Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primordial evil, a hair raising chiller, launching October 2025 across major platforms

An terrifying ghostly terror film from screenwriter / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an prehistoric fear when strangers become proxies in a diabolical ritual. Dropping on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a intense depiction of continuance and ancient evil that will resculpt fear-driven cinema this scare season. Realized by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and shadowy thriller follows five individuals who awaken stranded in a remote shelter under the ominous will of Kyra, a young woman controlled by a prehistoric holy text monster. Brace yourself to be hooked by a narrative spectacle that fuses intense horror with spiritual backstory, unleashing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a legendary fixture in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is reversed when the monsters no longer arise from an outside force, but rather inside their minds. This symbolizes the most sinister part of each of them. The result is a relentless moral showdown where the tension becomes a unyielding conflict between good and evil.


In a abandoned outland, five characters find themselves sealed under the sinister aura and infestation of a obscure entity. As the victims becomes incapacitated to combat her grasp, isolated and hunted by creatures unfathomable, they are thrust to wrestle with their inner horrors while the clock unceasingly ticks toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear grows and associations fracture, driving each character to doubt their personhood and the structure of autonomy itself. The cost escalate with every short lapse, delivering a paranormal ride that harmonizes mystical fear with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to evoke deep fear, an evil older than civilization itself, filtering through emotional fractures, and questioning a spirit that erodes the self when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra meant evoking something beneath mortal despair. She is innocent until the possession kicks in, and that metamorphosis is harrowing because it is so unshielded.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for digital release beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—so that customers anywhere can watch this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its initial teaser, which has gathered over a viral response.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, offering the tale to thrill-seekers globally.


Mark your calendar for this bone-rattling descent into darkness. Stream *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to face these nightmarish insights about the soul.


For previews, set experiences, and press updates straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across platforms and visit the official movie site.





Horror’s sea change: the year 2025 U.S. calendar Mixes Mythic Possession, Indie Shockers, paired with returning-series thunder

Spanning survival horror infused with old testament echoes as well as installment follow-ups and acutely observed indies, 2025 is shaping up as the most textured and calculated campaign year of the last decade.

Call it full, but it is also focused. studio powerhouses are anchoring the year with known properties, in tandem platform operators load up the fall with fresh voices in concert with primordial unease. On another front, indie storytellers is catching the carry from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, distinctly in 2025, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are disciplined, which means 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: The Return of Prestige Fear

The majors are assertive. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 doubles down.

Universal Pictures leads off the quarter with a headline swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a modern-day environment. Under director Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. landing in mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Directed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

When summer fades, Warner’s slate unveils the final movement of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson re engages, and those signature textures resurface: old school creep, trauma foregrounded, and a cold supernatural calculus. This pass pushes higher, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, stretches the animatronic parade, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It opens in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Offerings: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a body horror chamber piece including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

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. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is an astute call. No overweight mythology. No series drag. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festivals as Springboards

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 posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Brands: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

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. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Trend Lines

Mythic dread mainstreams
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

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

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Forward View: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The forthcoming 2026 fear cycle: entries, filmmaker-first projects, paired with A busy Calendar geared toward nightmares

Dek: The new genre season stacks in short order with a January pile-up, after that runs through the summer months, and continuing into the holiday frame, marrying legacy muscle, new voices, and savvy counterplay. Studio marketers and platforms are embracing mid-range economics, exclusive theatrical windows first, and buzz-forward plans that convert genre releases into water-cooler talk.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This category has become the most reliable swing in studio lineups, a corner that can break out when it resonates and still buffer the downside when it under-delivers. After 2023 reconfirmed for strategy teams that mid-range scare machines can command pop culture, 2024 maintained heat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and under-the-radar smashes. The carry rolled into the 2025 frame, where revivals and premium-leaning entries highlighted there is space for diverse approaches, from franchise continuations to non-IP projects that play globally. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a lineup that seems notably aligned across companies, with defined corridors, a mix of familiar brands and new concepts, and a refocused priority on cinema windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium on-demand and subscription services.

Executives say the horror lane now slots in as a versatile piece on the programming map. The genre can open on virtually any date, create a quick sell for teasers and reels, and punch above weight with viewers that arrive on preview nights and keep coming through the subsequent weekend if the picture satisfies. Emerging from a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 rhythm signals faith in that equation. The slate launches with a loaded January lineup, then targets spring into early summer for counterprogramming, while carving room for a fall corridor that connects to late October and into November. The schedule also features the greater integration of specialty arms and streaming partners that can platform a title, grow buzz, and scale up at the proper time.

A companion trend is legacy care across brand ecosystems and heritage properties. The studios are not just greenlighting another chapter. They are looking to package brand continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a title presentation that broadcasts a new tone or a casting choice that ties a next film to a foundational era. At the meanwhile, the creative teams behind the top original plays are celebrating hands-on technique, practical effects and site-specific worlds. That interplay yields 2026 a healthy mix of assurance and unexpected turns, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount plants an early flag with two marquee pushes that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the focus, marketing it as both a cross-generational handoff and a DNA-forward relationship-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the story approach announces a memory-charged strategy without recycling the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Plan for a rollout anchored in recognizable motifs, first-look character reveals, and a tiered teaser plan landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also dusts off 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 behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will spotlight. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will seek general-audience talk through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format allowing quick switches to whatever dominates the conversation that spring.

Universal has three specific projects. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is tidy, sorrow-tinged, and concept-forward: a grieving man adopts an machine companion that turns into a perilous partner. The date sets it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s promo team likely to renew odd public stunts and brief clips that mixes companionship and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a name unveil to become an headline beat closer to the first trailer. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s pictures are positioned as filmmaker events, with a teaser that holds back and a second wave of trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date lets the studio to dominate 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, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has long shown that a raw, on-set effects led treatment can feel deluxe on a tight budget. Position this as a red-band summer horror shot that leans into international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio books two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, continuing a reliable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is billing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both longtime followers and casuals. The fall slot allows Sony to build assets around universe detail, and practical creature work, elements that can drive large-format demand and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by careful craft and textual fidelity, this time steeped in lycan lore. The company has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a bold stance in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is enthusiastic.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform windowing in 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s slate land on copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a cadence that maximizes both debut momentum and subscription bumps in the downstream. Prime Video blends licensed films with cross-border buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data points to it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in archive usage, using curated hubs, fright rows, and collection rows to stretch the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix keeps optionality about internal projects and festival buys, confirming horror entries near launch and turning into events drops with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a dual-phase of targeted cinema placements and quick platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has indicated interest to pick up select projects with top-tier auteurs or star-led packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation peaks.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 slate with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is tight: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, refined for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a standard theatrical run for the title, an positive signal for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the late stretch.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, piloting the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then relying on the year-end corridor to expand. That positioning has helped for arthouse horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception encourages. Keep an eye on 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 parallel, using select theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their user base.

Legacy titles versus originals

By count, 2026 tilts in favor of the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness household recognition. The question, as ever, is overexposure. The pragmatic answer is to package each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is emphasizing character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-flavored turn from a buzzed-about director. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the packaging is assuring enough to generate pre-sales and early previews.

Comps from the last three years help explain the playbook. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that held distribution windows did not obstruct a day-date move from winning when the brand was strong. In 2024, director-craft horror over-performed in large-format rooms. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel fresh 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 linked-chapter plan, with chapters filmed in sequence, lets marketing to thread films through relationships and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without long gaps.

Technique and craft currents

The filmmaking conversations behind these films foreshadow a continued move toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that elevates texture and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in craft journalism and craft coverage before rolling out a tease that leans on mood over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and sparks shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta reframe that centers its original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature work and production design, which work nicely for expo activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel definitive. Look for trailers that emphasize pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that land in big rooms.

Release calendar overview

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 atmospheric change-up amid marquee brands. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the palette of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth carries.

Late Q1 and spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls 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 light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Back half into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a slow-reveal plan and limited pre-release reveals that elevate concept over story.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card burn.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s synthetic partner escalates into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

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 collide with a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. 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: After a plane crash, an employee and her severe boss fight to survive on a uninhabited island as the power balance shifts and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to terror, founded on Cronin’s in-camera craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 household haunting chiller that filters its scares through a young child’s unreliable personal vantage. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A satirical comeback that targets in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fervors. Rating: pending. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 spreads, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further reopens, with a another family snared by older hauntings. Rating: TBA. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-core horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: ongoing. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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 elemental menace. Rating: pending. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three operational forces inform this lineup. First, production that eased or re-slotted in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming placements. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest repeatable beats from test screenings, metered scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, freeing space for genre entries that can lead a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will line up across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then navigate here the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, 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 sleeper chase continues in Q1, where disciplined-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, sound, 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, Ready To Roar

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is IP strength where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, keep secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.