Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primeval horror, a pulse pounding shocker, premiering Oct 2025 on major streaming services

A terrifying ghostly fright fest from storyteller / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an timeless dread when drifters become tools in a dark ordeal. Airings begin this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful saga of endurance and prehistoric entity that will redefine horror this season. Brought to life by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and emotionally thick suspense flick follows five lost souls who arise sealed in a secluded lodge under the malevolent manipulation of Kyra, a central character occupied by a legendary ancient fiend. Ready yourself to be enthralled by a immersive event that merges soul-chilling terror with folklore, arriving on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a well-established concept in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is flipped when the forces no longer arise externally, but rather from deep inside. This suggests the malevolent aspect of the group. The result is a bone-chilling moral showdown where the emotions becomes a intense push-pull between light and darkness.


In a isolated backcountry, five youths find themselves trapped under the possessive sway and infestation of a haunted character. As the ensemble becomes powerless to break her power, abandoned and attacked by spirits unfathomable, they are cornered to stand before their raw vulnerabilities while the timeline unceasingly draws closer toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread escalates and associations break, coercing each individual to evaluate their self and the principle of independent thought itself. The pressure escalate with every heartbeat, delivering a terror ride that intertwines otherworldly suspense with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to uncover elemental fright, an entity born of forgotten ages, working through our weaknesses, and confronting a force that redefines identity when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra meant channeling something unfamiliar to reason. She is clueless until the evil takes hold, and that evolution is soul-crushing because it is so visceral.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—making sure horror lovers everywhere can get immersed in this haunted release.


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


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, presenting the nightmare to scare fans abroad.


Experience this visceral voyage through terror. Face *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to confront these chilling revelations about free will.


For sneak peeks, production insights, and news from the cast and crew, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across Instagram and Twitter and visit our horror hub.





American horror’s major pivot: 2025 domestic schedule integrates biblical-possession ideas, signature indie scares, plus IP aftershocks

Kicking off with fight-to-live nightmare stories drawn from biblical myth to returning series and sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is emerging as the genre’s most multifaceted and blueprinted year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. Top studios lock in tentpoles through proven series, simultaneously platform operators flood the fall with unboxed visions set against primordial unease. Across the art-house lane, the independent cohort is carried on the kinetic energy from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A fat September–October lane is customary now, and now, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are methodical, as a result 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 accelerates.

the Universal camp fires the first shot with a confident swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Under director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. Booked into mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Under Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

By late summer, the Warner Bros. banner bows the concluding entry inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Though the outline is tried, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

After that, The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson is back, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: period tinged dread, trauma in the foreground, and a cold supernatural calculus. This pass pushes higher, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The next entry deepens the tale, builds out the animatronic fear crew, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It hits in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Offerings: Low budgets, big teeth

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a sealed box body horror arc anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

On the docket is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Authored 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. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is a smart play. No swollen lore. No IP hangover. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Heritage Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, led by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Trend Lines

Myth turns mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror resurges
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Season Ahead: Autumn density and winter pivot

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift 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 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The oncoming fright year to come: returning titles, universe starters, and also A brimming Calendar geared toward goosebumps

Dek: The brand-new horror cycle builds from the jump with a January wave, after that runs through summer, and straight through the holiday stretch, mixing legacy muscle, creative pitches, and savvy offsets. Studios with streamers are leaning into cost discipline, cinema-first plans, and short-form initiatives that pivot these releases into broad-appeal conversations.

The genre’s posture for 2026

This category has grown into the dependable swing in release strategies, a corner that can accelerate when it connects and still limit the liability when it does not. After 2023 re-taught executives that modestly budgeted entries can shape the national conversation, the following year sustained momentum with auteur-driven buzzy films and under-the-radar smashes. The tailwind extended into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and premium-leaning entries showed there is appetite for varied styles, from ongoing IP entries to one-and-done originals that play globally. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a calendar that reads highly synchronized across the market, with defined corridors, a blend of established brands and new concepts, and a refocused strategy on big-screen windows that fuel later windows on premium digital rental and digital services.

Buyers contend the genre now slots in as a fill-in ace on the release plan. Horror can launch on numerous frames, yield a easy sell for spots and social clips, and outperform with patrons that respond on Thursday nights and sustain through the second frame if the feature delivers. Emerging from a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 setup exhibits conviction in that dynamic. The year rolls out with a stacked January band, then targets spring into early summer for contrast, while making space for a fall corridor that stretches into the fright window and into November. The calendar also spotlights the increasing integration of specialized imprints and OTT outlets that can launch in limited release, generate chatter, and grow at the optimal moment.

A notable top-line trend is series management across shared universes and heritage properties. The players are not just greenlighting another next film. They are looking to package continuity with a specialness, whether that is a art treatment that telegraphs a new vibe or a star attachment that bridges a new entry to a early run. At the simultaneously, the creative leads behind the headline-grabbing originals are returning to practical craft, practical effects and location-forward worlds. That convergence offers the 2026 slate a strong blend of recognition and unexpected turns, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

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

Paramount defines the early cadence with two headline releases that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, marketing it as both a succession moment and a origin-leaning relationship-driven entry. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance suggests a roots-evoking strategy without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run stacked with iconic art, first images of characters, and a rollout cadence hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will feature. As a summer counter-slot, this one will chase four-quadrant chatter through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format allowing quick updates to whatever defines the conversation that spring.

Universal has three defined projects. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is straightforward, melancholic, and logline-clear: a grieving man implements an synthetic partner that escalates into a murderous partner. The date puts it at the front of a thick month, with Universal’s campaign likely to bring back creepy live activations and short-cut promos that blurs attachment and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a final title to become an headline beat closer to the first look. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. His projects are marketed as signature events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a later trailer push that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The late-month date gives Universal room to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has proven that a blood-soaked, prosthetic-heavy strategy can feel cinematic on a efficient spend. Position this as a gore-forward summer horror shock that maximizes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio places two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, extending a dependable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is positioning as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both longtime followers and general audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build campaign pieces around environmental design, and creature design, elements that can drive deluxe auditorium demand and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by rigorous craft and dialect, this time steeped in lycan lore. Focus has already set the date for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is warm.

How the platforms plan to play it

Windowing plans in 2026 run on tested paths. The studio’s horror films transition to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a ordering that maximizes both debut momentum and sub growth in the later phase. Prime Video combines licensed films with worldwide entries and limited cinema engagements when the data backs it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in back-catalog play, using well-timed internal promotions, genre hubs, and featured rows to lengthen the tail on aggregate take. Netflix keeps options open about own-slate titles and festival snaps, scheduling horror entries on shorter runways and turning into events rollouts with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a laddered of focused cinema runs and accelerated platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a curated basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to buy select projects with accomplished filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation spikes.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 track with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands Source in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is no-nonsense: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, reimagined for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a cinema-first plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the fall weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then using the holiday dates to increase reach. That positioning has worked well for auteur horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception prompts. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using limited runs to stir evangelism that fuels their user base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By volume, the 2026 slate bends toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate marquee value. The watch-out, as ever, is brand erosion. The pragmatic answer is to package each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is bringing forward character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-accented approach from a rising filmmaker. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the deal build is grounded enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Rolling three-year comps make sense of the plan. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that observed windows did not block a day-and-date experiment from thriving when the brand was potent. In 2024, director-craft horror outperformed in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they alter lens and raise the stakes. 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 back-to-back plan, with chapters shot consecutively, permits marketing to tie installments through character and theme and to leave creative active without pause points.

Behind-the-camera trends

The director conversations behind these films telegraph a continued tilt toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that emphasizes unease and texture rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft spotlights before rolling out a first look that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and drives shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta-horror reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature work and production design, which align with con floor moments and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel primary. Look for trailers that foreground surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that land in big rooms.

How the year maps out

January is full. 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 caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the variety of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

Q1 into Q2 prime the summer. Scream 7 opens February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Late summer into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a late-September window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited asset reveals that favor idea over plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and holiday gift-card burn.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production is underway. 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: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s algorithmic partner mutates into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished 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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: aura-driven 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 difficult boss fight to survive on a lonely island as the power balance of power reverses and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic More about the author Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to fear, shaped by Cronin’s material craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting scenario that routes the horror through a kid’s uncertain POV. Rating: to be announced. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that lampoons modern genre fads and true crime preoccupations. Rating: TBA. Production: principal photography set 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 spreads, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a fresh family lashed to residual nightmares. Rating: to be announced. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A reboot designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-first horror over action spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: TBD. Production: underway. 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 antique diction and bone-deep menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026, why now

Three workable forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that downshifted or recalendared in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and pared-down timelines. 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 outpaced straight-to-streaming drops. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest bite-size scare clips from test screenings, controlled scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will line up across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the efficient 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 harvest those lanes. 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, lean footprints, 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 visual texture, soundcraft, 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.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand heft where it matters, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, keep secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.