Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a hair raising feature, rolling out October 2025 across top digital platforms

One haunting ghostly shockfest from creator / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an ancient terror when newcomers become victims in a devilish experiment. Airings begin on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing saga of resilience and age-old darkness that will remodel terror storytelling this spooky time. Created by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and shadowy fearfest follows five strangers who awaken trapped in a isolated shelter under the malevolent influence of Kyra, a tormented girl claimed by a millennia-old scriptural evil. Anticipate to be hooked by a immersive presentation that integrates intense horror with folklore, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a time-honored motif in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is redefined when the fiends no longer arise from elsewhere, but rather from their core. This depicts the darkest element of the victims. The result is a riveting emotional conflict where the story becomes a ongoing confrontation between purity and corruption.


In a forsaken terrain, five souls find themselves stuck under the evil influence and infestation of a obscure female figure. As the ensemble becomes unresisting to fight her control, detached and preyed upon by creatures unimaginable, they are thrust to battle their deepest fears while the timeline without pity runs out toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion mounts and bonds implode, requiring each survivor to reconsider their values and the notion of decision-making itself. The cost rise with every passing moment, delivering a fear-soaked story that blends ghostly evil with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to draw upon ancestral fear, an power born of forgotten ages, channeling itself through inner turmoil, and dealing with a evil that forces self-examination when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra asked for exploring something past sanity. She is uninformed until the takeover begins, and that transition is soul-crushing because it is so visceral.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for digital release beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—providing audiences internationally can dive into this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its first trailer, which has attracted over 100K plays.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, extending the thrill to horror fans worldwide.


Be sure to catch this haunted path of possession. Join *Young & Cursed* this launch day to dive into these terrifying truths about our species.


For film updates, filmmaker commentary, and reveals from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across social media and visit youngandcursed.com.





Horror’s Turning Point: 2025 across markets domestic schedule interlaces Mythic Possession, independent shockers, together with returning-series thunder

Ranging from endurance-driven terror rooted in old testament echoes to legacy revivals in concert with incisive indie visions, 2025 is coalescing into horror’s most layered along with intentionally scheduled year in the past ten years.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. leading studios bookend the months by way of signature titles, concurrently streamers flood the fall with first-wave breakthroughs and legend-coded dread. On another front, indie storytellers is propelled by the tailwinds of a banner 2024 fest year. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, however this time, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are methodical, so 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: High-craft horror returns

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s distribution arm lights the fuse with a big gambit: a modernized Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, in a clear present-tense world. With Leigh Whannell at the helm with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. Slated for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Directed by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early reactions hint at fangs.

As summer winds down, the Warner Bros. banner unveils the final movement from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Though the outline is tried, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson is back, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: nostalgic menace, trauma centered writing, along with eerie supernatural rules. This run ups the stakes, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, broadens the animatronic terror cast, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It arrives in December, cornering year end horror.

Platform Plays: Economy, maximum dread

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a body horror chamber piece including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale starring Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: 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

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, 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 threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is canny scheduling. No overinflated mythology. No brand fatigue. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, 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 first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

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

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

What to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror returns
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

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

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

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 mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The approaching terror lineup: returning titles, standalone ideas, and also A loaded Calendar tailored for frights

Dek: The brand-new horror calendar clusters right away with a January cluster, following that flows through the mid-year, and running into the holiday frame, weaving name recognition, new voices, and calculated offsets. Studios with streamers are betting on tight budgets, exclusive theatrical windows first, and buzz-forward plans that position these releases into all-audience topics.

How the genre looks for 2026

The field has grown into the surest counterweight in programming grids, a vertical that can lift when it clicks and still cushion the liability when it fails to connect. After 2023 reassured leaders that responsibly budgeted scare machines can galvanize audience talk, the following year kept the drumbeat going with director-led heat and slow-burn breakouts. The trend translated to the 2025 frame, where reboots and elevated films made clear there is room for several lanes, from franchise continuations to original one-offs that carry overseas. The net effect for 2026 is a run that reads highly synchronized across the market, with defined corridors, a equilibrium of familiar brands and novel angles, and a re-energized commitment on release windows that drive downstream revenue on paid VOD and home platforms.

Schedulers say the horror lane now works like a wildcard on the programming map. Horror can open on nearly any frame, provide a clean hook for promo reels and vertical videos, and punch above weight with crowds that appear on previews Thursday and return through the second frame if the feature satisfies. Following a work stoppage lag, the 2026 pattern underscores belief in that playbook. The calendar begins with a crowded January run, then plants flags in spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while leaving room for a autumn push that runs into the Halloween corridor and past Halloween. The gridline also reflects the continuing integration of specialized labels and streaming partners that can build gradually, ignite recommendations, and scale up at the optimal moment.

A reinforcing pattern is brand curation across linked properties and classic IP. Studio teams are not just greenlighting another next film. They are aiming to frame threaded continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a logo package that indicates a re-angled tone or a casting pivot that ties a new entry to a vintage era. At the concurrently, the helmers behind the top original navigate here plays are favoring material texture, practical gags and grounded locations. That blend gives the 2026 slate a healthy mix of trust and unexpected turns, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount opens strong with two headline projects that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the spine, angling it as both a handoff and a heritage-centered character-focused installment. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the creative posture points to a nostalgia-forward mode without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign leaning on franchise iconography, first-look character reveals, and a two-beat trailer plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

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 on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will feature. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will pursue large awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick adjustments to whatever defines the conversation that spring.

Universal has three discrete entries. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is clean, heartbroken, and high-concept: a grieving man brings home an synthetic partner that turns into a dangerous lover. The date positions it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to renew uncanny live moments and snackable content that mixes companionship and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a proper title to become an headline beat closer to the debut look. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. His entries are framed as auteur events, with a teaser that holds back and a subsequent trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The prime October weekend allows Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has made clear that a in-your-face, on-set effects led style can feel cinematic on a middle budget. Frame it as a viscera-heavy summer horror hit that maximizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio deploys two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, maintaining a consistent supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is positioning as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both diehards and novices. The fall slot allows Sony to build marketing units around world-building, and monster craft, elements that can lift deluxe auditorium demand and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror driven by immersive craft and historical speech, this time focused on werewolf legend. The specialty arm has already locked the day for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is supportive.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Windowing plans in 2026 run on proven patterns. The studio’s horror films feed copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a cadence that enhances both opening-weekend urgency and platform bumps in the downstream. Prime Video will mix licensed content with worldwide buys and limited runs in theaters when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in back-catalog play, using featured rows, holiday hubs, and handpicked rows to sustain interest on the 2026 genre total. Netflix keeps flexible about internal projects and festival additions, securing horror entries toward the drop and eventizing rollouts with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a paired of targeted cinema placements and speedy platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has signaled readiness to pick up select projects with accomplished filmmakers or A-list packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for sustained usage when the genre conversation spikes.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 sequence with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is uncomplicated: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, refined 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. The distributor has flagged a theatrical rollout for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the back half.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, piloting the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday slot to expand. That positioning has shown results for elevated genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception merits. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using mini theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Series vs standalone

By tilt, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness brand equity. The risk, as ever, is staleness. The near-term solution is to pitch each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is underscoring character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is floating a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-flavored turn from a fresh helmer. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a crash-survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the cast-creatives package is grounded enough to spark pre-sales and early previews.

Recent-year comps frame the playbook. In 2023, a theater-first model that kept clean windows did not foreclose a hybrid test from winning when the brand was compelling. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror outperformed in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel new when they reframe POV and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters filmed in sequence, lets marketing to link the films through character spine and themes and to sustain campaign assets without long breaks.

Craft and creative trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the year’s horror foreshadow a continued lean toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that spotlights grain and menace rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft coverage before rolling out a tone piece that leans on mood over plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and creates shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta inflection that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster aesthetics and world-building, which lend themselves to con floor moments and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel must-have. Look for trailers that highlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that land in big rooms.

Release calendar overview

January is heavy. 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 moody palate cleanser amid big-brand pushes. The month winds down 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 stiff, but the tone spread carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth sustains.

Post-January through spring prepare summer. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The 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 heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

August and September into October leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil follows September 18, a bridge slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited previews that center concept over reveals.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card burn.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s intelligent companion becomes something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete 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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: Get More Info After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss scramble to survive on a isolated island as the pecking order tilts and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to terror, rooted in Cronin’s material craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting narrative that refracts terror through a kid’s shifting POV. Rating: forthcoming. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that pokes at today’s horror trends and true-crime obsessions. Rating: TBD. Production: filming slated 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 ignites, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further reopens, with a different family lashed to long-buried horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A restart designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward pure survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: TBA. Production: continuing. 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 era-accurate language and raw menace. Rating: TBA. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three operational forces drive this lineup. First, production that stalled or shuffled in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine shareable moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

There is also the slotting calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can capture a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will cluster across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 underdog chase 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 work those windows. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, soundcraft, 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.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is franchise muscle where it helps, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, lock the reveals, and let the shocks sell the seats.