Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens ancient dread, a chilling supernatural thriller, landing Oct 2025 on top streamers

A terrifying occult suspense film from writer / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an age-old evil when unrelated individuals become proxies in a demonic experiment. Hitting screens on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking portrayal of living through and age-old darkness that will revolutionize the fear genre this spooky time. Visualized by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and immersive feature follows five teens who find themselves imprisoned in a cut-off shack under the dark command of Kyra, a mysterious girl claimed by a time-worn ancient fiend. Get ready to be absorbed by a cinematic ride that blends primitive horror with legendary tales, landing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a historical theme in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is subverted when the presences no longer form from beyond, but rather through their own souls. This mirrors the haunting version of the group. The result is a enthralling cognitive warzone where the suspense becomes a brutal conflict between moral forces.


In a abandoned no-man's-land, five figures find themselves confined under the fiendish dominion and grasp of a haunted character. As the ensemble becomes powerless to reject her curse, severed and tracked by forces indescribable, they are forced to endure their deepest fears while the doomsday meter coldly winds toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease builds and associations splinter, prompting each member to doubt their character and the structure of personal agency itself. The stakes surge with every instant, delivering a frightening tale that harmonizes demonic fright with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to channel pure dread, an spirit before modern man, filtering through human fragility, and navigating a evil that erodes the self when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra required summoning something outside normal anguish. She is blind until the haunting manifests, and that flip is bone-chilling because it is so unshielded.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for audience access beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—ensuring customers no matter where they are can witness this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its original promo, which has attracted over massive response.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, bringing the film to a global viewership.


Tune in for this cinematic path of possession. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to acknowledge these haunting secrets about the soul.


For cast commentary, making-of footage, and reveals from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across online outlets and visit the movie portal.





Today’s horror inflection point: the 2025 season stateside slate integrates archetypal-possession themes, indie terrors, paired with tentpole growls

Running from pressure-cooker survival tales suffused with ancient scripture through to returning series set beside focused festival visions, 2025 stands to become the most variegated paired with carefully orchestrated year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. major banners hold down the year with franchise anchors, as premium streamers prime the fall with fresh voices set against scriptural shivers. In the indie lane, festival-forward creators is catching the kinetic energy from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, and now, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are precise, therefore 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige fear returns

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s distribution arm leads off the quarter with a statement play: a refreshed Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, instead in a current-day frame. Directed by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. timed for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. From director Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer wanes, Warner Bros. Pictures sets loose the finale within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Though the outline is tried, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: old school creep, trauma centered writing, and eerie supernatural logic. The ante is higher this round, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The next entry deepens the tale, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It books December, buttoning the final window.

Streamer Exclusives: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a sealed box body horror arc led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale with Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It looks like sharp programming. No overinflated mythology. No legacy baggage. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

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

Heritage Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Emerging Currents

Old myth goes broad
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror retakes ground
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Season Ahead: Fall crush plus winter X factor

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 like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The oncoming genre calendar year ahead: next chapters, standalone ideas, together with A busy Calendar engineered for frights

Dek: The current terror calendar crowds immediately with a January glut, after that flows through summer corridors, and pushing into the late-year period, combining brand heft, creative pitches, and well-timed counterplay. Studio marketers and platforms are betting on lean spends, theater-first strategies, and social-driven marketing that frame genre releases into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The genre has turned into the bankable release in release plans, a space that can surge when it breaks through and still safeguard the drawdown when it doesn’t. After 2023 reconfirmed for strategy teams that modestly budgeted horror vehicles can command audience talk, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with signature-voice projects and slow-burn breakouts. The momentum carried into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and arthouse crossovers demonstrated there is capacity for a variety of tones, from franchise continuations to one-and-done originals that export nicely. The result for the 2026 slate is a grid that presents tight coordination across the industry, with strategic blocks, a combination of recognizable IP and untested plays, and a reinvigorated attention on big-screen windows that fuel later windows on paid VOD and home streaming.

Marketers add the genre now behaves like a plug-and-play option on the distribution slate. Horror can arrive on most weekends, provide a easy sell for previews and reels, and exceed norms with patrons that come out on Thursday previews and hold through the next weekend if the offering satisfies. On the heels of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 pattern signals confidence in that equation. The calendar begins with a thick January corridor, then targets spring into early summer for off-slot scheduling, while clearing room for a fall cadence that reaches into the fright window and past the holiday. The layout also spotlights the greater integration of indie arms and streaming partners that can develop over weeks, create conversation, and go nationwide at the proper time.

A reinforcing pattern is IP stewardship across shared IP webs and classic IP. Distribution groups are not just mounting another next film. They are setting up connection with a specialness, whether that is a title presentation that signals a tonal shift or a casting choice that ties a latest entry to a heyday. At the very same time, the creative leads behind the eagerly awaited originals are prioritizing hands-on technique, practical effects and location-forward worlds. That fusion hands 2026 a vital pairing of recognition and surprise, which is what works overseas.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount marks the early tempo with two marquee bets that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the front, framing it as both a cross-generational handoff and a classic-mode character piece. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the story approach conveys a throwback-friendly bent without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign built on recognizable motifs, first images of characters, and a two-beat trailer plan targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will double down on. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will seek wide appeal through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format inviting quick updates to whatever rules genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three clear bets. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is straightforward, loss-driven, and commercial: a grieving man adopts an digital partner that becomes a murderous partner. The date locates it at the front of a busy month, with the marketing arm likely to revisit uncanny live moments and snackable content that blurs romance and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a title drop to become an earned moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele’s releases are branded as creative events, with a opaque teaser and a second trailer wave that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The spooky-season slot opens a lane to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use 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 established that a flesh-and-blood, on-set effects led approach can feel premium on a disciplined budget. Position this as a blood-soaked summer horror hit that leans hard into worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio rolls out two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, keeping a proven supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is presenting as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both devotees and novices. The fall slot lets Sony to build promo materials around environmental design, and creature work, elements that can amplify large-format demand and fan events.

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 advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror grounded in careful craft and language, this time steeped in lycan lore. Focus’s team has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a bold stance in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is favorable.

Streaming windows and tactics

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s genre slate feed copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a pacing that elevates both first-week urgency and sign-up spikes in the after-window. Prime Video continues to mix acquired titles with cross-border buys and limited cinema engagements when the data supports it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in catalog discovery, using seasonal hubs, holiday hubs, and handpicked rows to maximize the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix plays opportunist about own-slate titles and festival grabs, locking in horror entries with shorter lead times and coalescing around drops with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a staged of precision theatrical plays and swift platform pivots that monetizes buzz via trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a per-project basis. The platform has shown a willingness to invest in select projects with prestige directors or A-list packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for retention when the genre conversation surges.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 corridor with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is direct: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, modernized for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the late stretch.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, piloting the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday dates to scale. That positioning has served the company well for director-led genre 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 cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception supports. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using mini theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their membership.

Franchise entries versus originals

By volume, 2026 tips toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness franchise value. The concern, as ever, is brand wear. The workable fix is to market each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is foregrounding character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is floating a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-inflected take from a hot helmer. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a navigate to this website clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the bundle is grounded enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Three-year comps illuminate the approach. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that held distribution windows did not preclude a hybrid test from succeeding when the brand was sticky. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror rose in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they rotate perspective and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues 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 lensed back-to-back, permits marketing to interlace chapters through cast and motif and to continue assets in field without long gaps.

Production craft signals

The craft rooms behind this slate hint at a continued move toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that highlights aura and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft spotlights before rolling out a teaser that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and sparks shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta pivot that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature craft and set design, which fit with booth activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel primary. Look for trailers that foreground disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that benefit on big speakers.

Annual flow

January is loaded. 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 foggy reset amid headline IP. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the tonal variety gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth holds.

Late winter and spring set up the summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Source Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now backs 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 sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

End of summer through fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a slow-reveal plan and limited information drops that prioritize concept over plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can play the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and card redemption.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s intelligent companion becomes something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

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 stumble upon a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: mood-led 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 demanding boss work to survive on a uninhabited island as the hierarchy flips and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to nightmare, anchored by Cronin’s practical craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. 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 family-home haunting scenario that channels the fear through a minor’s flickering personal vantage. Rating: TBA. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-grade and name-above-title supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that satirizes in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fixations. Rating: TBA. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. 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 ignites, with an transnational my company twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new clan snared by residual nightmares. Rating: TBD. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A new start designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward true survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: to be announced. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: forthcoming. Production: continuing. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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 elemental dread. Rating: to be announced. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. 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: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three nuts-and-bolts forces frame this lineup. First, production that paused or recalendared in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and pared-down timelines. 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 generated more than straight-to-streaming releases. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

The slot calculus is real. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can control a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will line up across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

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

The stealth-hit search 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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal 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 austere, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, acoustics, and camera work 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

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is IP strength where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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 late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, keep the secrets, and let the frights sell the seats.