Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primeval horror, a pulse pounding shocker, debuting Oct 2025 on top streamers

One frightening paranormal suspense story from storyteller / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an long-buried malevolence when unknowns become instruments in a hellish conflict. Airings begin this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing portrayal of resilience and timeless dread that will resculpt the fear genre this season. Created by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and eerie tale follows five individuals who suddenly rise trapped in a secluded lodge under the hostile sway of Kyra, a mysterious girl inhabited by a time-worn holy text monster. Prepare to be captivated by a screen-based outing that melds gut-punch terror with biblical origins, streaming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a time-honored fixture in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is redefined when the malevolences no longer emerge from beyond, but rather deep within. This portrays the deepest element of the protagonists. The result is a relentless internal warfare where the tension becomes a perpetual push-pull between right and wrong.


In a barren forest, five figures find themselves caught under the dark influence and spiritual invasion of a unknown apparition. As the companions becomes unresisting to deny her control, stranded and stalked by forces mind-shattering, they are driven to endure their soulful dreads while the deathwatch coldly counts down toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion mounts and bonds crack, compelling each soul to question their character and the idea of free will itself. The stakes magnify with every heartbeat, delivering a chilling narrative that connects spiritual fright with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to tap into instinctual horror, an malevolence born of forgotten ages, manifesting in emotional vulnerability, and exposing a darkness that dismantles free will when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra meant channeling something outside normal anguish. She is blind until the haunting manifests, and that turn is soul-crushing because it is so visceral.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for audience access beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—giving watchers internationally can be part of this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its first preview, which has racked up over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, delivering the story to thrill-seekers globally.


Avoid skipping this haunted exploration of dread. Stream *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to experience these unholy truths about free will.


For teasers, director cuts, and news from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your favorite networks and visit our horror hub.





The horror genre’s watershed moment: calendar year 2025 U.S. release slate blends biblical-possession ideas, festival-born jolts, plus Franchise Rumbles

Across grit-forward survival fare grounded in ancient scripture as well as canon extensions and focused festival visions, 2025 is coalescing into the most variegated in tandem with calculated campaign year in the past ten years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. the big studios stabilize the year via recognizable brands, as premium streamers prime the fall with unboxed visions set against ancestral chills. Meanwhile, independent banners is catching the backdraft from a record 2024 festival run. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The fall stretch is the proving field, distinctly in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are calculated, which means 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: High-craft horror returns

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 compounds the move.

the Universal banner fires the first shot with a bold swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in an immediate now. Steered by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. landing in mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Steered by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early reactions hint at fangs.

As summer eases, Warner’s pipeline drops the final chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: 70s style chill, trauma foregrounded, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This time the stakes climb, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The follow up digs further into canon, grows the animatronic horror lineup, courting teens and the thirty something base. It bows in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Firsts: Economy, maximum dread

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the quieter side is Together, a sealed box body horror arc led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is virtually assured for fall.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn starring Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as 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 looks like sharp programming. No overweight mythology. No series drag. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Brands: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts 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 arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, guided by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Signals and Trends

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

Body horror ascends again
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

What’s Next: Fall pileup, winter curveball

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 such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

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. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The coming 2026 spook season: entries, filmmaker-first projects, plus A loaded Calendar engineered for Scares

Dek: The fresh genre calendar loads immediately with a January crush, and then rolls through the mid-year, and straight through the late-year period, braiding IP strength, creative pitches, and savvy counterweight. The major players are prioritizing lean spends, theatrical leads, and social-driven marketing that convert these pictures into water-cooler talk.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The field has turned into the most reliable release in programming grids, a space that can break out when it lands and still limit the liability when it misses. After the 2023 year re-taught decision-makers that responsibly budgeted pictures can command the discourse, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with visionary-driven titles and quiet over-performers. The run translated to the 2025 frame, where resurrections and critical darlings highlighted there is capacity for diverse approaches, from franchise continuations to original one-offs that carry overseas. The end result for the 2026 slate is a roster that appears tightly organized across players, with strategic blocks, a spread of brand names and original hooks, and a renewed eye on box-office windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium digital and home streaming.

Planners observe the horror lane now serves as a utility player on the schedule. The genre can debut on many corridors, create a tight logline for trailers and reels, and punch above weight with demo groups that come out on early shows and maintain momentum through the follow-up frame if the release satisfies. Following a production delay era, the 2026 rhythm shows conviction in that approach. The slate opens with a stacked January band, then exploits spring through early summer for counterprogramming, while making space for a October build that flows toward holiday-adjacent weekends and into early November. The map also features the increasing integration of specialty arms and home platforms that can develop over weeks, build word of mouth, and roll out at the precise moment.

A companion trend is brand curation across unified worlds and heritage properties. Studio teams are not just producing another sequel. They are setting up brand continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a title presentation that announces a re-angled tone or a lead change that reconnects a new installment to a initial period. At the parallel to that, the auteurs behind the headline-grabbing originals are celebrating hands-on technique, real effects and distinct locales. That pairing delivers 2026 a solid mix of known notes and invention, which is how the genre sells abroad.

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

Paramount marks the early tempo with two front-of-slate projects that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the focus, signaling it as both a cross-generational handoff and a foundation-forward character-centered film. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the directional approach hints at a throwback-friendly approach without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. A campaign is expected leaning on brand visuals, character-first teases, and a promo sequence targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved 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 mass reach through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format inviting quick adjustments to whatever tops the discourse that spring.

Universal has three separate plays. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is simple, tragic, and premise-first: a grieving man implements an synthetic partner that grows into a perilous partner. The date locates it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the studio’s marketing likely to revisit off-kilter promo beats and short-form creative that melds attachment and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a title drop to become an PR pop closer to the early tease. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele’s work are branded as filmmaker events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second wave of trailers that signal tone without plot the concept. The late-month date offers Universal room to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a blood-soaked, practical-effects forward approach can feel prestige on a moderate cost. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror surge that maximizes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio launches two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, extending a trusty supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is describing as a reimagined restart 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 well-defined brief to serve both loyalists and curious audiences. The fall slot allows Sony to build artifacts around setting detail, and creature effects, elements that can boost PLF interest and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

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 follows Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by textural authenticity and period language, this time orbiting lycan myth. Focus has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is warm.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform strategies for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s horror titles flow to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a ordering that elevates both premiere heat and sign-up momentum in the after-window. Prime Video blends licensed content with world buys and small theatrical windows when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in catalog discovery, using featured rows, horror hubs, and editorial rows to keep attention on lifetime take. Netflix stays nimble about original films and festival deals, slotting horror entries closer to drop and making event-like debuts with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a staged of limited theatrical footprints and quick platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a discrete basis. The platform has indicated interest to secure select projects with accomplished filmmakers or star-driven packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation heats up.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 corridor with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is uncomplicated: the same this website atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, refined for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a big-screen first plan for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the autumn stretch.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then deploying the Christmas corridor to move out. That positioning has served the company well for filmmaker-first horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception allows. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using limited theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their audience.

Known brands versus new stories

By count, the 2026 slate leans toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit legacy awareness. The trade-off, as ever, is diminishing returns. The pragmatic answer is to sell each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is underscoring character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is floating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-inflected take from a rising filmmaker. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the cast-creatives package is assuring enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and Thursday previews.

Recent-year comps announce the logic. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that honored streaming windows did not deter a same-day experiment from hitting when the brand was trusted. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror exceeded expectations in premium screens. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they pivot perspective and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, builds a path for marketing to connect the chapters through protagonists and motifs and to hold creative in the market without hiatuses.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft rooms behind this year’s genre hint at a continued lean toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that spotlights creep and texture rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and artisan spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and drives shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta pivot that centers an original star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature work and production design, which favor convention activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel must-have. Look for trailers that foreground surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that play in premium auditoriums.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is heavy. 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 quiet contrast amid marquee brands. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the spread of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth endures.

Pre-summer months prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Shoulder season into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil follows September 18, a late-September window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited asset reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift card usage.

Embedded title notes

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 counter a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s algorithmic partner mutates into something dangerously intimate. 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: mood-led adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her hard-edged boss try to survive on a rugged island as the control balance upends and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to menace, grounded in Cronin’s on-set craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting narrative that frames the panic through a minor’s uneven personal vantage. Rating: forthcoming. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-scale and star-fronted eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A satire sequel that skewers today’s horror trends and true-crime manias. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 breaks out, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new clan caught in lingering terrors. Rating: TBA. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A new start designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival-first horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: underway. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

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 ancient menace. Rating: pending. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three workable forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or reshuffled in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine turnkey scare beats from test screenings, select scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

The slot calculus is real. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, clearing runway for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will line up across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to harvest those lanes. 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 copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a tasting table, 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 icy, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, soundscape, and camera work that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Shapes Up Strong

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand power where it counts, inventive vision where it helps, 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the fear sell the seats.