Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up primordial evil, a hair raising chiller, launching October 2025 across top streaming platforms

A bone-chilling supernatural scare-fest from writer / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an primordial nightmare when foreigners become conduits in a devilish ordeal. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving portrayal of continuance and ancient evil that will reconstruct genre cinema this season. Crafted by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and cinematic thriller follows five teens who awaken isolated in a remote house under the sinister dominion of Kyra, a young woman consumed by a biblical-era biblical force. Prepare to be drawn in by a screen-based spectacle that weaves together instinctive fear with timeless legends, arriving on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a legendary motif in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is radically shifted when the monsters no longer appear from external sources, but rather internally. This symbolizes the most terrifying part of all involved. The result is a psychologically brutal identity crisis where the tension becomes a intense confrontation between good and evil.


In a wilderness-stricken outland, five individuals find themselves sealed under the ghastly dominion and haunting of a haunted apparition. As the survivors becomes defenseless to fight her will, detached and preyed upon by entities unfathomable, they are thrust to deal with their raw vulnerabilities while the seconds coldly edges forward toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease swells and connections erode, urging each individual to reconsider their being and the structure of personal agency itself. The cost grow with every fleeting time, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that blends unearthly horror with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to draw upon ancestral fear, an evil before modern man, influencing human fragility, and exposing a evil that redefines identity when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra called for internalizing something far beyond human desperation. She is clueless until the possession kicks in, and that metamorphosis is deeply unsettling because it is so personal.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for viewing beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—offering users no matter where they are can witness this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its first trailer, which has gathered over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, delivering the story to lovers of terror across nations.


Experience this visceral spiral into evil. Explore *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to confront these haunting secrets about the mind.


For film updates, production insights, and reveals from behind the lens, follow @YACMovie across media channels and visit our film’s homepage.





Current horror’s sea change: 2025 in focus U.S. Slate melds myth-forward possession, independent shockers, and tentpole growls

Kicking off with life-or-death fear grounded in biblical myth and onward to franchise returns plus sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is lining up as horror’s most layered paired with carefully orchestrated year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. Major studios bookend the months via recognizable brands, even as OTT services load up the fall with debut heat paired with old-world menace. In parallel, the art-house flank is drafting behind the backdraft of a banner 2024 fest year. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, though in this cycle, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are surgical, and 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: The Return of Prestige Fear

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s pipeline kicks off the frame with a big gambit: a reconceived Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Booked into mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Steered by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

Toward summer’s end, the WB camp drops the final chapter within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Despite a known recipe, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Scott Derrickson is back, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: 70s style chill, trauma as text, and a cold supernatural calculus. This run ups the stakes, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It posts in December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a body horror chamber piece led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is a near certain autumn drop.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn featuring Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly 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.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Conceived and directed 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. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is an astute call. No overweight mythology. No sequel clutter. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy IP: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

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

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, guided by 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.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Trend Lines

Old myth goes broad
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror comes roaring back
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Cinemas are 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.

Forecast: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

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 hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The oncoming terror cycle: next chapters, filmmaker-first projects, together with A packed Calendar aimed at frights

Dek The emerging scare cycle builds from the jump with a January logjam, thereafter unfolds through summer corridors, and far into the holiday stretch, mixing marquee clout, new concepts, and well-timed counterprogramming. Studios with streamers are betting on responsible budgets, theater-first strategies, and short-form initiatives that turn genre releases into water-cooler talk.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This space has emerged as the bankable move in programming grids, a corner that can spike when it breaks through and still hedge the downside when it stumbles. After 2023 reminded strategy teams that disciplined-budget chillers can lead the zeitgeist, the following year kept energy high with visionary-driven titles and unexpected risers. The tailwind pushed into 2025, where re-entries and elevated films signaled there is capacity for many shades, from series extensions to original features that export nicely. The takeaway for 2026 is a run that appears tightly organized across the industry, with clear date clusters, a blend of legacy names and new packages, and a renewed attention on cinema windows that power the aftermarket on premium digital and home streaming.

Executives say the horror lane now serves as a plug-and-play option on the calendar. The genre can arrive on most weekends, create a tight logline for spots and UGC-friendly snippets, and punch above weight with viewers that turn out on early shows and sustain through the sophomore frame if the release delivers. After a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 mapping telegraphs belief in that engine. The slate opens with a weighty January band, then leans on spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while keeping space for a autumn stretch that pushes into the Halloween corridor and afterwards. The map also includes the tightening integration of specialty arms and SVOD players that can platform a title, generate chatter, and broaden at the timely point.

A second macro trend is series management across unified worlds and veteran brands. The companies are not just producing another return. They are working to present brand continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a brandmark that signals a tonal shift or a casting pivot that binds a fresh chapter to a foundational era. At the very same time, the creative leads behind the high-profile originals are embracing hands-on technique, physical gags and grounded locations. That pairing yields the 2026 slate a vital pairing of known notes and freshness, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount leads early with two spotlight entries that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the center, setting it up as both a legacy handover and a foundation-forward character-first story. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the authorial approach signals a legacy-leaning approach without recycling the last two entries’ sisters storyline. A campaign is expected stacked with signature symbols, early character teases, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm aimed at late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will feature. As a summer alternative, this one will pursue large awareness through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick pivots to whatever leads the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three separate releases. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is straightforward, sorrow-tinged, and logline-clear: a grieving man brings home an virtual partner that becomes a deadly partner. The date sets it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s team likely to revisit odd public stunts and short-form creative that threads romance and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a name unveil to become an marketing beat closer to the teaser. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s releases are presented as signature events, with a minimalist tease and a later creative that shape mood without giving away the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor allows Universal to saturate 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, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has consistently shown that a flesh-and-blood, physical-effects centered aesthetic can feel premium on a lean spend. Look for a grime-caked summer horror rush that embraces global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio launches two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, preserving a proven supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is positioning as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both players and newcomers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build assets around canon, and monster aesthetics, elements that can fuel premium booking interest and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on immersive craft and textual fidelity, this time orbiting lycan myth. The specialty arm has already set the date for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is robust.

Where the platforms fit in

Windowing plans in 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s horror titles head to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a sequence that maximizes both FOMO and sign-up spikes in the downstream. Prime Video continues to mix catalogue additions with global pickups and limited runs in theaters when the data signals it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in library curation, using in-app campaigns, seasonal hubs, and staff picks to lengthen the tail on aggregate take. Netflix remains opportunistic about first-party entries and festival pickups, timing horror entries with shorter lead times and eventizing go-lives with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a two-step of targeted cinema placements and rapid platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a selective basis. The platform has been willing to take on select projects with top-tier auteurs or star-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for platform stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is curating a 2026 pipeline with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is direct: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, updated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has suggested a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the fall weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the year-end corridor to increase reach. That positioning has helped for filmmaker-driven genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception supports. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using targeted theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

IP versus fresh ideas

By count, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on franchise value. The trade-off, as ever, is brand erosion. The workable fix is to pitch each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is underscoring character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-accented approach from a fresh helmer. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the deal build is assuring enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Comparable trends from recent years frame the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive window model that honored streaming windows did not prevent a dual release from succeeding when the brand was big. In 2024, art-forward horror punched above its weight in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they shift POV and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds 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 lensed sequentially, provides the means for marketing to relate entries through character arcs and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without hiatuses.

Craft and creative trends

The craft conversations behind this slate indicate a continued turn toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that spotlights texture and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and artisan spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that leans on mood over plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise weblink side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and drives shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta reframe that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on monster realization and design, which are ideal for con floor moments and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel key. Look for trailers that elevate pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that explode in larger rooms.

The schedule at a glance

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 gloomy counterbalance amid larger brand plays. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the tonal variety makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

Winter into spring set up the summer. Scream 7 opens February 27 with brand energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to 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 spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late summer into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited information drops that elevate concept over story.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and card redemption.

Embedded title notes

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s intelligent companion shifts into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

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

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her hard-edged boss battle to survive on a lonely island as the power balance of power turns and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to chill, anchored by Cronin’s in-camera craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting chiller that frames the panic through a kid’s uncertain inner lens. Rating: rating pending. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-built and star-led paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A comic send-up that teases today’s horror trends and true-crime manias. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a different family snared by ancient dread. Rating: forthcoming. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-core horror over action fireworks. Rating: pending. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: TBA. Production: proceeding. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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-accurate language and primordial menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. 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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the moment is 2026

Three pragmatic forces inform this lineup. First, production that decelerated or recalendared in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming landings. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate shareable moments from test screenings, managed scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

A fourth factor is programming math. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can control a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will cluster across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

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

The stealth-hit search 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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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. Expect a healthy 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.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, sonics, 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.

A Promising 2026

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is franchise muscle where it helps, auteur intent 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, protect the mystery, and let the scares sell the seats.