Primeval Dread Emerges within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked supernatural thriller, launching Oct 2025 on major platforms

One eerie supernatural shockfest from writer / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an timeless evil when unrelated individuals become vehicles in a diabolical struggle. Releasing October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching journey of living through and ancient evil that will revolutionize the horror genre this Halloween season. Realized by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and immersive cinema piece follows five teens who arise ensnared in a secluded house under the oppressive grip of Kyra, a troubled woman consumed by a antiquated ancient fiend. Be prepared to be immersed by a cinematic adventure that fuses visceral dread with folklore, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a enduring foundation in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is radically shifted when the beings no longer emerge from an outside force, but rather from their core. This marks the most primal side of the protagonists. The result is a psychologically brutal identity crisis where the narrative becomes a unforgiving contest between divinity and wickedness.


In a remote terrain, five individuals find themselves isolated under the dark grip and spiritual invasion of a mysterious apparition. As the cast becomes paralyzed to fight her dominion, exiled and targeted by terrors unnamable, they are thrust to deal with their emotional phantoms while the doomsday meter unceasingly counts down toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion builds and friendships break, compelling each person to reflect on their identity and the idea of decision-making itself. The danger escalate with every passing moment, delivering a fear-soaked story that weaves together occult fear with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to channel elemental fright, an darkness born of forgotten ages, operating within emotional fractures, and questioning a darkness that tests the soul when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra was about accessing something more primal than sorrow. She is unaware until the possession kicks in, and that turn is harrowing because it is so close.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be released for public screening beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—so that users across the world can enjoy this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its release of trailer #1, which has received over strong viewer count.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, bringing the film to thrill-seekers globally.


Avoid skipping this haunted exploration of dread. Explore *Young & Cursed* this launch day to see these spiritual awakenings about the soul.


For sneak peeks, production news, and insider scoops directly from production, follow @YACFilm across entertainment pages and visit youngandcursed.com.





American horror’s decisive shift: 2025 U.S. calendar blends old-world possession, Indie Shockers, alongside franchise surges

From last-stand terror steeped in legendary theology and onward to series comebacks plus acutely observed indies, 2025 is emerging as the most textured together with tactically planned year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. the big studios lay down anchors using marquee IP, while premium streamers load up the fall with new perspectives as well as old-world menace. On the independent axis, the art-house flank is carried on the backdraft from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. A fat September–October lane is customary now, and now, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are precise, hence 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Premium dread reemerges

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s pipeline opens the year with an audacious swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Steered by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. arriving 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 brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Steered by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

At summer’s close, Warner Bros. Pictures rolls out the capstone of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. While the template is known, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: vintage toned fear, trauma as text, plus otherworld rules that chill. Here the stakes rise, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The continuation widens the legend, stretches the animatronic parade, reaching teens and game grownups. It lands in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Firsts: Economy, maximum dread

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, 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 featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Next comes Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable led by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. 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 dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of 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 clever angle. No puffed out backstory. No brand fatigue. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

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

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, guided by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Trends to Watch

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror ascends again
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Season Ahead: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The oncoming terror release year: follow-ups, non-franchise titles, alongside A Crowded Calendar optimized for shocks

Dek: The current horror season builds right away with a January pile-up, subsequently stretches through the warm months, and well into the December corridor, braiding brand equity, novel approaches, and calculated counterprogramming. The major players are relying on right-sized spends, theater-first strategies, and platform-native promos that transform the slate’s entries into culture-wide discussion.

How the genre looks for 2026

The genre has become the predictable move in annual schedules, a segment that can scale when it performs and still buffer the risk when it under-delivers. After 2023 proved to executives that disciplined-budget fright engines can dominate social chatter, 2024 maintained heat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and stealth successes. The momentum flowed into 2025, where reboots and prestige plays demonstrated there is capacity for diverse approaches, from brand follow-ups to standalone ideas that scale internationally. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a slate that looks unusually coordinated across companies, with clear date clusters, a balance of legacy names and first-time concepts, and a renewed focus on big-screen windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium home window and subscription services.

Schedulers say the genre now serves as a plug-and-play option on the calendar. The genre can debut on most weekends, provide a clear pitch for trailers and vertical videos, and outpace with crowds that respond on Thursday previews and return through the second weekend if the entry lands. On the heels of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 cadence demonstrates conviction in that engine. The calendar gets underway with a thick January schedule, then exploits spring through early summer for counterweight, while clearing room for a fall corridor that flows toward the Halloween corridor and beyond. The schedule also reflects the deeper integration of arthouse labels and OTT outlets that can build gradually, generate chatter, and scale up at the timely point.

A further high-level trend is franchise tending across connected story worlds and legacy IP. Distribution groups are not just pushing another follow-up. They are setting up threaded continuity with a specialness, whether that is a title treatment that conveys a new tone or a talent selection that links a upcoming film to a foundational era. At the alongside this, the filmmakers behind the eagerly awaited originals are embracing material texture, real effects and location-forward worlds. That fusion affords the 2026 slate a confident blend of comfort and novelty, which is what works overseas.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount leads early with two headline releases that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, setting it up as both a handoff and a return-to-roots relationship-driven entry. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture announces a legacy-leaning mode without repeating the last two entries’ sibling arc. Watch for a push centered on signature symbols, initial cast looks, and a rollout cadence targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will spotlight. As a summer counter-slot, this one will build general-audience talk through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format allowing quick pivots to whatever defines genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three unique pushes. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is tidy, heartbroken, and easily pitched: a grieving man brings home an synthetic partner that unfolds into a deadly partner. The date places it at the front of a thick month, with Universal’s campaign likely to recreate uncanny-valley stunts and snackable content that hybridizes longing and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a public title to become an attention spike closer to the opening teaser. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s releases are sold as signature events, with a minimalist tease and a second beat that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date affords Universal to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on 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 steers, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has demonstrated that a tactile, hands-on effects aesthetic can feel prestige on a moderate cost. Look for a grime-caked summer horror shock that leans hard into global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio places two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, extending a trusty supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is billing as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both devotees and fresh viewers. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign creative around mythos, and creature work, elements that can drive premium screens and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror grounded in meticulous craft and period speech, this time circling werewolf lore. The imprint has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is warm.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform plans for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre slate head to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a ladder that boosts both debut momentum and platform bumps in the later phase. Prime Video combines outside acquisitions with global originals and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data signals it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in library engagement, using well-timed internal promotions, holiday hubs, and programmed rows to increase tail value on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps flexible about originals and festival grabs, slotting horror entries closer to launch and making event-like launches with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a one-two of targeted theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will prove important 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+ treats carefully horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has shown appetite to buy select projects with acclaimed directors or headline-cast packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for monthly engagement when the genre conversation swells.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 sequence with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is tight: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, reimagined for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the late-season weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then turning to the Christmas window to open out. That positioning has delivered for arthouse horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception supports. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using mini theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their user base.

Legacy titles versus originals

By skew, 2026 is weighted toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use fan equity. The watch-out, as ever, is brand wear. The near-term solution is to pitch each entry as a new angle. Paramount is emphasizing character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is promising a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French sensibility from a emerging director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the packaging is assuring enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and preview-night crowds.

Comparable trends from recent years frame the logic. In 2023, a exclusive window model that honored streaming windows did not deter a dual release from working when the brand was robust. In 2024, precision craft horror over-performed in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they change perspective and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters shot consecutively, provides the means for marketing to interlace chapters through character arcs and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without doldrums.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft rooms behind 2026 horror signal 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 echoes the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that emphasizes unease and texture rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in deep-dive features and department features before rolling out a tease that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and sparks shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta refresh that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will win or lose on monster work and world-building, which lend themselves to convention activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel definitive. Look for trailers that elevate pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that benefit on big speakers.

How the year maps out

January is busy. 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 moody palate cleanser amid marquee brands. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the tonal variety lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

Pre-summer months tee up summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with brand energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can pop 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 rotated off PLF.

Shoulder season into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited plot reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card spend.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s virtual companion evolves into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror 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 be swallowed by a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: ambience-forward adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her hard-edged boss try to survive on a uninhabited island as the chain of command shifts and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. 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 TBA in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to terror, founded on Cronin’s in-camera craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting narrative that teases the horror of a child’s wobbly senses. Rating: to be announced. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-grade and name-above-title eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A satire sequel that lampoons in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime obsessions. Rating: TBA. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a fresh family snared by ancient dread. Rating: undetermined. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival-first horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: undetermined. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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

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

Why this year, why now

Three pragmatic forces structure this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or shuffled in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and leaner schedules. 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 overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming landings. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate bite-size scare clips from test screenings, precision scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

The slot calculus is real. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can control a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will stack across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 lean-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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, soundscape, and camera work that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand power where it counts, original vision where it matters, 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, protect the mystery, and let the scares sell the seats.