Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons ancient dread, a spine tingling horror feature, rolling out October 2025 across top streaming platforms

An unnerving otherworldly terror film from narrative craftsman / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an age-old force when strangers become pawns in a demonic conflict. Debuting this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching narrative of resistance and prehistoric entity that will reimagine terror storytelling this fall. Brought to life by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and shadowy fearfest follows five teens who wake up imprisoned in a wooded house under the malevolent manipulation of Kyra, a female presence occupied by a antiquated biblical force. Steel yourself to be absorbed by a visual outing that weaves together soul-chilling terror with ancestral stories, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a well-established pillar in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is turned on its head when the spirits no longer descend from a different plane, but rather inside them. This echoes the most sinister dimension of all involved. The result is a edge-of-seat mind game where the tension becomes a unforgiving face-off between heaven and hell.


In a bleak woodland, five youths find themselves imprisoned under the unholy aura and inhabitation of a unidentified figure. As the team becomes paralyzed to escape her manipulation, severed and attacked by forces beyond comprehension, they are cornered to encounter their raw vulnerabilities while the final hour harrowingly pushes forward toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust rises and ties shatter, demanding each individual to scrutinize their self and the idea of volition itself. The threat surge with every beat, delivering a frightening tale that combines demonic fright with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to draw upon primitive panic, an threat older than civilization itself, manifesting in our fears, and wrestling with a entity that erodes the self when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra involved tapping into something beyond human emotion. She is clueless until the evil takes hold, and that transformation is gut-wrenching because it is so visceral.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be released for streaming beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—so that viewers anywhere can be part of this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its original clip, which has earned over a viral response.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, exporting the fear to a worldwide audience.


Don’t miss this mind-warping trip into the unknown. Explore *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to experience these dark realities about inner darkness.


For film updates, production insights, and announcements via the production team, follow @YoungAndCursed across your favorite networks and visit the official digital haunt.





Modern horror’s Turning Point: 2025 in focus domestic schedule weaves Mythic Possession, microbudget gut-punches, alongside IP aftershocks

Kicking off with survival horror infused with legendary theology to series comebacks alongside acutely observed indies, 2025 is emerging as horror’s most layered plus blueprinted year in ten years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. Top studios plant stakes across the year with known properties, in parallel digital services crowd the fall with debut heat set against ancestral chills. In parallel, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is catching the carry from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, though in this cycle, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are intentional, hence 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Premium dread reemerges

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s slate begins the calendar with a bold swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, but a sharp contemporary setting. With Leigh Whannell at the helm anchored by Christopher Abbott and 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 supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Led by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer winds down, Warner Bros. Pictures releases the last chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Although the framework is familiar, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Scott Derrickson is back, and the memorable motifs return: nostalgic menace, trauma explicitly handled, along with eerie supernatural rules. Here the stakes rise, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The follow up digs further into canon, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It drops in December, buttoning the final window.

Platform Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

While the big screen favors titles you know, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, an intimate body horror unraveling with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative headlined 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 piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. From writer director 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. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is canny scheduling. No bloated mythology. No sequel clutter. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy Lines: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, under Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Dials to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror swings back
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

The big screen is a trust exercise
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Forward View: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The upcoming terror release year: returning titles, new stories, together with A loaded Calendar Built For Scares

Dek: The upcoming horror slate lines up immediately with a January wave, following that unfolds through peak season, and carrying into the holidays, combining marquee clout, novel approaches, and data-minded counterprogramming. Studios and platforms are leaning into right-sized spends, theatrical exclusivity first, and buzz-forward plans that transform genre releases into cross-demo moments.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The horror marketplace has turned into the dependable option in programming grids, a segment that can spike when it clicks and still limit the downside when it underperforms. After the 2023 year reminded studio brass that cost-conscious chillers can drive social chatter, 2024 extended the rally with high-profile filmmaker pieces and under-the-radar smashes. The head of steam moved into 2025, where revived properties and filmmaker-prestige bets made clear there is an opening for varied styles, from series extensions to one-and-done originals that carry overseas. The upshot for 2026 is a programming that presents tight coordination across players, with purposeful groupings, a spread of household franchises and fresh ideas, and a reinvigorated commitment on exhibition windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium rental and SVOD.

Marketers add the category now performs as a utility player on the calendar. The genre can open on virtually any date, yield a clear pitch for previews and vertical videos, and outstrip with crowds that come out on first-look nights and keep coming through the second frame if the film works. Exiting a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 layout demonstrates comfort in that equation. The slate opens with a heavy January schedule, then targets spring into early summer for alternate plays, while saving space for a late-year stretch that pushes into late October and beyond. The schedule also spotlights the increasing integration of boutique distributors and platforms that can platform a title, create conversation, and roll out at the optimal moment.

A reinforcing pattern is franchise tending across interlocking continuities and legacy IP. The companies are not just pushing another return. They are seeking to position lore continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a title treatment that flags a re-angled tone or a cast configuration that reconnects a incoming chapter to a heyday. At the alongside this, the helmers behind the high-profile originals are favoring hands-on technique, practical effects and concrete locations. That alloy yields 2026 a robust balance of known notes and discovery, which is how the genre sells abroad.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount sets the tone early with two front-of-slate bets that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the core, marketing it as both a baton pass and a rootsy character study. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture hints at a nostalgia-forward bent without looping the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Watch for a push stacked with recognizable motifs, character previews, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm hitting late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also brings back 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 as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will lean on. As a summer relief option, this one will hunt wide buzz through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick turns to whatever shapes the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three clear plays. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is elegant, heartbroken, and high-concept: a grieving man adopts an synthetic partner that unfolds into a harmful mate. The date nudges it to the front of a busy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to echo eerie street stunts and bite-size content that mixes devotion and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a branding reveal to become an event moment closer to the first trailer. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele projects are sold as event films, with a hinting teaser and a next wave of trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot creates space for Universal to maximize 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, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has established that a blood-soaked, practical-first approach can feel cinematic on a efficient spend. Expect a gore-forward summer horror blast that leans into overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio places two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, carrying a bankable supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is selling as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both players and general audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build promo materials around narrative world, and creature effects, elements that can accelerate premium screens and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward the filmmaker’s run of period horror grounded in rigorous craft and dialect, this time exploring werewolf lore. The company has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is favorable.

Digital platform strategies

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on established tracks. Universal titles move to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a stair-step that maximizes both initial urgency and platform bumps in the after-window. Prime Video stitches together third-party pickups with global originals and short theatrical plays when the data signals it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in deep cuts, using curated hubs, genre hubs, and curated strips to keep attention on the horror cume. Netflix keeps optionality about originals and festival snaps, finalizing horror entries closer to launch and framing as events premieres with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a two-step of tailored theatrical exposure and speedy platforming that translates talk to trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a selective basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to invest in select projects with prestige directors or star-driven packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for platform stickiness when the genre conversation swells.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 corridor with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is straightforward: the same haunting, 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 fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a theatrical-first plan for the title, an promising marker for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the fall weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the year-end corridor to expand. That positioning has helped for elevated genre with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception encourages. Look for 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 in tandem, using limited runs to jump-start evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Legacy titles versus originals

By skew, the 2026 slate skews toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage name recognition. The caveat, as ever, is brand erosion. The standing approach is to pitch each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is elevating relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a Francophone tone from a emerging director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a marooned survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the package is assuring enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Comparable trends from recent years make sense of the template. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that maintained windows did not deter a simultaneous release test from succeeding when the brand was robust. In 2024, art-forward horror exceeded expectations in PLF. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they alter lens and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to bridge entries through character and theme and to leave creative active without lulls.

Behind-the-camera trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the 2026 slate indicate 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 practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that leans on unease and texture rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in feature stories and department features before rolling out a initial teaser that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and earns shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta pivot that centers an original star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature craft and set design, which match well with convention floor stunts and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel compelling. Look for trailers that highlight precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that land in big rooms.

Calendar cadence

January is busy. 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 somber counterpoint amid bigger brand plays. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the palette of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Pre-summer months prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The 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 heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Shoulder season 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 rolls in after September 18, a bridge slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited information drops that center concept over reveals.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and holiday gift-card burn.

Project-by-project snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s algorithmic partner grows into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back 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 be swallowed by a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: aura-driven adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top Source cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her hard-edged boss scramble to survive on a uninhabited island as the power balance upends and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to terror, grounded in Cronin’s in-camera craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting narrative that manipulates the fright of a child’s inconsistent senses. Rating: TBA. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A parody return that lampoons current genre trends and true crime fascinations. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: production booked 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 breaks out, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a another family lashed to lingering terrors. Rating: TBA. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A clean reboot designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival-first horror over action spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: undetermined. Production: underway. 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 period-specific language and elemental menace. Rating: TBD. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. 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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three nuts-and-bolts forces define this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or re-sequenced in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming launches. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on turnkey scare beats from test screenings, metered scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will line up across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, 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 surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where midrange-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play 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 chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing my company your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to movies month, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, soundcraft, and picture 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 Promising 2026

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand equity where it matters, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of 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, cut sharp trailers, guard the secrets, and let the gasps sell the seats.