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

This blood-curdling spiritual scare-fest from storyteller / director Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an long-buried fear when guests become victims in a satanic ceremony. Available October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a intense account of continuance and ancient evil that will redefine the fear genre this fall. Produced by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and claustrophobic screenplay follows five young adults who arise imprisoned in a remote hideaway under the malevolent influence of Kyra, a young woman inhabited by a ancient sacrosanct terror. Be prepared to be gripped by a motion picture venture that melds bodily fright with mythic lore, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a long-standing trope in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is twisted when the monsters no longer emerge from beyond, but rather through their own souls. This suggests the most hidden facet of the players. The result is a enthralling mind game where the suspense becomes a constant clash between moral forces.


In a desolate wilderness, five young people find themselves contained under the ominous effect and possession of a mysterious entity. As the survivors becomes incapacitated to combat her manipulation, detached and attacked by presences inconceivable, they are cornered to wrestle with their worst nightmares while the clock relentlessly runs out toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease deepens and partnerships dissolve, prompting each figure to scrutinize their core and the structure of self-determination itself. The tension accelerate with every second, delivering a cinematic nightmare that weaves together demonic fright with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to dive into raw dread, an evil beyond time, feeding on mental cracks, and confronting a force that questions who we are when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra needed manifesting something more primal than sorrow. She is uninformed until the possession kicks in, and that turn is deeply unsettling because it is so raw.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for on-demand beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—giving audiences across the world can be part of this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its first preview, which has seen over a viral response.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, delivering the story to fans of fear everywhere.


Don’t miss this gripping ride through nightmares. Explore *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to face these nightmarish insights about inner darkness.


For behind-the-scenes access, director cuts, and reveals from the creators, follow @YACMovie across your favorite networks and visit the official website.





Modern horror’s tipping point: 2025 in focus domestic schedule Mixes primeval-possession lore, microbudget gut-punches, set against legacy-brand quakes

Spanning fight-to-live nightmare stories drawn from old testament echoes through to canon extensions together with sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is emerging as the genre’s most multifaceted as well as strategic year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. top-tier distributors set cornerstones via recognizable brands, in parallel streamers pack the fall with emerging auteurs plus archetypal fear. Across the art-house lane, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is buoyed by the kinetic energy from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, but this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are surgical, as a result 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Elevated fear reclaims ground

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 set the base, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s slate opens the year with a big gambit: a refashioned Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a clear present-tense world. From director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. landing in mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Steered by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer winds down, Warner Bros. delivers the closing chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: 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. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re teams, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: retro dread, trauma driven plotting, and eerie supernatural logic. This run ups the stakes, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The return delves further into myth, builds out the animatronic fear crew, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It drops in December, buttoning the final window.

Platform Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling with 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 lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Next comes Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga with Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to 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.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to 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. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within 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 a clever angle. No overweight mythology. No canon weight. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Series Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, guided by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. 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.

Dials to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror comes roaring back
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Season Ahead: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The new genre season: next chapters, non-franchise titles, paired with A stacked Calendar engineered for frights

Dek The new horror cycle crams in short order with a January traffic jam, from there spreads through summer, and far into the holiday frame, balancing marquee clout, original angles, and calculated release strategy. The big buyers and platforms are betting on mid-range economics, theatrical leads, and influencer-ready assets that turn these releases into culture-wide discussion.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This space has become the sturdy play in release plans, a pillar that can spike when it lands and still limit the losses when it doesn’t. After 2023 signaled to greenlighters that low-to-mid budget pictures can command mainstream conversation, 2024 carried the beat with auteur-driven buzzy films and under-the-radar smashes. The tailwind pushed into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and elevated films confirmed there is a lane for a spectrum, from series extensions to standalone ideas that play globally. The sum for 2026 is a calendar that appears tightly organized across distributors, with purposeful groupings, a balance of legacy names and untested plays, and a reinvigorated priority on theater exclusivity that increase tail monetization on premium digital rental and SVOD.

Studio leaders note the category now operates like a utility player on the release plan. Horror can arrive on virtually any date, generate a tight logline for promo reels and shorts, and over-index with patrons that arrive on Thursday previews and return through the second weekend if the release pays off. Following a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 layout exhibits confidence in that engine. The calendar rolls out with a stacked January schedule, then primes spring and early summer for alternate plays, while holding room for a autumn push that flows toward Halloween and beyond. The calendar also illustrates the continuing integration of specialized labels and platforms that can build gradually, fuel WOM, and roll out at the inflection point.

A notable top-line trend is legacy care across shared IP webs and heritage properties. The players are not just pushing another installment. They are trying to present continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a graphic identity that broadcasts a recalibrated tone or a talent selection that links a upcoming film to a classic era. At the alongside this, the filmmakers behind the high-profile originals are doubling down on real-world builds, makeup and prosthetics and vivid settings. That blend gives 2026 a solid mix of trust and surprise, which is the formula for international play.

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

Paramount defines the early cadence with two front-of-slate plays that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the center, marketing it as both a succession moment and a origin-leaning character-centered film. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the authorial approach conveys a memory-charged approach without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Expect a marketing push driven by iconic art, early character teases, and a trailer cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

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 back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will lean on. As a summer relief option, this one will drive general-audience talk through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick redirects to whatever shapes the social talk that spring.

Universal has three discrete pushes. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is straightforward, sorrow-tinged, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man sets up an artificial companion that evolves into a perilous partner. The date nudges it to the front of a packed window, with Universal’s campaign likely to replay viral uncanny stunts and short reels that fuses attachment and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up 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 public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a title reveal to become an PR pop closer to the early tease. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele titles are set up as filmmaker events, with a teaser that holds back and a second trailer wave that define feel without revealing the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor affords Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has demonstrated that a blood-soaked, on-set effects led aesthetic can feel cinematic on a tight budget. Look for a gore-forward summer horror charge that spotlights offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio launches two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, maintaining a evergreen supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is calling a new take 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 well-defined brief to serve both loyalists and curious audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build marketing units around universe detail, and practical creature work, elements that can amplify premium screens and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror centered on obsessive craft and archaic language, this time driven by werewolf stories. The company has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is favorable.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s horror titles head to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a stair-step that enhances both initial urgency and subscriber lifts in the downstream. Prime Video stitches together acquired titles with global acquisitions and select theatrical runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library curation, using curated hubs, holiday hubs, and editorial rows to increase tail value on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps flexible about Netflix originals and festival deals, securing horror entries near launch and elevating as drops go-lives with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a paired of targeted theatrical exposure and rapid platforming that translates talk to trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has shown appetite to take on select projects with award winners or star-driven packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for sustained usage when the genre conversation ramps.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 corridor with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is straightforward: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, upgraded for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a standard theatrical run for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the fall weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then deploying the year-end corridor to go wider. That positioning has paid off for auteur horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception supports. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using precision theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Known brands versus new stories

By skew, 2026 is weighted toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness franchise value. The challenge, as ever, is fatigue. The practical approach is to sell each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is leading with core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-flavored turn from a hot helmer. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the configuration is recognizable enough to build pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Recent-year comps outline the playbook. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that held distribution windows did not hamper a dual release from winning when the brand was powerful. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror surged in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they alter lens and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters produced back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to interlace chapters through personae and themes and to keep materials circulating without pause points.

Creative tendencies and craft

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the year’s horror foreshadow a continued bias toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that centers texture and dread rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in craft journalism and technical spotlights before rolling out a preview that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for red-band excess, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and gathers shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta pivot that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will live or die on monster aesthetics and world-building, which align with expo activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel essential. Look for trailers that center fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in premium houses.

Calendar cadence

January is busy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid larger brand plays. The month buttons 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 legit, but the range of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

February through May tee up summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late-season stretch leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil follows September 18, a bridge slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a opaque tease strategy and limited information drops that put concept first.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift-card burn.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s synthetic partner becomes something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem 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 comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: tone-first 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 desolate island as the hierarchy reverses and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. 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 TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to nightmare, based on Cronin’s practical effects and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 closed-door haunting narrative that channels the fear through a youngster’s unreliable inner lens. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven spectral suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A satirical comeback that pokes at present-day genre chatter and true crime preoccupations. Rating: undetermined. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 flares, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further reopens, with a different family lashed to long-buried horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A reboot designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward classic survival-horror tone over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: closely held. Rating: to be announced. Production: proceeding. 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 time-true diction and elemental menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. 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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the moment is 2026

Three operational forces inform this lineup. First, production that stalled or recalendared in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage meme-ready beats from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Calendar math also matters. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can command a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will line up across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 sleeper chase 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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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 Check This Out copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, 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 sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, aural design, and framing that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Shapes Up Strong

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand gravity where needed, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of 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-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, protect the mystery, and let the shudders sell the seats.