Ancient Terror Reawakens within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nightmare fueled feature, debuting Oct 2025 across leading streamers

This blood-curdling paranormal horror tale from writer / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an long-buried evil when newcomers become tools in a malevolent ritual. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching tale of resilience and old world terror that will reimagine genre cinema this October. Crafted by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and cinematic thriller follows five characters who are stirred confined in a hidden cottage under the hostile grip of Kyra, a cursed figure haunted by a two-thousand-year-old sacrosanct terror. Ready yourself to be seized by a cinematic journey that intertwines primitive horror with spiritual backstory, hitting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a legendary motif in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is subverted when the spirits no longer come externally, but rather inside their minds. This marks the darkest part of these individuals. The result is a harrowing spiritual tug-of-war where the narrative becomes a unyielding conflict between innocence and sin.


In a abandoned landscape, five youths find themselves stuck under the possessive control and grasp of a uncanny entity. As the team becomes submissive to resist her influence, severed and targeted by creatures ungraspable, they are forced to wrestle with their emotional phantoms while the deathwatch mercilessly winds toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion deepens and teams implode, coercing each member to examine their identity and the integrity of volition itself. The consequences escalate with every breath, delivering a chilling narrative that combines supernatural terror with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to dig into primitive panic, an presence beyond time, manifesting in fragile psyche, and dealing with a entity that challenges autonomy when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra involved tapping into something unfamiliar to reason. She is unaware until the evil takes hold, and that change is harrowing because it is so visceral.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for audiences beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—giving watchers across the world can watch this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its intro video, which has earned over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, extending the thrill to international horror buffs.


Be sure to catch this haunted trip into the unknown. Experience *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to experience these spiritual awakenings about free will.


For previews, making-of footage, and insider scoops directly from production, follow @YoungAndCursed across media channels and visit the movie portal.





American horror’s tipping point: the 2025 cycle domestic schedule braids together myth-forward possession, indie terrors, together with brand-name tremors

From survival horror drawn from near-Eastern lore through to IP renewals paired with sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 stands to become the most stratified in tandem with intentionally scheduled year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. leading studios bookend the months via recognizable brands, while OTT services crowd the fall with new voices paired with primordial unease. On the independent axis, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is riding the afterglow of a banner 2024 fest year. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, notably this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are exacting, therefore 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Prestige fear returns

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s distribution arm starts the year with a marquee bet: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, within a sleek contemporary canvas. With Leigh Whannell at the helm anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. timed for mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. From director Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Initial heat flags it as potent.

By late summer, Warner’s slate releases the last chapter from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Despite a known recipe, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson is back, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: old school creep, trauma as theme, and a cold supernatural calculus. The stakes escalate here, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, thickens the animatronic pantheon, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It hits in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Offerings: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. 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 more intimate flank sits Together, a body horror duet with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend led by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. 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

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Penned and steered 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. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is a calculated bet. No bloated mythology. No IP hangover. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

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

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

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

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. 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, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Dials to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror resurges
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Projection: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The new chiller season: brand plays, filmmaker-first projects, alongside A busy Calendar designed for chills

Dek The current terror cycle builds immediately with a January crush, then carries through summer, and straight through the holiday stretch, blending IP strength, untold stories, and data-minded alternatives. Studio marketers and platforms are focusing on efficient budgets, exclusive theatrical windows first, and influencer-ready assets that pivot the slate’s entries into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

Horror has shown itself to be the predictable move in annual schedules, a lane that can expand when it resonates and still safeguard the exposure when it does not. After 2023 reminded buyers that lean-budget horror vehicles can steer the national conversation, the following year maintained heat with buzzy auteur projects and unexpected risers. The momentum moved into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and arthouse crossovers made clear there is room for different modes, from returning installments to director-led originals that play globally. The sum for 2026 is a schedule that presents tight coordination across the field, with defined corridors, a mix of familiar brands and original hooks, and a recommitted attention on exclusive windows that fuel later windows on paid VOD and platforms.

Executives say the category now operates like a plug-and-play option on the distribution slate. Horror can roll out on many corridors, furnish a easy sell for ad units and UGC-friendly snippets, and over-index with audiences that show up on preview nights and hold through the second frame if the movie fires. On the heels of a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 setup exhibits belief in that model. The slate starts with a heavy January stretch, then taps spring and early summer for audience offsets, while carving room for a September to October window that stretches into All Hallows period and into early November. The layout also includes the stronger partnership of boutique distributors and streamers that can build gradually, grow buzz, and scale up at the proper time.

A parallel macro theme is IP cultivation across brand ecosystems and long-running brands. Major shops are not just rolling another return. They are trying to present lineage with a specialness, whether that is a art treatment that conveys a reframed mood or a talent selection that binds a incoming chapter to a heyday. At the concurrently, the auteurs behind the eagerly awaited originals are favoring physical effects work, makeup and prosthetics and location-forward worlds. That combination affords 2026 a confident blend of home base and invention, which is what works overseas.

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

Paramount marks the early tempo with two big-ticket pushes that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the lead, marketing it as both a cross-generational handoff and a origin-leaning character-forward chapter. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the creative posture suggests a heritage-honoring framework without retreading the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Plan for a rollout built on franchise iconography, early character teases, and a tiered teaser plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will double down on. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will chase general-audience talk through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format supporting quick switches to whatever defines the conversation that spring.

Universal has three discrete entries. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is tight, heartbroken, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man adopts an artificial companion that shifts into a perilous partner. The date locates it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to reprise uncanny live moments and micro spots that interweaves longing and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a proper title to become an fan moment closer to the initial promo. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele’s work are branded as marquee events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second trailer wave that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The spooky-season slot allows Universal to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has long shown that a visceral, prosthetic-heavy strategy can feel cinematic on a disciplined budget. Frame it as a hard-R summer horror rush that centers offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio books two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, sustaining a dependable supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is framing as a ground-zero 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 clearer mandate to serve both longtime followers and casuals. The fall slot lets Sony to build assets around universe detail, and creature effects, elements that can accelerate deluxe auditorium demand and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by rigorous craft and historical speech, this time orbiting lycan myth. Focus’s team has already set the date for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is strong.

Streaming windows and tactics

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on established tracks. The studio’s horror films head to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a cadence that elevates both debut momentum and trial spikes in the downstream. Prime Video stitches together acquired titles with global pickups and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data points to it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in catalog engagement, using well-timed internal promotions, genre hubs, and curated rows to keep attention on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps flexible about originals and festival wins, scheduling horror entries on shorter runways and eventizing debuts with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a dual-phase of selective theatrical runs and speedy platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a curated basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to pick up select projects with recognized filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation intensifies.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 pipeline with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is clear: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, 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 telegraphed a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the fall weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then leveraging the year-end corridor to open out. That positioning has helped for filmmaker-first horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception justifies. Be ready 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 in parallel, using mini theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their membership.

Legacy titles versus originals

By number, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use name recognition. The challenge, as ever, is overexposure. The near-term solution is to present each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is underscoring character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a continental coloration from a ascendant talent. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the package is steady enough to spark pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Recent-year comps announce the logic. In 2023, a theater-first model that preserved streaming windows did not obstruct a day-date try from paying off when the brand was potent. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror outperformed in premium formats. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they rotate perspective and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters filmed consecutively, lets marketing to thread films through character spine and themes and to keep assets in-market without long breaks.

How the films are being made

The shop talk behind the year’s horror hint at a continued turn toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that emphasizes creep and texture rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in trade spotlights and department features before rolling out a tease that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at red-band excess, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and generates shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta reframe that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster realization and design, which align with booth activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel necessary. Look for trailers that center disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that benefit on big speakers.

How the year maps out

January is packed. 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 foggy reset amid macro-brand pushes. The month concludes 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 serious, 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 prime the summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

August into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a tease-and-hold strategy this content and limited advance reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then leaning on 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 riding holiday momentum and gift-card burn.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s virtual companion evolves into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with 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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

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

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss fight to survive on a cut-off island as the control balance swivels and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

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


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting tale that interrogates the dread of a child’s mercurial interpretations. Rating: pending. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-crafted and headline-actor led supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A parody return that skewers contemporary horror memes and true crime fervors. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites surges, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a different family lashed to lingering terrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A new start designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward true survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: TBD. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: not yet rated. Production: proceeding. 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 era-faithful speech and raw menace. Rating: undetermined. 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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026, why now

Three hands-on forces structure this lineup. First, production that stalled or recalendared in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and shorter 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 outpaced straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work shareable moments from test screenings, select scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

The slot calculus is real. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can lead a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will compete across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where disciplined-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 capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, 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 fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, smart allocations, 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 texture, soundscape, and cinematography 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

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand gravity where needed, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, lock the reveals, and let the scares sell the seats.