Ancient Dread Stirs in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising shocker, arriving October 2025 across leading streamers

A bone-chilling ghostly terror film from creator / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an forgotten terror when foreigners become pawns in a satanic maze. Debuting on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking depiction of overcoming and primeval wickedness that will revolutionize genre cinema this ghoul season. Directed by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and moody tale follows five characters who come to trapped in a remote cabin under the malignant dominion of Kyra, a possessed female haunted by a time-worn scriptural evil. Anticipate to be absorbed by a theatrical presentation that merges soul-chilling terror with timeless legends, landing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a historical element in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is reimagined when the beings no longer manifest from an outside force, but rather from their psyche. This suggests the shadowy layer of the players. The result is a gripping cognitive warzone where the emotions becomes a merciless contest between righteousness and malevolence.


In a desolate outland, five individuals find themselves sealed under the evil dominion and curse of a secretive figure. As the ensemble becomes submissive to withstand her command, exiled and chased by terrors unfathomable, they are made to battle their deepest fears while the moments brutally ticks onward toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease builds and bonds erode, urging each protagonist to question their self and the principle of free will itself. The stakes amplify with every fleeting time, delivering a nightmarish journey that combines otherworldly panic with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to dig into deep fear, an power born of forgotten ages, manipulating emotional vulnerability, and testing a evil that dismantles free will when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra demanded embodying something darker than pain. She is uninformed until the evil takes hold, and that evolution is shocking because it is so visceral.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for audience access beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring fans in all regions can engage with this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its original clip, which has racked up over 100,000 views.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, making the film to global fright lovers.


Mark your calendar for this heart-stopping descent into hell. Watch *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to confront these ghostly lessons about inner darkness.


For exclusive trailers, production insights, and announcements from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across Facebook and TikTok and visit our horror hub.





Horror’s major pivot: calendar year 2025 U.S. calendar melds ancient-possession motifs, art-house nightmares, paired with brand-name tremors

Spanning endurance-driven terror saturated with near-Eastern lore through to canon extensions and focused festival visions, 2025 is shaping up as the most textured paired with strategic year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. studio majors plant stakes across the year through proven series, in tandem SVOD players saturate the fall with new voices alongside ancestral chills. Meanwhile, independent banners is propelled by the momentum of 2024’s record festival wave. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, though in this cycle, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are disciplined, accordingly 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

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

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 set the base, 2025 compounds the move.

the Universal banner starts the year with a big gambit: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, but a sharp contemporary setting. Under director Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. Slated for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. From director Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer wanes, Warner Bros. releases the last chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson resumes command, and the tone that worked before is intact: retro dread, trauma foregrounded, along with eerie supernatural rules. This time the stakes climb, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, thickens the animatronic pantheon, bridging teens and legacy players. It lands in December, pinning the winter close.

Streaming Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

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 looks like sharp programming. No swollen lore. No canon weight. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

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 hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, led by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Emerging Currents

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror swings back
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

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

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Season Ahead: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The next scare lineup: installments, new stories, in tandem with A stacked Calendar aimed at jolts

Dek: The current horror season builds right away with a January glut, and then rolls through summer corridors, and deep into the winter holidays, combining franchise firepower, inventive spins, and calculated counterprogramming. The big buyers and platforms are betting on mid-range economics, theatrical-first rollouts, and shareable marketing that position horror entries into cross-demo moments.

Horror momentum into 2026

This category has solidified as the steady release in programming grids, a space that can expand when it resonates and still cushion the risk when it fails to connect. After 2023 reminded leaders that responsibly budgeted scare machines can drive the discourse, the following year maintained heat with filmmaker-forward plays and word-of-mouth wins. The tailwind rolled into 2025, where resurrections and filmmaker-prestige bets showed there is demand for a spectrum, from brand follow-ups to non-IP projects that scale internationally. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a slate that seems notably aligned across the industry, with strategic blocks, a equilibrium of established brands and first-time concepts, and a tightened strategy on release windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium digital and digital services.

Schedulers say the genre now slots in as a wildcard on the slate. The genre can debut on nearly any frame, create a tight logline for trailers and shorts, and outperform with fans that arrive on Thursday previews and return through the subsequent weekend if the film hits. Coming out of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 pattern reflects faith in that equation. The slate opens with a stacked January schedule, then turns to spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while leaving room for a fall corridor that carries into holiday-adjacent weekends and into post-Halloween. The gridline also features the greater integration of boutique distributors and OTT outlets that can build gradually, generate chatter, and expand at the right moment.

A second macro trend is brand strategy across interlocking continuities and established properties. The studios are not just mounting another chapter. They are trying to present threaded continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a brandmark that announces a re-angled tone or a lead change that reconnects a new installment to a initial period. At the very same time, the helmers behind the most watched originals are celebrating material texture, in-camera effects and location-forward worlds. That interplay affords the 2026 slate a healthy mix of assurance and freshness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

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

Paramount marks the early tempo with two prominent moves that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the core, setting it up as both a passing of the torch and a return-to-roots character study. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the directional approach signals a classic-referencing angle without recycling the last two entries’ sisters thread. Anticipate a campaign fueled by franchise iconography, initial cast looks, and a trailer cadence aimed at late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will feature. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will drive mainstream recognition through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format enabling quick adjustments to whatever leads the social talk that spring.

Universal has three unique strategies. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is tight, somber, and logline-clear: a grieving man brings home an machine companion that shifts into a deadly partner. The date slots it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to revisit odd public stunts and quick hits that mixes companionship and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a branding reveal to become an marketing beat closer to the opening teaser. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. The filmmaker’s films are framed as marquee events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a later creative that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The pre-Halloween slot gives the studio room to saturate 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, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has made clear that a gnarly, physical-effects centered aesthetic can feel top-tier on a mid-range budget. Expect a splatter summer horror blast that centers global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio rolls out two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, continuing a bankable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is presenting as a reset 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 clearer mandate to serve both devotees and new audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build materials around mythos, and creature work, elements that can boost IMAX and PLF uptake and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by rigorous craft and textual fidelity, this time focused on werewolf legend. The distributor has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is favorable.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform plans for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s releases window into copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a stair-step that amplifies both week-one demand and sign-up momentum in the post-theatrical. Prime Video continues to mix licensed titles with international acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library curation, using prominent placements, fright rows, and programmed rows to increase tail value on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps options open about first-party entries and festival snaps, locking in horror entries toward the drop and positioning as event drops rollouts with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a dual-phase of targeted theatrical exposure and prompt platform moves that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has been willing to invest in select projects with award winners or name-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation builds.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 corridor with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is simple: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, upgraded for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the September weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, stewarding the film through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday dates to expand. That positioning has proved effective for craft-driven horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception supports. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using targeted theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Legacy titles versus originals

By proportion, the 2026 slate favors the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit brand equity. The watch-out, as ever, is brand wear. The pragmatic answer is to pitch each entry as a new angle. Paramount is centering character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a Francophone tone from a buzzed-about director. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the assembly is assuring enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years frame the strategy. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that preserved streaming windows did not deter a same-day experiment from performing when the brand was big. In 2024, auteur craft horror exceeded expectations in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they rotate perspective and stretch the story. 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 two-step approach, with chapters shot consecutively, gives leeway to marketing to interlace chapters through character and theme and to maintain a flow of assets without hiatuses.

Creative tendencies and craft

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the 2026 slate point to a continued turn toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that underscores grain and menace rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in long-lead press and artisan spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and generates shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta reframe that centers its original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature and environment design, which work nicely for booth activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel must-have. Look for trailers that highlight disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that land in big rooms.

Release calendar overview

January is stacked. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid headline IP. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the menu of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth carries.

Winter into spring load in summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s 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 divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

August into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a early fall window that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited asset reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can play the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card spend.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s machine mate unfolds into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy 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: 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 ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 far-flung island as the control dynamic flips and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to menace, shaped by Cronin’s physical craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting chiller that leverages the dread of a child’s mercurial read. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-scale and celebrity-led ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A parody return that teases in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fervors. Rating: pending. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 surges, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further reopens, with a unlucky family lashed to past horrors. Rating: pending. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A reboot designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survivalist horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: forthcoming. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: forthcoming. Production: moving forward. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on antique diction and ancient menace. Rating: pending. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026, why now

Three grounded forces frame this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or shuffled in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming releases. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, precision scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can control a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will share space across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

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

The breakout hunt continues in Q1, where 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 exploit those windows. January could news easily deliver the first shock over-performer 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, 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 sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, optimized footprints, 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 dimensionality, aural design, and picture 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 Strong 2026 Horizon

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand equity where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver 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, edit tight trailers, guard the secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.