The genre can roll out on a wide range of weekends, provide a tight logline for marketing and UGC-friendly snippets, and outperform with audiences that arrive on previews Thursday and sustain through the second weekend if the feature delivers. On the heels of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 plan reflects comfort in that playbook. The year launches with a thick January window, then uses spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while keeping space for a October build that stretches into the fright window and into early November. The layout also includes the stronger partnership of boutique distributors and home platforms that can nurture a platform play, generate chatter, and grow at the inflection point.

A reinforcing pattern is IP cultivation across shared universes and classic IP. The studios are not just producing another installment. They are seeking to position lore continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a graphic identity that signals a reframed mood or a cast configuration that anchors a fresh chapter to a vintage era. At the meanwhile, the creative teams behind the marquee originals are favoring on-set craft, in-camera effects and concrete locations. That mix hands 2026 a robust balance of home base and shock, which is why the genre exports well.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount plants an early flag with two prominent projects that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the focus, positioning the film as both a baton pass and a heritage-centered character-centered film. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the tonal posture announces a nostalgia-forward mode without rehashing the last two entries’ sibling arc. Watch for a push centered on signature symbols, early character teases, and a rollout cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will stress. As a summer alternative, this one will seek large awareness through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format making room for quick pivots to whatever tops trend lines that spring.

Universal has three unique plays. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is crisp, soulful, and premise-first: a grieving man brings home an synthetic partner that shifts into a dangerous lover. The date places it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with the marketing arm likely to revisit eerie street stunts and brief clips that blurs attachment and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a final title to become an headline beat closer to the opening teaser. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele projects are treated as director events, with a mystery-first teaser and a second trailer wave that define feel without revealing the concept. The pre-Halloween slot opens a lane to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has established that a flesh-and-blood, practical-first execution can feel high-value on a efficient spend. Expect a viscera-heavy summer horror blast that embraces offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio mounts two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, sustaining a reliable supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is positioning as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both loyalists and fresh viewers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build materials around narrative world, and practical creature work, elements that can lift 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 carries forward the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by historical precision and linguistic texture, this time orbiting lycan myth. The distributor has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is supportive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform strategies for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s slate head to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a ladder that elevates both opening-weekend urgency and sub growth in the later phase. Prime Video interleaves library titles with worldwide entries and brief theater runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library curation, using curated hubs, holiday hubs, and programmed rows to increase tail value on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps options open about Netflix films and festival wins, timing horror entries toward the drop and making event-like premieres with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a paired of tailored theatrical exposure and prompt platform moves that turns chatter to conversion. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to board select projects with accomplished filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation surges.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 arc with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is no-nonsense: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, upgraded for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a theatrical rollout for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the October weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through festival season if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday dates to go wider. That positioning has helped for craft-driven horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception merits. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using precision theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their subs.

Balance of brands and originals

By share, the 2026 slate leans toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on brand equity. The caveat, as ever, is fatigue. The preferred tactic is to sell each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is emphasizing core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French-tinted vision from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries supply the 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, centers Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the package is familiar enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years illuminate the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that maintained windows did not preclude a same-day experiment from performing when the brand was potent. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror hit big in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they rotate perspective and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: click to read more The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters filmed consecutively, provides the means for marketing to bridge entries through character spine and themes and to sustain campaign assets without long breaks.

How the look and feel evolve

The shop talk behind this year’s genre forecast a continued emphasis on in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that leans on creep and texture rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in feature stories and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a tease that withholds plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at gristle and gore, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and drives shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a self-referential reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster aesthetics and world-building, which fit with fan-con activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel must-have. Look for trailers that elevate pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that benefit on big speakers.

The schedule at a glance

January is busy. 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 brooding contrast amid headline IP. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the range of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Late winter and spring tee up summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges 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 comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Shoulder season into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a bridge slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited disclosures that trade in concept over detail.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and holiday gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s machine mate evolves into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human 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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 unyielding boss struggle to survive on a far-flung island as the control balance swivels and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to terror, based on Cronin’s practical craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting premise that plays with the chill of a child’s mercurial impressions. Rating: to be announced. Production: locked. Positioning: major-studio and star-fronted occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A satirical comeback that riffs on contemporary horror memes and true crime fixations. Rating: TBA. Production: shoot planned for 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 surges, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a new clan tethered to lingering terrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: pending. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-core horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: undetermined. 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 era-faithful speech and primordial menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026, why now

Three operational forces define this lineup. First, production that paused or reshuffled in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and tighter 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 beaten straight-to-streaming releases. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles navigate to this website will amplify repeatable beats from test screenings, metered scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Another factor is the scheduling math. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can lead a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will stack across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

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 heavy premium placement 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where modest-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to work those windows. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout 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. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, 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 keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, aural design, and visual design that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand heft where it matters, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, keep the secrets, and let the gasps sell the seats.