Antediluvian Horror awakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising horror feature, landing Oct 2025 across major platforms

This frightening supernatural scare-fest from literary architect / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an archaic curse when outsiders become proxies in a malevolent maze. Available this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching episode of overcoming and age-old darkness that will revamp scare flicks this scare season. Realized by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and atmospheric screenplay follows five young adults who find themselves trapped in a wilderness-bound shelter under the ominous dominion of Kyra, a cursed figure occupied by a timeless biblical demon. Be warned to be enthralled by a visual experience that unites gut-punch terror with ancient myths, landing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a well-established concept in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is twisted when the presences no longer come from an outside force, but rather from their psyche. This echoes the malevolent side of each of them. The result is a gripping mental war where the story becomes a relentless confrontation between divinity and wickedness.


In a unforgiving forest, five teens find themselves cornered under the fiendish aura and possession of a haunted female presence. As the group becomes submissive to deny her will, severed and chased by creatures unfathomable, they are confronted to battle their greatest panics while the time relentlessly counts down toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia escalates and ties erode, compelling each figure to contemplate their personhood and the integrity of free will itself. The risk intensify with every minute, delivering a chilling narrative that integrates otherworldly suspense with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to explore basic terror, an spirit beyond recorded history, manipulating psychological breaks, and questioning a evil that strips down our being when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra asked for exploring something darker than pain. She is oblivious until the possession kicks in, and that evolution is gut-wrenching because it is so internal.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for home viewing beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—allowing streamers in all regions can face this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its intro video, which has received over massive response.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, taking the terror to horror fans worldwide.


Avoid skipping this mind-warping descent into darkness. Stream *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to experience these spiritual awakenings about inner darkness.


For cast commentary, set experiences, and reveals from behind the lens, follow @YACFilm across Instagram and Twitter and visit our film’s homepage.





Horror’s tipping point: the year 2025 American release plan weaves legend-infused possession, festival-born jolts, paired with Franchise Rumbles

Moving from endurance-driven terror rooted in primordial scripture as well as returning series alongside cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 stands to become horror’s most layered plus precision-timed year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. Top studios are anchoring the year with established lines, in tandem platform operators stack the fall with emerging auteurs set against ancestral chills. On the festival side, independent banners is fueled by the echoes of a record-setting 2024 festival season. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, notably this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are intentional, thus 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The top end is active. If 2024 set the base, 2025 compounds the move.

the Universal banner opens the year with a marquee bet: a refashioned Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, but a crisp modern milieu. Guided by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. Booked into mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. From director Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

As summer eases, the WB camp rolls out the capstone of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Despite a known recipe, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: retro dread, trauma as narrative engine, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This time, the stakes are raised, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The return delves further into myth, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It opens in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Offerings: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a body horror duet including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga starring Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Written and helmed 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 nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of 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 clever angle. No heavy handed lore. No brand fatigue. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy Lines: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

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.

What to Watch

Old myth goes broad
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror retakes ground
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Season Ahead: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. 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 plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The 2026 genre calendar year ahead: follow-ups, fresh concepts, and also A packed Calendar geared toward shocks

Dek: The brand-new scare cycle crowds right away with a January wave, after that spreads through June and July, and carrying into the festive period, combining name recognition, untold stories, and smart counterplay. Major distributors and platforms are relying on mid-range economics, cinema-first plans, and social-driven marketing that transform genre titles into cross-demo moments.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The field has proven to be the surest move in release strategies, a category that can expand when it lands and still buffer the floor when it stumbles. After 2023 reconfirmed for top brass that efficiently budgeted chillers can shape audience talk, 2024 maintained heat with festival-darling auteurs and word-of-mouth wins. The head of steam rolled into the 2025 frame, where returns and prestige plays signaled there is space for several lanes, from legacy continuations to original one-offs that translate worldwide. The upshot for 2026 is a lineup that feels more orchestrated than usual across players, with strategic blocks, a spread of marquee IP and original hooks, and a refocused eye on box-office windows that enhance post-theatrical value on PVOD and streaming.

Studio leaders note the space now performs as a fill-in ace on the schedule. The genre can roll out on virtually any date, supply a quick sell for trailers and shorts, and lead with audiences that respond on opening previews and keep coming through the next pass if the feature lands. Post a work stoppage lag, the 2026 rhythm exhibits comfort in that playbook. The slate commences with a stacked January lineup, then uses spring and early summer for alternate plays, while leaving room for a fall run that stretches into Halloween and into November. The schedule also illustrates the tightening integration of indie arms and streaming partners that can platform a title, generate chatter, and scale up at the precise moment.

An added macro current is brand management across linked properties and established properties. The players are not just pushing another next film. They are setting up continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a graphic identity that suggests a fresh attitude or a lead change that anchors a next entry to a early run. At the very same time, the writer-directors behind the high-profile originals are doubling down on tactile craft, real effects and location-forward worlds. That alloy hands the 2026 slate a solid mix of comfort and freshness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount fires first with two big-ticket projects that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the spine, setting it up as both a cross-generational handoff and a rootsy character-driven entry. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the authorial approach hints at a nostalgia-forward approach without recycling the last two entries’ sisters storyline. The studio is likely to mount a drive driven by franchise iconography, character spotlights, and a two-beat trailer plan targeting late fall. Distribution is big-screen via 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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will lean on. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will drive mainstream recognition through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format permitting quick turns to whatever rules horror talk that spring.

Universal has three differentiated strategies. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is simple, somber, and big-hook: a grieving man purchases an AI companion that grows into a deadly partner. The date slots it at the front of a packed window, with the Universal machine likely to revisit creepy live activations and quick hits that hybridizes longing and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a name unveil to become an headline beat closer to the first Young & Cursed look. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele’s work are branded as filmmaker events, with a concept-forward tease and a subsequent trailers that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date allows Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has shown that a raw, prosthetic-heavy method can feel big on a controlled budget. Expect a hard-R summer horror hit that leans hard into overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio launches two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, sustaining a evergreen supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is selling as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both devotees and first-timers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build assets around mythos, and monster aesthetics, elements that can accelerate IMAX and PLF uptake and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on meticulous craft and language, this time driven by werewolf stories. The imprint has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is glowing.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform tactics for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s horror titles shift to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a structure that elevates both first-week urgency and subscription bumps in the after-window. Prime Video will mix acquired titles with world buys and brief theater runs when the data supports it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in back-catalog play, using well-timed internal promotions, Halloween hubs, and collection rows to lengthen the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps flexible about internal projects and festival pickups, slotting horror entries on shorter runways and elevating as drops launches with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a one-two of targeted theatrical exposure and rapid platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a discrete basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to take on select projects with acclaimed directors or celebrity-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for retention when the genre conversation builds.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 arc with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is direct: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, recalibrated for modern mix and grade. 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 hinted a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the late stretch.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then pressing the year-end corridor to expand. That positioning has worked well for filmmaker-driven genre with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception allows. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using precision theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their user base.

Known brands versus new stories

By count, 2026 tilts in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use household recognition. The question, as ever, is overexposure. The preferred tactic is to market each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is underscoring character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s navigate here Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French-accented approach from a ascendant talent. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects keep oxygen in the system. 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 survival shocker premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the package is recognizable enough to build pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Past-three-year patterns contextualize the model. In 2023, a exclusive window model that held distribution windows did not hamper a day-date move from paying off when the brand was big. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror outperformed in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they change perspective and raise the stakes. 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 two-step approach, with chapters lensed back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to bridge entries through character and theme and to continue assets in field without extended gaps.

Behind-the-camera trends

The creative meetings behind this slate telegraph a continued tilt toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that underscores aura and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line news and Blumhouse partnership sustaining smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in long-lead press and craft spotlights before rolling out a first look that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at practical nastiness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and earns shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta refresh that centers an original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster aesthetics and world-building, which fit with fan-con activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel key. Look for trailers that emphasize precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that sing on PLF.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is stacked. 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 bigger brand plays. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the tone spread carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth carries.

February through May load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates 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 sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Late summer into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a slow-reveal plan and limited asset reveals that center concept over reveals.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card use.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s virtual companion grows into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror 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 collide with a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. 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 demanding boss scramble to survive on a desolate island as the power dynamic shifts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to fright, built on Cronin’s tactile craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 household haunting narrative that twists the chill of a child’s inconsistent read. Rating: forthcoming. Production: post-ready. Positioning: major-studio and star-led eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that needles present-day genre chatter and true crime fascinations. Rating: pending. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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 erupts, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further widens again, with a unlucky family caught in lingering terrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A reboot designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-core horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: undetermined. Production: advancing. 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 period language and raw menace. Rating: TBD. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 lands now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces frame this lineup. First, production that decelerated or shifted in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming landings. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work meme-ready beats from test screenings, controlled scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can lead a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will coexist across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

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

The search for sleepers continues in Q1, where low-to-mid 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 surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, 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 pattern and spread. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, efficient placements, 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 materiality, acoustics, 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, Ready To Roar

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is recognizable IP where it plays, distinct vision where it matters, 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, produce clean trailers, hold the mystery, and let the shocks sell the seats.