Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primordial evil, a nerve shredding chiller, streaming Oct 2025 across leading streamers

An frightening mystic shockfest from literary architect / director Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an ancient dread when guests become pawns in a devilish ordeal. Hitting screens this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching narrative of resistance and timeless dread that will reshape scare flicks this scare season. Realized by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and emotionally thick suspense flick follows five figures who find themselves caught in a off-grid dwelling under the unfriendly influence of Kyra, a female lead inhabited by a two-thousand-year-old Old Testament spirit. Ready yourself to be enthralled by a narrative presentation that blends visceral dread with mystical narratives, landing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a classic trope in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is inverted when the fiends no longer emerge beyond the self, but rather from their core. This marks the deepest part of the cast. The result is a edge-of-seat internal warfare where the narrative becomes a intense fight between good and evil.


In a bleak wild, five figures find themselves marooned under the fiendish presence and domination of a unidentified character. As the protagonists becomes helpless to fight her curse, exiled and targeted by spirits beyond reason, they are driven to face their inner demons while the clock ruthlessly runs out toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear deepens and partnerships crack, compelling each character to evaluate their identity and the foundation of conscious will itself. The stakes rise with every short lapse, delivering a scare-fueled ride that weaves together demonic fright with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to channel pure dread, an power beyond recorded history, influencing inner turmoil, and wrestling with a entity that threatens selfhood when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra was about accessing something beyond human emotion. She is blind until the takeover begins, and that shift is deeply unsettling because it is so intimate.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for on-demand beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing horror lovers in all regions can watch this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its initial teaser, which has collected over a viral response.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, delivering the story to lovers of terror across nations.


Experience this life-altering path of possession. Join *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to experience these terrifying truths about our species.


For exclusive trailers, special features, and announcements from the story's source, follow @YACFilm across your socials and visit the movie portal.





Horror’s Turning Point: 2025 U.S. release slate weaves archetypal-possession themes, underground frights, stacked beside Franchise Rumbles

Kicking off with last-stand terror rooted in ancient scripture through to returning series paired with surgical indie voices, 2025 looks like the most variegated along with carefully orchestrated year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. studio powerhouses are anchoring the year with familiar IP, even as platform operators front-load the fall with first-wave breakthroughs together with primordial unease. At the same time, the independent cohort is surfing the echoes of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Since Halloween is the prized date, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The fall stretch is the proving field, distinctly in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are disciplined, hence 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The top end is active. If 2024 set the base, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s distribution arm opens the year with a headline swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, within a sleek contemporary canvas. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. Booked into mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Directed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

Toward summer’s end, Warner Bros. drops the final chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Though the formula is familiar, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: vintage toned fear, trauma as narrative engine, plus otherworld rules that chill. This run ups the stakes, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The new chapter enriches the lore, stretches the animatronic parade, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It arrives in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Digital Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, an intimate body horror unraveling with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story headlined 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 work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within 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 smart play. No bloated mythology. No sequel clutter. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Heritage Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. 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

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror reemerges
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Projection: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The next genre calendar year ahead: continuations, fresh concepts, And A brimming Calendar tailored for chills

Dek: The brand-new genre slate clusters from the jump with a January cluster, then stretches through peak season, and straight through the holiday frame, combining IP strength, fresh ideas, and calculated offsets. The major players are focusing on tight budgets, theatrical-first rollouts, and short-form initiatives that frame horror entries into water-cooler talk.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The horror sector has turned into the dependable play in programming grids, a genre that can expand when it catches and still mitigate the liability when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year reassured buyers that disciplined-budget pictures can galvanize the zeitgeist, the following year extended the rally with high-profile filmmaker pieces and quiet over-performers. The tailwind pushed into 2025, where re-entries and arthouse crossovers demonstrated there is a lane for several lanes, from ongoing IP entries to director-led originals that scale internationally. The sum for the 2026 slate is a grid that presents tight coordination across the major shops, with intentional bunching, a harmony of brand names and untested plays, and a recommitted strategy on theater exclusivity that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium on-demand and OTT platforms.

Studio leaders note the horror lane now performs as a utility player on the slate. Horror can premiere on nearly any frame, furnish a quick sell for spots and UGC-friendly snippets, and outperform with crowds that turn out on early shows and sustain through the next pass if the title hits. Exiting a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 plan exhibits belief in that approach. The slate commences with a stacked January run, then exploits spring through early summer for balance, while making space for a fall cadence that runs into the fright window and beyond. The map also illustrates the tightening integration of specialty distributors and OTT outlets that can grow from platform, generate chatter, and roll out at the strategic time.

A reinforcing pattern is brand management across linked properties and veteran brands. Studios are not just making another sequel. They are aiming to frame connection with a premium feel, whether that is a graphic identity that announces a recalibrated tone or a casting pivot that bridges a next entry to a first wave. At the parallel to that, the visionaries behind the most watched originals are returning to practical craft, in-camera effects and place-driven backdrops. That pairing produces 2026 a confident blend of recognition and invention, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount establishes early momentum with two high-profile bets that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the spine, positioning the film as both a legacy handover and a classic-mode character-forward chapter. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the authorial approach signals a memory-charged framework without retreading the last two entries’ family thread. Plan for a rollout rooted in brand visuals, initial cast looks, and a two-beat trailer plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will feature. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will hunt wide buzz through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format allowing quick switches to whatever drives the discourse that spring.

Universal has three specific bets. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is straightforward, tragic, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man activates an algorithmic mate that escalates into a perilous partner. The date sets it at the front of a packed window, with the marketing arm likely to revisit eerie street stunts and brief clips that interweaves affection and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a name unveil to become an fan moment closer to the first trailer. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele’s releases are set up as director events, with a concept-forward tease and a follow-up trailer set that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The pre-Halloween slot affords Universal to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has shown that a flesh-and-blood, prosthetic-heavy aesthetic can feel top-tier on a efficient spend. Position this as a gore-forward summer horror rush that leans hard into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio launches two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, carrying a dependable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is selling as a new foundation 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 directive to serve both devotees and casuals. The fall slot gives Sony time to build campaign pieces around environmental design, and monster design, elements that can stoke IMAX and PLF uptake and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in obsessive craft and language, this time exploring werewolf lore. The specialty arm has already set the date for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is supportive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform plans for 2026 run on predictable routes. The Universal horror run move to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a ladder that amplifies both launch urgency and sign-up spikes in the later phase. Prime Video will mix licensed films with cross-border buys and select theatrical runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library pulls, using timely promos, holiday hubs, and curated strips to extend momentum on overall cume. Netflix keeps optionality about internal projects and festival acquisitions, dating horror entries near launch and positioning as event drops premieres with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a paired of limited theatrical footprints and prompt platform moves that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a selective basis. The platform has indicated interest to invest in select projects with top-tier auteurs or celebrity-led packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for sustained usage when the genre conversation spikes.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 runway with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is tight: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, retooled for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a cinema-first plan for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the autumn stretch.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, curating the rollout through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday corridor to increase reach. That positioning has shown results for director-led genre with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception encourages. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using small theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their membership.

Franchise entries versus originals

By count, 2026 is weighted toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use franchise value. The caveat, as ever, is overexposure. The workable fix is to position each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is elevating character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-flavored turn from a fresh helmer. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and talent-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a stranded survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the package is anchored enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and preview-night turnout.

Recent comps help explain the approach. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that maintained windows did not preclude a same-day experiment from performing when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror exceeded expectations in premium large format. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they reframe POV and expand the canvas. 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 double feature plan, with chapters shot in tandem, lets marketing to tie installments through relationships and themes and to keep assets alive without lulls.

Creative tendencies and craft

The shop talk behind the 2026 slate foreshadow a continued emphasis on tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that elevates creep and texture rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and era-true language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in deep-dive features and artisan spotlights before rolling out a teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and gathers shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta recalibration that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on monster realization and design, which lend themselves to convention floor stunts and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel definitive. Look for trailers that emphasize disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that benefit on big speakers.

How the year maps out

January is stacked. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid marquee brands. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the variety of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth endures.

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

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a minimalist tease strategy and limited information drops that lean on concept not plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card spend.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s essence. 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 widowed man’s intelligent companion mutates into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

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

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss try to survive on a rugged island as the control balance inverts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to horror, founded on Cronin’s physical craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting setup that twists the dread of a child’s tricky impressions. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, this website 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A comic send-up that skewers in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime crazes. Rating: not yet rated. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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 detonates, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new clan tethered to lingering terrors. Rating: TBA. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A new start designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on pure survival horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: undetermined. Production: active. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-specific language and raw menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three nuts-and-bolts forces shape this lineup. First, production that decelerated or shuffled in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming placements. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on repeatable beats from test screenings, precision scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can capture a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror 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 leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, 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 modest-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, 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 momentum and variety. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, 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 scale over time, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake see here when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, sound field, and imagery that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is recognizable IP where it plays, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it this page would not be surprising to see at least one late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, guard the secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.