Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases ancient dread, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, bowing October 2025 across top digital platforms

This chilling otherworldly terror film from narrative craftsman / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an forgotten dread when outsiders become instruments in a diabolical ceremony. Available October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping account of staying alive and prehistoric entity that will reconstruct genre cinema this spooky time. Crafted by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and moody suspense flick follows five young adults who find themselves stranded in a hidden house under the malignant influence of Kyra, a mysterious girl inhabited by a time-worn biblical demon. Arm yourself to be seized by a motion picture display that intertwines intense horror with spiritual backstory, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a classic concept in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is radically shifted when the beings no longer form externally, but rather within themselves. This depicts the haunting version of every character. The result is a intense emotional conflict where the narrative becomes a merciless fight between divinity and wickedness.


In a bleak wilderness, five teens find themselves confined under the ominous dominion and domination of a mysterious female figure. As the survivors becomes submissive to deny her control, stranded and followed by creatures beyond reason, they are forced to reckon with their inner demons while the timeline without pity counts down toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety intensifies and partnerships dissolve, demanding each individual to examine their true nature and the philosophy of decision-making itself. The intensity escalate with every passing moment, delivering a frightening tale that combines demonic fright with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to dig into primitive panic, an presence from prehistory, working through soul-level flaws, and questioning a being that peels away humanity when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra asked for exploring something past sanity. She is in denial until the entity awakens, and that turn is eerie because it is so private.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for audience access beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—so that households in all regions can be part of this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its first trailer, which has collected over a viral response.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, offering the tale to a global viewership.


Make sure to see this visceral exploration of dread. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to see these ghostly lessons about the human condition.


For sneak peeks, making-of footage, and insider scoops from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursed across fan hubs and visit our spooky domain.





Today’s horror decisive shift: 2025 for genre fans U.S. rollouts integrates Mythic Possession, Indie Shockers, and tentpole growls

Kicking off with fight-to-live nightmare stories rooted in biblical myth and onward to brand-name continuations and acutely observed indies, 2025 is coalescing into the genre’s most multifaceted combined with carefully orchestrated year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. studio majors are anchoring the year with franchise anchors, in parallel premium streamers front-load the fall with unboxed visions plus archetypal fear. On the independent axis, independent banners is propelled by the tailwinds of a record-setting 2024 festival season. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The fall stretch is the proving field, though in this cycle, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are intentional, hence 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige terror resurfaces

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal Pictures sets the tone with a statement play: a refreshed Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a clear present-tense world. With Leigh Whannell at the helm with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. set for mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Eli Craig directs anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

At summer’s close, the WB camp drops the final chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Next is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re teams, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: throwback unease, trauma explicitly handled, plus otherworld rules that chill. Here the stakes rise, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The return delves further into myth, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, courting teens and the thirty something base. It bows in December, securing the winter cap.

SVOD Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

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

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a close quarters body horror study starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Then there is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Written and 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. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in 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 a clever angle. No bloated mythology. No IP hangover. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

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

Long Running Lines: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, with Francis Lawrence directing, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

What to Watch

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

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Big screen is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Projection: Fall pileup, winter curveball

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 battle for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

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

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The coming 2026 Horror season: entries, standalone ideas, plus A brimming Calendar optimized for jolts

Dek The upcoming scare year crowds from the jump with a January logjam, thereafter unfolds through summer corridors, and far into the holiday stretch, marrying marquee clout, new concepts, and well-timed counterprogramming. Studio marketers and platforms are leaning into tight budgets, box-office-first windows, and social-driven marketing that elevate the slate’s entries into broad-appeal conversations.

The genre’s posture for 2026

Horror filmmaking has established itself as the sturdy move in programming grids, a vertical that can lift when it catches and still buffer the exposure when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for leaders that mid-range pictures can steer pop culture, the following year continued the surge with director-led heat and quiet over-performers. The trend flowed into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and premium-leaning entries signaled there is demand for a variety of tones, from sequel tracks to one-and-done originals that play globally. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a roster that shows rare alignment across distributors, with clear date clusters, a equilibrium of known properties and new concepts, and a recommitted stance on exhibition windows that drive downstream revenue on premium video on demand and platforms.

Executives say the category now acts as a swing piece on the calendar. The genre can launch on almost any weekend, create a tight logline for previews and vertical videos, and punch above weight with crowds that turn out on previews Thursday and sustain through the second weekend if the title delivers. After a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 plan underscores assurance in that logic. The slate begins with a front-loaded January band, then plants flags in spring and early summer for audience offsets, while saving space for a September to October window that flows toward the Halloween corridor and beyond. The schedule also reflects the deeper integration of arthouse labels and digital platforms that can build gradually, create conversation, and move wide at the strategic time.

A further high-level trend is franchise tending across unified worlds and legacy IP. Distribution groups are not just pushing another follow-up. They are working to present connection with a heightened moment, whether that is a title presentation that conveys a fresh attitude or a casting pivot that ties a incoming chapter to a first wave. At the parallel to that, the visionaries behind the high-profile originals are prioritizing practical craft, real effects and place-driven backdrops. That interplay delivers the 2026 slate a smart balance of recognition and invention, which is what works overseas.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount marks the early tempo with two high-profile bets that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, marketing it as both a baton pass and a DNA-forward character piece. Production is active in Atlanta, and the directional approach suggests a heritage-honoring approach without recycling the last two entries’ sisters storyline. The studio is likely to mount a drive driven by iconic art, initial cast looks, and a trailer cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

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 creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will lean on. As a summer counter-slot, this one will generate mainstream recognition through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format supporting quick reframes to whatever shapes horror talk that spring.

Universal has three discrete bets. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is clean, melancholic, and logline-clear: a grieving man brings home an algorithmic mate that unfolds into a harmful mate. The date lines it up at the front of a thick month, with Universal’s marketing likely to iterate on strange in-person beats and quick hits that threads love and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a final title to become an teaser payoff closer to the first look. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s releases are set up as director events, with a teaser that holds back and a second trailer wave that define feel without revealing the concept. The prime October weekend creates space for Universal to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has established that a gnarly, physical-effects centered approach can feel cinematic on a middle budget. Frame it as a splatter summer horror blast that spotlights overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio places two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, holding a dependable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is billing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both franchise faithful and novices. The fall slot offers Sony space to build promo materials around canon, and practical creature work, elements that can amplify premium screens and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on obsessive craft and archaic language, this time driven by werewolf stories. The company has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is strong.

Digital platform strategies

Platform tactics for 2026 run on established tracks. The Universal horror run move to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a tiered path that elevates both initial urgency and subscription bumps in the post-theatrical. Prime Video continues to mix third-party pickups with global acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library engagement, using well-timed internal promotions, genre hubs, and featured rows to maximize the tail on overall cume. Netflix retains agility about original films and festival wins, scheduling horror entries on shorter runways and eventizing releases with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a paired of limited theatrical footprints and rapid platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has indicated interest to purchase select projects with accomplished filmmakers or A-list packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation heats up.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is structuring 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 direct: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, modernized for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a cinema-first plan for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the back half.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then activating the Christmas window to widen. That positioning has helped for director-led genre with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception justifies. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using select theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their audience.

Legacy titles versus originals

By proportion, 2026 favors the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness marquee value. The challenge, as ever, is brand wear. The operating solution is to frame each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is bringing forward character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a European tilt from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects add oxygen. 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 island survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the configuration is known enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Recent comps outline the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive window model that honored streaming windows did not deter a dual release from working when the brand was robust. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror punched above its weight in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they rotate perspective and widen scale. 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 paired-chapter approach, with chapters filmed consecutively, builds a path for marketing to relate entries through character arcs and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without lulls.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The creative meetings behind the 2026 entries telegraph a continued move toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that elevates unease and texture rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in feature stories and craft features before rolling out a teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and earns shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a self-referential reset that centers its original star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature work and production design, which fit with fan conventions and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel must-have. Look for trailers that highlight fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that explode in larger rooms.

How the year maps out

January is packed. 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 foggy reset amid larger brand plays. 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 stiff, but the variety of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

Winter into spring set up the summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. Universal’s 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 underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June Young & Cursed 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops no-compromise 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 run their PLF course.

Shoulder season into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a early fall window that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a opaque tease strategy and limited disclosures that center concept over reveals.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift card usage.

Title snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s virtual companion evolves into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 difficult boss try to survive on a rugged island as the hierarchy upends and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to nightmare, based on Cronin’s practical effects and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting premise that frames the panic through a preteen’s shifting subjective lens. Rating: forthcoming. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that pokes at present-day genre chatter and true crime preoccupations. Rating: TBD. Production: production booked 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: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a fresh family anchored to ancient dread. Rating: forthcoming. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A restart designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survivalist horror over action spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: closely held. Rating: TBA. Production: active. 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 time-true diction and elemental menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026 lands now

Three practical forces organize this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or shuffled in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and condensed 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 overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, precision scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Calendar math also matters. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will line up across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The sleeper chase continues in Q1, where lean-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 dark-horse hit of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, smart allocations, 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 surface detail, sonics, and cinematography that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Ready To Roar

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is recognizable IP where it plays, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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, edit tight trailers, keep secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.