Ancient Evil Awakens in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising thriller, landing October 2025 across major streaming services

An bone-chilling paranormal nightmare movie from storyteller / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an archaic nightmare when strangers become puppets in a hellish conflict. Available October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking depiction of staying alive and archaic horror that will redefine fear-driven cinema this ghoul season. Helmed by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and cinematic screenplay follows five strangers who awaken confined in a secluded shack under the oppressive influence of Kyra, a possessed female controlled by a 2,000-year-old sacred-era entity. Ready yourself to be captivated by a big screen adventure that harmonizes bodily fright with ancestral stories, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a iconic fixture in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is inverted when the presences no longer emerge outside their bodies, but rather through their own souls. This symbolizes the shadowy part of the cast. The result is a harrowing internal warfare where the suspense becomes a brutal battle between divinity and wickedness.


In a isolated natural abyss, five campers find themselves trapped under the unholy sway and spiritual invasion of a unknown person. As the companions becomes helpless to resist her rule, detached and pursued by unknowns ungraspable, they are required to reckon with their greatest panics while the moments ruthlessly edges forward toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion rises and connections erode, urging each person to question their existence and the structure of decision-making itself. The pressure surge with every minute, delivering a frightening tale that integrates unearthly horror with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to awaken elemental fright, an entity that predates humanity, manifesting in emotional fractures, and confronting a will that erodes the self when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra involved tapping into something beyond human emotion. She is innocent until the curse activates, and that transition is bone-chilling because it is so unshielded.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for on-demand beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—so that watchers everywhere can be part of this paranormal experience.


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


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, giving access to the movie to a worldwide audience.


Mark your calendar for this bone-rattling fall into madness. Enter *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to survive these terrifying truths about existence.


For exclusive trailers, special features, and reveals directly from production, follow @YACMovie across your favorite networks and visit youngandcursed.com.





U.S. horror’s major pivot: calendar year 2025 American release plan blends ancient-possession motifs, signature indie scares, alongside Franchise Rumbles

Moving from last-stand terror steeped in legendary theology and stretching into franchise returns paired with surgical indie voices, 2025 stands to become the most stratified paired with calculated campaign year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. Top studios lock in tentpoles by way of signature titles, at the same time streaming platforms saturate the fall with emerging auteurs and legend-coded dread. On another front, the independent cohort is drafting behind the backdraft from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, but this year, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are precise, hence 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: The Return of Prestige Fear

The top end is active. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 scales the plan.

the Universal banner fires the first shot with a big gambit: a refashioned Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, in a clear present-tense world. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. Slated for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Directed by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

Toward summer’s end, the Warner Bros. banner delivers the closing chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Despite a known recipe, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: old school creep, trauma in the foreground, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This pass pushes higher, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The continuation widens the legend, broadens the animatronic terror cast, reaching teens and game grownups. It lands in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a room scale body horror descent fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. 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 horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is a smart play. No overinflated mythology. No series drag. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Long Running Lines: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, from Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If packaged well, it could track like 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.

Trends Worth Watching

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror reemerges
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Cinemas are a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Season Ahead: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

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

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The forthcoming 2026 genre Year Ahead: returning titles, filmmaker-first projects, alongside A busy Calendar calibrated for chills

Dek: The arriving scare cycle crowds from day one with a January crush, and then rolls through the mid-year, and well into the year-end corridor, blending series momentum, creative pitches, and well-timed counterweight. Studios with streamers are focusing on efficient budgets, big-screen-first runs, and platform-native promos that transform genre titles into culture-wide discussion.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This space has solidified as the dependable counterweight in studio calendars, a segment that can accelerate when it lands and still insulate the risk when it fails to connect. After 2023 showed top brass that responsibly budgeted pictures can own the zeitgeist, 2024 sustained momentum with signature-voice projects and surprise hits. The trend rolled into 2025, where reawakened brands and filmmaker-prestige bets underscored there is a market for different modes, from series extensions to non-IP projects that scale internationally. The result for the 2026 slate is a roster that presents tight coordination across the field, with defined corridors, a mix of familiar brands and original hooks, and a revived emphasis on cinema windows that feed downstream value on paid VOD and SVOD.

Studio leaders note the space now works like a flex slot on the calendar. The genre can launch on open real estate, furnish a simple premise for promo reels and shorts, and over-index with fans that arrive on Thursday previews and return through the sophomore frame if the picture pays off. Emerging from a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 cadence shows belief in that model. The year begins with a crowded January block, then plants flags in spring and early summer for alternate plays, while carving room for a October build that reaches into Halloween and into November. The program also shows the expanded integration of indie arms and streaming partners that can build gradually, spark evangelism, and widen at the strategic time.

A parallel macro theme is legacy care across ongoing universes and storied titles. The companies are not just mounting another next film. They are looking to package lineage with a marquee sheen, whether that is a title treatment that telegraphs a new vibe or a star attachment that binds a next film to a heyday. At the very same time, the creative teams behind the most watched originals are favoring real-world builds, in-camera effects and place-driven backdrops. That alloy provides the 2026 slate a vital pairing of brand comfort and invention, which is the formula for international play.

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

Paramount defines the early cadence with two front-of-slate moves that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the heart, setting it up as both a handoff and a rootsy character-first story. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the story approach telegraphs a roots-evoking angle without going over the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Expect a marketing push rooted in legacy iconography, character spotlights, and a trailer cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

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 joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will play up. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will hunt wide appeal through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format supporting quick turns to whatever leads horror talk that spring.

Universal has three clear releases. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is simple, tragic, and high-concept: a grieving man installs an machine companion that mutates into a harmful mate. The date locates it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to renew off-kilter promo beats and short-cut promos that hybridizes romance and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a official title to become an fan moment closer to the first look. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. The filmmaker’s films are marketed as director events, with a hinting teaser and a second beat that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween runway gives the studio room to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work 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 leads, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has demonstrated that a visceral, makeup-driven execution can feel deluxe on a controlled budget. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror shock that pushes offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio rolls out two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, continuing a evergreen supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is positioning as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both franchise faithful and novices. The fall slot offers Sony space to build promo materials around lore, and monster design, elements that can drive premium format interest and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places 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 minute detail and textual fidelity, this time orbiting lycan myth. Focus has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is warm.

Streaming windows and tactics

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on stable tracks. The Universal horror run transition to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a ladder that expands both FOMO and trial spikes in the later phase. Prime Video blends third-party pickups with worldwide entries and short theatrical plays when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in deep cuts, using editorial spots, genre hubs, and editorial rows to extend momentum on aggregate take. Netflix stays opportunistic about in-house releases and festival additions, scheduling horror entries closer to drop and turning into events debuts with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a one-two of targeted theatrical exposure and speedy platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a per-project basis. The platform has indicated interest to invest in select projects with top-tier auteurs or A-list packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation ramps.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 slate 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 no-nonsense: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, modernized for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the October weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, managing the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the Christmas corridor to broaden. That positioning has been successful for filmmaker-first horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception warrants. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using limited theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subs.

Known brands versus new stories

By number, the 2026 slate bends toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap cultural cachet. The challenge, as ever, is diminishing returns. The practical approach is to market each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is bringing forward character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is promising a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-accented approach from a buzzed-about director. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a survival shocker premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the team and cast is anchored enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Rolling three-year comps contextualize the logic. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that observed windows did not preclude a dual release from winning when the brand was strong. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror surged in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they change perspective and increase ambition. 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-step approach, with chapters shot in tandem, permits marketing to interlace chapters through protagonists and motifs and to leave creative active without extended gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The filmmaking conversations behind the year’s horror telegraph a continued emphasis on material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is on track for click site its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that leans on aura and dread rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft features before rolling out a preview that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and produces shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta inflection that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature and environment design, which align with con floor moments and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel must-have. Look for trailers that center disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that benefit on big speakers.

From winter to holidays

January is jammed. 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 quiet contrast amid larger brand plays. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the mix of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Winter into spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played 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 supplies brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Back half into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a late-September window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited disclosures that lean on concept not plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card spend.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s machine mate escalates into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete 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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

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

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss scramble to survive on a cut-off island as the control dynamic shifts and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to menace, founded on Cronin’s hands-on craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting premise that explores the panic of a child’s mercurial senses. Rating: TBA. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-supported and star-led occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that lampoons present-day genre chatter and true crime fascinations. Rating: undetermined. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 detonates, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a new family tethered to old terrors. Rating: TBA. 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: pending public reveal. Top cast: pending. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survival-first horror over action spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: TBA. Production: continuing. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-specific language and elemental menace. Rating: TBD. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the moment is 2026

Three workable forces define this lineup. First, production that slowed or shuffled in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify repeatable beats from test screenings, metered scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, providing runway for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will stack across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

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

The sleeper-hit hunt continues in Q1, where midrange-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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch 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 austere, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, sound field, and imagery 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

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand heft where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing 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, shape lean trailers, lock the reveals, and let the gasps sell the seats.