Antediluvian Evil Stirs within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding supernatural thriller, rolling out October 2025 on major platforms

A hair-raising ghostly nightmare movie from scriptwriter / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an age-old dread when strangers become tokens in a malevolent experiment. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing chronicle of staying alive and forgotten curse that will redefine scare flicks this autumn. Visualized by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and gothic tale follows five characters who regain consciousness trapped in a wooded dwelling under the unfriendly control of Kyra, a troubled woman possessed by a timeless scriptural evil. Brace yourself to be seized by a narrative spectacle that fuses raw fear with mystical narratives, coming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a well-established pillar in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is radically shifted when the entities no longer arise from an outside force, but rather deep within. This embodies the deepest corner of each of them. The result is a relentless emotional conflict where the tension becomes a perpetual push-pull between light and darkness.


In a desolate outland, five campers find themselves stuck under the ghastly control and grasp of a unknown figure. As the characters becomes unresisting to withstand her manipulation, marooned and chased by terrors unfathomable, they are forced to battle their darkest emotions while the countdown unceasingly strikes toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion rises and teams collapse, demanding each survivor to reflect on their core and the philosophy of volition itself. The tension amplify with every minute, delivering a fear-soaked story that marries mystical fear with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to explore basic terror, an entity beyond time, influencing our fears, and questioning a being that forces self-examination when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra demanded embodying something beyond human emotion. She is oblivious until the entity awakens, and that turn is deeply unsettling because it is so deep.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—giving customers internationally can face this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its initial teaser, which has received over 100,000 views.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, delivering the story to global fright lovers.


Mark your calendar for this unforgettable voyage through terror. Watch *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to dive into these fearful discoveries about existence.


For previews, set experiences, and updates from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursed across Facebook and TikTok and visit youngandcursed.com.





American horror’s sea change: the 2025 season U.S. release slate integrates Mythic Possession, independent shockers, alongside series shake-ups

Ranging from pressure-cooker survival tales inspired by scriptural legend all the way to installment follow-ups in concert with surgical indie voices, 2025 stands to become the most stratified in tandem with carefully orchestrated year in recent memory.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. Major studios stabilize the year using marquee IP, at the same time platform operators pack the fall with new perspectives in concert with scriptural shivers. Across the art-house lane, independent banners is carried on the uplift of a peak 2024 circuit. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The fall stretch is the proving field, and in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are surgical, so 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: High-craft horror returns

The top end is active. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s distribution arm starts the year with a marquee bet: a refreshed Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, inside today’s landscape. With Leigh Whannell at the helm with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. landing in mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Guided by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer winds down, Warner’s schedule unveils the final movement from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson returns to the helm, and those signature textures resurface: vintage toned fear, trauma as narrative engine, and a cold supernatural calculus. The stakes escalate here, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. 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: No Budget, No Problem

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a close quarters body horror study featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it looks like a certain fall stream.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It is a smart play. No swollen lore. No series drag. 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 and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Series Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

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

M3GAN 2.0 returns in 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.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, steered by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

What to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror retakes ground
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Season Ahead: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

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. 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. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

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 upcoming fear year to come: brand plays, original films, together with A Crowded Calendar tailored for jolts

Dek The upcoming scare slate crams early with a January bottleneck, and then runs through the summer months, and running into the holiday frame, braiding name recognition, fresh ideas, and calculated counterplay. The big buyers and platforms are leaning into responsible budgets, cinema-first plans, and social-driven marketing that pivot horror entries into four-quadrant talking points.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The genre has grown into the sturdy swing in distribution calendars, a corner that can grow when it connects and still hedge the floor when it under-delivers. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for strategy teams that modestly budgeted horror vehicles can own the discourse, 2024 sustained momentum with high-profile filmmaker pieces and stealth successes. The carry flowed into the 2025 frame, where revived properties and filmmaker-prestige bets confirmed there is appetite for a variety of tones, from series extensions to filmmaker-driven originals that translate worldwide. The sum for the 2026 slate is a schedule that appears tightly organized across the field, with intentional bunching, a blend of established brands and new concepts, and a renewed eye on theatrical windows that power the aftermarket on paid VOD and digital services.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now functions as a flex slot on the programming map. Horror can bow on a wide range of weekends, supply a tight logline for teasers and reels, and punch above weight with crowds that show up on Thursday nights and maintain momentum through the subsequent weekend if the release works. On the heels of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 rhythm telegraphs confidence in that equation. The year launches with a stacked January stretch, then primes spring and early summer for balance, while reserving space for a autumn push that runs into the fright window and afterwards. The gridline also underscores the deeper integration of specialty arms and streamers that can stage a platform run, fuel WOM, and roll out at the timely point.

An added macro current is franchise tending across interlocking continuities and heritage properties. The players are not just mounting another sequel. They are working to present brand continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a title treatment that suggests a fresh attitude or a lead change that threads a incoming chapter to a initial period. At the simultaneously, the visionaries behind the most anticipated originals are embracing practical craft, practical effects and distinct locales. That interplay provides 2026 a healthy mix of trust and newness, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount sets the tone early with two spotlight projects that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the focus, angling it as both a legacy handover and a return-to-roots character piece. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance hints at a classic-referencing bent without retreading the last two entries’ sibling arc. Expect a marketing push anchored in recognizable motifs, character spotlights, and a tease cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

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 back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will emphasize. As a summer counter-slot, this one will pursue general-audience talk through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format inviting quick reframes to whatever drives the social talk that spring.

Universal has three unique lanes. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is efficient, soulful, and commercial: a grieving man purchases an intelligent companion that mutates into a harmful mate. The date nudges it to the front of a front-loaded month, with marketing at Universal likely to renew eerie street stunts and short-form creative that hybridizes romance and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a title drop to become an marketing beat closer to the initial promo. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele projects are marketed as director events, with a minimalist tease and a second beat that define feel without revealing the concept. The prime October weekend creates space for Universal 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, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has established that a visceral, makeup-driven execution can feel elevated on a efficient spend. Expect a viscera-heavy summer horror surge that spotlights worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio sets two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, preserving a steady supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is marketing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both franchise faithful and novices. The fall slot offers Sony space to build assets around mythos, and creature effects, elements that can lift IMAX and PLF uptake and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by historical precision and period language, this time engaging werewolf myth. Focus’s team has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception movies is glowing.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform windowing in 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s genre entries feed copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a pacing that maximizes both week-one demand and trial spikes in the after-window. Prime Video combines acquired titles with global originals and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in archive usage, using curated hubs, October hubs, and handpicked rows to extend momentum on the annual genre haul. Netflix retains agility about internal projects and festival pickups, securing horror entries tight to release and elevating as drops debuts with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a tiered of focused cinema runs and quick platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a situational basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to board select projects with prestige directors or star packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation spikes.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 track with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is no-nonsense: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, updated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the fall weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then turning to the Christmas corridor to increase reach. That positioning has served the company well for filmmaker-first horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception warrants. Plan on 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 as partners, using limited runs to stir evangelism that fuels their community.

Franchise entries versus originals

By weight, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage cultural cachet. The watch-out, as ever, is audience fatigue. The preferred tactic is to frame each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is spotlighting character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French sensibility from a hot helmer. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the team and cast is comforting enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday previews.

Comparable trends from recent years announce the strategy. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that held distribution windows did not deter a day-and-date experiment from working when the brand was powerful. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror punched above its weight in premium large format. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they shift POV and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, permits marketing to relate entries through character spine and themes and to sustain campaign assets without long breaks.

How the look and feel evolve

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the 2026 slate point to a continued move toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that spotlights grain and menace rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in trade spotlights and department features before rolling out a tease that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and drives shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta inflection that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster realization and design, which work nicely for convention activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel irresistible. Look for trailers that spotlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that benefit on big speakers.

Month-by-month map

January is crowded. 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 macro-brand pushes. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the menu of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Post-January through spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds 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 lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Shoulder season into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a late-September window that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a peekaboo tease plan and limited previews that elevate concept over story.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card use.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s digital partner shifts into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

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 organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

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

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her hard-edged boss push to survive on a far-flung island as the chain of command turns and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

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 renewed take that returns the monster to menace, founded on Cronin’s tactile craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting tale that twists the unease of a child’s tricky impressions. Rating: forthcoming. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-built and name-above-title paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that teases in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fascinations. Rating: TBD. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. 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 worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a fresh family bound to ancient dread. Rating: undetermined. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A reboot designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: TBD. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: to be announced. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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 raw menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why this year, why now

Three pragmatic forces organize this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or re-slotted in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming drops. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify bite-size scare clips from test screenings, managed scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

There is also the slotting calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can lead a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will compete across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. 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 view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

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

The 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 stealth overachiever of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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 have a peek here a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, soundcraft, and image-making 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 Looks Exciting

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand power where it counts, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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, deliver taut trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the screams sell the seats.