Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up primordial evil, a nerve shredding chiller, premiering Oct 2025 on major streaming services

A spine-tingling occult scare-fest from narrative craftsman / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an age-old horror when newcomers become pawns in a dark maze. Airings begin October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching tale of endurance and timeless dread that will redefine fear-driven cinema this autumn. Crafted by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and immersive thriller follows five figures who wake up caught in a secluded house under the menacing dominion of Kyra, a female lead claimed by a antiquated biblical demon. Brace yourself to be captivated by a immersive display that blends deep-seated panic with folklore, streaming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a classic pillar in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is radically shifted when the forces no longer arise from beyond, but rather inside them. This illustrates the darkest side of all involved. The result is a intense psychological battle where the plotline becomes a ongoing fight between purity and corruption.


In a wilderness-stricken backcountry, five adults find themselves sealed under the malicious force and possession of a elusive spirit. As the victims becomes paralyzed to withstand her influence, cut off and chased by creatures mind-shattering, they are driven to stand before their soulful dreads while the hours relentlessly counts down toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust builds and ties collapse, coercing each participant to examine their values and the concept of liberty itself. The threat rise with every instant, delivering a chilling narrative that connects occult fear with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to awaken instinctual horror, an malevolence older than civilization itself, filtering through inner turmoil, and challenging a darkness that redefines identity when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra meant channeling something beyond human emotion. She is blind until the invasion happens, and that transformation is soul-crushing because it is so deep.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for home viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—providing customers globally can engage with this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its intro video, which has seen over 100K plays.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, bringing the film to a worldwide audience.


Tune in for this life-altering trip into the unknown. Face *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to acknowledge these terrifying truths about free will.


For teasers, set experiences, and news from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursed across platforms and visit the movie’s homepage.





American horror’s watershed moment: 2025 across markets domestic schedule melds biblical-possession ideas, indie terrors, paired with IP aftershocks

Beginning with endurance-driven terror grounded in ancient scripture all the way to canon extensions paired with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 appears poised to be the most stratified plus strategic year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. the big studios hold down the year with known properties, at the same time streaming platforms pack the fall with emerging auteurs paired with archetypal fear. Across the art-house lane, horror’s indie wing is buoyed by the tailwinds from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. With Halloween holding the peak, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The fall stretch is the proving field, and in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are targeted, thus 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: The Return of Prestige Fear

The majors are assertive. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal kicks off the frame with a statement play: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, but a sharp contemporary setting. Under director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. Slated for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Eli Craig directs fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

When summer fades, Warner’s slate bows the concluding entry within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. While the template is known, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson again directs, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: nostalgic menace, trauma driven plotting, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. Here the stakes rise, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, builds out the animatronic fear crew, bridging teens and legacy players. It hits in December, pinning the winter close.

Streaming Firsts: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a body horror duet led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

On the docket is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Written and helmed 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. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is an astute call. No puffed out backstory. No sequel clutter. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy Brands: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, from Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With sharp marketing, it could translate to 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.

Trends to Watch

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror comes roaring back
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Forward View: Autumn density and winter pivot

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The new Horror calendar year ahead: next chapters, universe starters, together with A jammed Calendar optimized for frights

Dek The fresh scare year packs from day one with a January glut, following that runs through summer corridors, and continuing into the festive period, blending IP strength, new voices, and savvy counterplay. The major players are focusing on tight budgets, box-office-first windows, and shareable marketing that elevate these releases into cross-demo moments.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This category has proven to be the steady lever in studio slates, a category that can scale when it performs and still cushion the exposure when it misses. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for strategy teams that efficiently budgeted chillers can own cultural conversation, the following year continued the surge with director-led heat and sleeper breakouts. The carry rolled into the 2025 frame, where revivals and arthouse crossovers proved there is a market for several lanes, from series extensions to one-and-done originals that play globally. The combined impact for 2026 is a programming that reads highly synchronized across the field, with purposeful groupings, a equilibrium of familiar brands and new concepts, and a reinvigorated stance on theatrical windows that fuel later windows on premium rental and subscription services.

Schedulers say the horror lane now acts as a flex slot on the slate. The genre can premiere on many corridors, supply a clear pitch for previews and UGC-friendly snippets, and outpace with patrons that line up on early shows and maintain momentum through the second weekend if the release lands. After a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 pattern underscores certainty in that logic. The calendar kicks off with a stacked January lineup, then plants flags in spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while clearing room for a September to October window that connects to All Hallows period and past the holiday. The grid also underscores the greater integration of indie arms and home platforms that can platform a title, create conversation, and roll out at the sweet spot.

A second macro trend is franchise tending across ongoing universes and legacy franchises. Studios are not just releasing another continuation. They are moving to present brand continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a graphic identity that suggests a re-angled tone or a casting move that binds a next entry to a heyday. At the in tandem, the creative teams behind the headline-grabbing originals are doubling down on real-world builds, makeup and prosthetics and concrete locations. That pairing provides the 2026 slate a solid mix of assurance and unexpected turns, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

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

Paramount establishes early momentum with two marquee entries that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the front, presenting it as both a baton pass and a classic-mode relationship-driven entry. Production is active in Atlanta, and the story approach points to a classic-referencing strategy without going over the last two entries’ sibling arc. Expect a marketing push stacked with franchise iconography, early character teases, and a tiered teaser plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

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 paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will stress. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will pursue broad awareness through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format enabling quick turns to whatever tops the conversation that spring.

Universal has three separate projects. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is crisp, grief-rooted, and easily pitched: a grieving man sets up an algorithmic mate that escalates into a perilous partner. The date nudges it to the front of a competition-heavy month, with the studio’s marketing likely to replay uncanny-valley stunts and short-form creative that fuses devotion and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a official title to become an headline beat closer to the opening teaser. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. His entries are set up as must-see filmmaker statements, with a concept-forward tease and a later trailer push that shape mood without giving away the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date lets the studio to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has shown that a raw, practical-effects forward style can feel cinematic on a middle budget. Expect a hard-R summer horror surge that spotlights international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio rolls out two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, carrying a bankable supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is framing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both core fans and fresh viewers. The fall slot provides the studio time to build campaign pieces around universe detail, and creature effects, elements that can accelerate PLF interest and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in careful craft and period speech, this time driven by werewolf stories. Focus has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is glowing.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Digital strategies for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s horror titles transition to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a stair-step that elevates both opening-weekend urgency and sub growth in the later phase. Prime Video interleaves licensed titles with global acquisitions and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data supports it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in catalog engagement, using seasonal hubs, horror hubs, and handpicked rows to extend momentum on the annual genre haul. Netflix keeps flexible about original films and festival wins, confirming horror entries tight to release and elevating as drops drops with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a hybrid of selective theatrical runs and prompt platform moves that drives paid trials from buzz. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a selective basis. The platform has indicated interest to buy select projects with award winners or A-list packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation swells.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 track with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is clean: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, modernized for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the fall weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the Christmas window to scale. That positioning has helped for auteur horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception justifies. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using boutique theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their membership.

Balance of brands and originals

By proportion, 2026 leans toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on marquee value. The concern, as ever, is audience fatigue. The pragmatic answer is to pitch each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is elevating character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is floating a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a continental coloration from a hot helmer. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and talent-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the packaging is assuring enough to accelerate early sales and first-night audiences.

Recent comps contextualize the method. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that kept streaming intact did not block a day-and-date experiment from hitting when the brand was big. In 2024, art-forward horror outperformed in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they reframe POV and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on 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 lensed back-to-back, permits marketing to thread films through character and theme and to sustain campaign assets without dead zones.

How the films are being made

The production chatter behind 2026 horror indicate a continued shift toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that foregrounds creep and texture rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in trade spotlights and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and drives shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta inflection that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster work and world-building, which match well with fan conventions and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel compelling. Look for trailers that spotlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that explode in larger rooms.

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. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid larger brand plays. 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 meaningful, but the tone spread ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth sustains.

Early-year through spring load in summer. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

End of summer through 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 shoulder-season slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited plot reveals that elevate concept over story.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card use.

Film-by-film briefs

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 rethreads 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 loss-struck man’s algorithmic partner shifts into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. 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 battle to survive on a rugged island as the power dynamic inverts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to nightmare, shaped by Cronin’s material craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting premise that pipes the unease through a young child’s volatile personal vantage. Rating: to be announced. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural 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 satirical comeback that pokes at present-day genre chatter and true-crime buzz. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites spreads, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further extends again, with a another family caught in residual nightmares. Rating: TBA. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and bone-deep menace. Rating: TBD. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three operational forces frame this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or rearranged in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced 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 launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

There is also the slotting calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can seize a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will jostle across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. 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.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 work those windows. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit Source 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 beat and breadth. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, acoustics, and visual design 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 Is Well Positioned

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is recognizable IP where it plays, 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, keep secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.