Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens ancient dread, a chilling horror thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on major streaming services

This frightening paranormal suspense story from storyteller / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an age-old malevolence when outsiders become puppets in a dark ordeal. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing portrayal of resistance and prehistoric entity that will revolutionize fear-driven cinema this October. Brought to life by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and atmospheric motion picture follows five lost souls who regain consciousness sealed in a wilderness-bound cottage under the menacing manipulation of Kyra, a young woman possessed by a timeless holy text monster. Prepare to be enthralled by a filmic outing that unites bodily fright with biblical origins, releasing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a time-honored element in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is challenged when the presences no longer appear outside their bodies, but rather from their core. This mirrors the grimmest corner of these individuals. The result is a harrowing mind game where the emotions becomes a soul-crushing battle between virtue and vice.


In a haunting natural abyss, five young people find themselves contained under the evil effect and haunting of a secretive female figure. As the group becomes powerless to escape her manipulation, marooned and pursued by evils unfathomable, they are cornered to wrestle with their raw vulnerabilities while the countdown relentlessly pushes forward toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion surges and partnerships break, forcing each cast member to scrutinize their existence and the concept of liberty itself. The risk grow with every instant, delivering a terror ride that marries demonic fright with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to evoke primal fear, an force before modern man, feeding on our fears, and wrestling with a evil that peels away humanity when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra was centered on something unfamiliar to reason. She is oblivious until the haunting manifests, and that flip is deeply unsettling because it is so internal.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for worldwide release beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—providing horror lovers anywhere can dive into this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its initial teaser, which has seen over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, giving access to the movie to a global viewership.


Don’t miss this cinematic ride through nightmares. Enter *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to dive into these evil-rooted truths about our species.


For film updates, production news, and updates from the cast and crew, follow @YACMovie across media channels and visit the official digital haunt.





Modern horror’s tipping point: calendar year 2025 domestic schedule weaves legend-infused possession, art-house nightmares, stacked beside brand-name tremors

Beginning with pressure-cooker survival tales rooted in old testament echoes through to returning series paired with incisive indie visions, 2025 is lining up as horror’s most layered as well as carefully orchestrated year of the last decade.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio powerhouses are anchoring the year using marquee IP, while OTT services load up the fall with discovery plays and mythic dread. On the festival side, indie storytellers is drafting behind the carry from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, and now, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are methodical, so 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Premium genre swings back

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 accelerates.

Universal opens the year with a big gambit: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, instead in a current-day frame. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. targeting mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Led by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early reactions hint at fangs.

At summer’s close, Warner’s slate drops the final chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Though the formula is familiar, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson returns, and the memorable motifs return: vintage toned fear, trauma as narrative engine, with ghostly inner logic. This time, the stakes are raised, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The return delves further into myth, thickens the animatronic pantheon, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It hits in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streaming Offerings: Low budgets, big teeth

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a sealed box body horror arc featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend featuring Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is an astute call. No overinflated mythology. No franchise baggage. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Long Running Lines: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, 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 first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Signals and Trends

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Near Term Outlook: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The 2026 terror calendar year ahead: entries, non-franchise titles, plus A brimming Calendar designed for frights

Dek: The arriving scare season crams right away with a January glut, then spreads through the warm months, and straight through the December corridor, weaving brand equity, untold stories, and smart offsets. The big buyers and platforms are focusing on lean spends, theatrical-first rollouts, and social-driven marketing that elevate these releases into broad-appeal conversations.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror has become the sturdy swing in studio lineups, a pillar that can lift when it breaks through and still hedge the downside when it does not. After the 2023 year signaled to decision-makers that lean-budget pictures can shape social chatter, 2024 maintained heat with festival-darling auteurs and word-of-mouth wins. The energy pushed into 2025, where returns and arthouse crossovers made clear there is appetite for multiple flavors, from continued chapters to non-IP projects that play globally. The net effect for 2026 is a lineup that feels more orchestrated than usual across the industry, with planned clusters, a balance of established brands and first-time concepts, and a refocused strategy on theater exclusivity that fuel later windows on premium on-demand and home streaming.

Marketers add the space now works like a fill-in ace on the rollout map. Horror can arrive on virtually any date, supply a simple premise for trailers and short-form placements, and exceed norms with fans that respond on first-look nights and hold through the follow-up frame if the release satisfies. After a work stoppage lag, the 2026 mapping underscores trust in that playbook. The calendar gets underway with a crowded January band, then plants flags in spring and early summer for contrast, while making space for a September to October window that stretches into the Halloween frame and past the holiday. The layout also highlights the stronger partnership of indie arms and platforms that can nurture a platform play, grow buzz, and broaden at the inflection point.

A second macro trend is brand curation across connected story worlds and heritage properties. Big banners are not just rolling another sequel. They are setting up continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a graphic identity that telegraphs a fresh attitude or a lead change that binds a next film to a first wave. At the simultaneously, the filmmakers behind the high-profile originals are leaning into physical effects work, practical gags and distinct locales. That pairing yields the 2026 slate a smart balance of known notes and surprise, which is how the genre sells abroad.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount defines the early cadence with two spotlight plays that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the lead, positioning the film as both a cross-generational handoff and a classic-mode character-driven entry. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the creative stance signals a fan-service aware framework without looping the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected driven by iconic art, character-first teases, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm aimed at late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will feature. As a summer contrast play, this one will generate mass reach through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format enabling quick turns to whatever tops genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three specific strategies. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is tight, grief-rooted, and concept-forward: a grieving man brings home an intelligent companion that evolves into a murderous partner. The date positions it at the front of a packed window, with Universal’s team likely to echo eerie street stunts and short-cut promos that interlaces companionship and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a branding reveal to become an teaser payoff closer to the initial tease. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s work are marketed as creative events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a later trailer push that shape mood without giving away the concept. The late-month date gives Universal room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has established that a gnarly, prosthetic-heavy aesthetic can feel big on a controlled budget. Look for a blood-soaked summer horror charge that emphasizes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio books two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, keeping a proven supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is describing as a from-the-ground-up reboot 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 franchise faithful and first-timers. The fall slot lets Sony to build assets around canon, and monster aesthetics, elements that can drive large-format demand and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by meticulous craft and period language, this time engaging werewolf myth. The label has already set the date for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is positive.

Digital platform strategies

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s genre entries flow to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a cadence that elevates both first-week urgency and sign-up momentum in the back half. Prime Video pairs catalogue additions with world buys and limited cinema engagements when the data signals it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library engagement, using featured rows, spooky hubs, and programmed rows to lengthen the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix keeps flexible about originals and festival acquisitions, slotting horror entries on shorter runways and elevating as drops launches with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a tiered of precision releases and accelerated platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a situational basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to acquire select projects with award winners or star packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for retention when the genre conversation heats up.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 slate with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is clean: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, reimagined for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then turning to the Christmas window to move out. That positioning has been successful for craft-driven horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in click site public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception prompts. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using select theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their audience.

Franchise entries versus originals

By volume, 2026 leans in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap name recognition. The question, as ever, is audience fatigue. The standing approach is to brand each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is leading with character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is promising a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-tinted vision from a fresh helmer. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a marooned survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the packaging is comforting enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

The last three-year set outline the logic. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that respected streaming windows did not hamper a day-date try from delivering when the brand was trusted. In 2024, art-forward horror over-performed in large-format rooms. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they change perspective and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters produced back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to bridge entries through character and theme and to keep assets alive without pause points.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The director conversations behind the 2026 entries point to a continued move toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that foregrounds unease and texture rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in craft profiles and guild coverage before rolling out a mood teaser that leans on mood over plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and drives shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta pivot that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature work and production design, which align with fan-con activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel necessary. Look for trailers that elevate fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that explode in larger rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is loaded. 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 moody palate cleanser amid big-brand pushes. The month concludes 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 meaningful, but the spread of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Early-year through spring seed summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now hosts 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 divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Late summer into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited plot reveals that center concept over reveals.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold 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 rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s synthetic partner becomes something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Production Young & Cursed locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: aura-driven 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 prickly boss battle to survive on a remote island as the chain of command flips and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to terror, based on Cronin’s practical craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting chiller that filters its scares through a kid’s shifting point of view. Rating: TBA. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven spectral suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A send-up revival that teases hot-button genre motifs and true crime fascinations. Rating: TBA. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further widens again, with a young family snared by older hauntings. Rating: TBA. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-first horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: moving forward. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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 bone-deep menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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

Why 2026, why now

Three pragmatic forces drive this lineup. First, production that slowed or recalendared in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming drops. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on social-ready stingers from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, freeing space for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will jostle across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can exploit 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 value-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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, 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 stack through the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, optimized 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 materiality, acoustics, and framing that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is name recognition where it counts, inventive vision where it helps, 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, cut crisp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the frights sell the seats.