Antediluvian Terror Ascends in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling shocker, debuting October 2025 across top digital platforms

One eerie otherworldly scare-fest from screenwriter / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an timeless fear when unknowns become puppets in a devilish ritual. Dropping October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving saga of overcoming and old world terror that will remodel fear-driven cinema this fall. Brought to life by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and gothic tale follows five characters who awaken isolated in a hidden hideaway under the menacing will of Kyra, a young woman inhabited by a antiquated sacred-era entity. Steel yourself to be shaken by a big screen venture that unites bodily fright with mythic lore, landing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a enduring tradition in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is subverted when the monsters no longer manifest from a different plane, but rather from their psyche. This illustrates the most hidden shade of the group. The result is a enthralling identity crisis where the story becomes a relentless fight between moral forces.


In a abandoned terrain, five individuals find themselves stuck under the unholy control and domination of a obscure female figure. As the team becomes paralyzed to combat her will, stranded and tracked by beings unimaginable, they are pushed to wrestle with their inner horrors while the hours unceasingly ticks toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear surges and ties erode, requiring each member to reflect on their essence and the concept of conscious will itself. The intensity climb with every second, delivering a horror experience that harmonizes demonic fright with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to explore raw dread, an threat that predates humanity, working through our weaknesses, and testing a power that tests the soul when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra was about accessing something past sanity. She is uninformed until the evil takes hold, and that transformation is soul-crushing because it is so raw.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for digital release beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—making sure customers worldwide can be part of this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its first trailer, which has earned over notable views.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, spreading the horror to international horror buffs.


Avoid skipping this unforgettable exploration of dread. Stream *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to confront these evil-rooted truths about mankind.


For cast commentary, filmmaker commentary, and reveals from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursed across online outlets and visit youngandcursed.com.





Current horror’s major pivot: 2025 U.S. lineup weaves primeval-possession lore, underground frights, and returning-series thunder

Kicking off with pressure-cooker survival tales drawn from biblical myth and including installment follow-ups alongside incisive indie visions, 2025 looks like the most stratified plus tactically planned year in years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. leading studios are anchoring the year through proven series, even as streamers load up the fall with new perspectives and legend-coded dread. In the indie lane, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is surfing the carry from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, though in this cycle, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are intentional, so 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

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

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s distribution arm starts the year with a marquee bet: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, inside today’s landscape. Under director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. timed for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. From director Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

By late summer, the WB camp releases the last chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: 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. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson again directs, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: throwback unease, trauma as text, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This time, the stakes are raised, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It arrives in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Digital Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a tight space body horror vignette including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is a lock for fall streaming.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. That is a savvy move. No heavy handed lore. No continuity burden. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy Lines: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, led by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Key Trends

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror ascends again
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Big screen is a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Projection: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The next Horror release year: installments, filmmaker-first projects, alongside A hectic Calendar engineered for shocks

Dek The brand-new horror slate stacks up front with a January wave, thereafter unfolds through midyear, and running into the late-year period, fusing brand equity, creative pitches, and data-minded offsets. Studios and streamers are relying on right-sized spends, theatrical exclusivity first, and viral-minded pushes that position horror entries into mainstream chatter.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This space has emerged as the steady lever in release strategies, a vertical that can accelerate when it connects and still safeguard the downside when it stumbles. After 2023 reassured decision-makers that low-to-mid budget chillers can dominate audience talk, the following year maintained heat with auteur-driven buzzy films and under-the-radar smashes. The tailwind moved into 2025, where reawakened brands and awards-minded projects highlighted there is capacity for varied styles, from ongoing IP entries to fresh IP that travel well. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a programming that seems notably aligned across the industry, with intentional bunching, a pairing of recognizable IP and untested plays, and a reinvigorated priority on cinema windows that fuel later windows on paid VOD and platforms.

Executives say the category now serves as a schedule utility on the programming map. The genre can debut on nearly any frame, generate a clear pitch for promo reels and shorts, and over-index with patrons that show up on opening previews and maintain momentum through the next weekend if the offering delivers. After a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 cadence exhibits comfort in that dynamic. The year starts with a front-loaded January band, then exploits spring through early summer for audience offsets, while reserving space for a autumn stretch that extends to spooky season and into the next week. The gridline also features the tightening integration of boutique distributors and digital platforms that can stage a platform run, spark evangelism, and widen at the sweet spot.

An added macro current is IP cultivation across linked properties and heritage properties. Distribution groups are not just producing another continuation. They are seeking to position story carry-over with a sense of event, whether that is a typeface approach that suggests a new vibe or a casting pivot that binds a next film to a vintage era. At the concurrently, the filmmakers behind the most anticipated originals are leaning into tactile craft, on-set effects and place-driven backdrops. That convergence hands 2026 a solid mix of brand comfort and surprise, which is what works overseas.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount defines the early cadence with two prominent projects that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, setting it up as both a passing of the torch and a rootsy character-focused installment. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the narrative stance telegraphs a heritage-honoring mode without repeating the last two entries’ sibling arc. Plan for a rollout fueled by iconic art, character previews, and a two-beat trailer plan slated for late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also reignites 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 as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will emphasize. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will chase mainstream recognition through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format making room for quick turns to whatever dominates horror talk that spring.

Universal has three unique projects. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is crisp, soulful, and big-hook: a grieving man brings home an digital partner that evolves into a perilous partner. The date locates it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the studio’s marketing likely to iterate on odd public stunts and short-form creative that melds attachment and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a branding reveal to become an event moment closer to the first look. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. His projects are positioned as filmmaker events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second wave of trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The pre-Halloween slot gives the studio room to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has consistently shown that a raw, makeup-driven aesthetic can feel prestige on a moderate cost. Frame it as a hard-R summer horror hit that maximizes foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio launches two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, maintaining a evergreen supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is describing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both diehards and new audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build assets around universe detail, and monster craft, elements that can increase premium screens and fan events.

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 extends Eggers’ run of period horror built on meticulous craft and historical speech, this time steeped in lycan lore. Focus Features has already locked the day for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is positive.

Digital platform strategies

Platform tactics for 2026 run on familiar rails. The Universal horror run transition to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a pacing that boosts both first-week urgency and trial spikes in the after-window. Prime Video interleaves catalogue additions with worldwide entries and limited cinema engagements when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu work their edges in catalog engagement, using well-timed internal promotions, holiday hubs, and programmed rows to prolong the run on the 2026 genre total. Netflix keeps flexible about Netflix films and festival additions, locking in horror entries tight to release and framing as events rollouts with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a one-two of targeted theatrical exposure and swift platform pivots that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a curated basis. The platform has shown a willingness to buy select projects with acclaimed directors or name-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation intensifies.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 corridor with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is simple: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, elevated for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the autumn weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the Christmas window to increase reach. That positioning has proved effective for elevated genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception prompts. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using limited theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their membership.

Balance of brands and originals

By volume, the 2026 slate favors the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage franchise value. The caveat, as ever, is overexposure. The near-term solution is to sell each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is centering character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a Francophone tone from a new voice. Those choices make a difference 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. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the bundle is familiar enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Rolling three-year comps contextualize the plan. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that held distribution windows did not stop a day-date move from winning when the brand was sticky. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror punched above its weight in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they angle differently and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances 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, gives leeway to marketing to interlace chapters through character arcs and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without lulls.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The creative meetings behind 2026 horror signal a continued emphasis on hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that foregrounds mood and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and period-accurate language, a combination this page that can make for textured sound and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and artisan spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and generates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta inflection that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature craft and set design, which align with convention activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel irresistible. Look for trailers that emphasize fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that play in premium auditoriums.

From winter to holidays

January is full. Universal’s 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 atmospheric change-up amid heftier brand moves. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the spread of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

Post-January through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

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

August into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a transitional slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a peekaboo tease plan and limited information drops that trade in concept over detail.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can increase count 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 still being revealed as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s digital partner unfolds into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human 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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively 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 travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: atmospheric game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her hard-edged boss try to survive on a lonely island as the hierarchy flips and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to terror, built on Cronin’s practical effects and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting chiller that pipes the unease through a little one’s flickering subjective view. Rating: not yet rated. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-scale and A-list fronted ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A parody return that riffs on in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fervors. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further opens again, with a unlucky family bound to past horrors. Rating: pending. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A fresh restart designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival-first horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: closely held. Rating: forthcoming. Production: proceeding. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on historical diction and primal menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why 2026, why now

Three execution-level forces inform this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or rearranged in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and compressed 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 outperformed straight-to-streaming drops. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate clippable moments from test screenings, precision scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, creating valuable space for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will share space across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where low-to-mid 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 surprise over-performer 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.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit 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 shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, efficient placements, 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 visual texture, aural design, and imagery that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand power where it counts, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the fear sell the seats.