Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases mythic darkness, a fear soaked thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on top streamers

A bone-chilling otherworldly nightmare movie from cinematographer / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an long-buried entity when guests become puppets in a cursed game. Going live on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a intense tale of resistance and ancient evil that will resculpt horror this scare season. Directed by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and cinematic screenplay follows five people who wake up isolated in a cut-off house under the hostile manipulation of Kyra, a central character occupied by a biblical-era scriptural evil. Anticipate to be enthralled by a audio-visual spectacle that combines primitive horror with timeless legends, debuting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a recurring foundation in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is reversed when the monsters no longer originate from an outside force, but rather internally. This suggests the most terrifying facet of the players. The result is a emotionally raw cognitive warzone where the conflict becomes a soul-crushing clash between heaven and hell.


In a bleak wilderness, five youths find themselves imprisoned under the unholy rule and possession of a enigmatic being. As the team becomes powerless to oppose her command, cut off and attacked by presences unimaginable, they are forced to stand before their soulful dreads while the clock unforgivingly moves toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear swells and partnerships implode, driving each survivor to question their being and the idea of free will itself. The consequences magnify with every fleeting time, delivering a scare-fueled ride that marries unearthly horror with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to extract deep fear, an entity from ancient eras, filtering through fragile psyche, and questioning a spirit that erodes the self when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra demanded embodying something darker than pain. She is ignorant until the evil takes hold, and that flip is shocking because it is so intimate.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for worldwide release beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—providing horror lovers around the globe can survive this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its original clip, which has gathered over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, spreading the horror to scare fans abroad.


Join this visceral trip into the unknown. Experience *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to survive these spiritual awakenings about the psyche.


For film updates, production insights, and social posts straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across entertainment pages and visit the movie’s homepage.





American horror’s watershed moment: 2025 for genre fans domestic schedule blends old-world possession, Indie Shockers, stacked beside returning-series thunder

Spanning pressure-cooker survival tales drawn from biblical myth and including IP renewals and pointed art-house angles, 2025 looks like the genre’s most multifaceted as well as tactically planned year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. studio powerhouses plant stakes across the year using marquee IP, while streamers load up the fall with new perspectives paired with legend-coded dread. At the same time, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is surfing the carry from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, though in this cycle, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are surgical, which means 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: High-craft horror returns

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s schedule lights the fuse with an audacious swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, within a sleek contemporary canvas. With Leigh Whannell at the helm featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. arriving mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Steered by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer winds down, Warner’s slate delivers the closing chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson resumes command, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: 70s style chill, trauma as theme, and eerie supernatural logic. This run ups the stakes, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The follow up digs further into canon, thickens the animatronic pantheon, reaching teens and game grownups. It posts in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streaming Offerings: No Budget, No Problem

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a body horror chamber piece fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is destined for a fall landing.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn starring 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 film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No bloated canon. No sequel clutter. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

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

Long Running Lines: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Key Trends

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror retakes ground
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Big screen is a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Near Term Outlook: Fall saturation and a winter joker

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The upcoming fear calendar year ahead: Sequels, non-franchise titles, as well as A busy Calendar designed for screams

Dek: The brand-new genre slate crams early with a January bottleneck, before it flows through summer, and pushing into the festive period, fusing legacy muscle, fresh ideas, and strategic calendar placement. The major players are focusing on lean spends, theatrical leads, and social-driven marketing that position these pictures into culture-wide discussion.

How the genre looks for 2026

The field has solidified as the consistent tool in distribution calendars, a segment that can expand when it hits and still limit the liability when it under-delivers. After 2023 reminded strategy teams that efficiently budgeted fright engines can own cultural conversation, 2024 sustained momentum with buzzy auteur projects and under-the-radar smashes. The head of steam pushed into 2025, where re-entries and awards-minded projects made clear there is room for diverse approaches, from franchise continuations to original features that travel well. The result for 2026 is a grid that looks unusually coordinated across distributors, with intentional bunching, a equilibrium of brand names and original hooks, and a refocused priority on box-office windows that enhance post-theatrical value on PVOD and streaming.

Executives say the space now behaves like a wildcard on the programming map. Horror can roll out on numerous frames, furnish a tight logline for previews and UGC-friendly snippets, and outpace with viewers that show up on Thursday previews and stick through the second frame if the entry lands. On the heels of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 mapping shows confidence in that setup. The slate gets underway with a heavy January run, then leans on spring and early summer for audience offsets, while making space for a fall cadence that stretches into spooky season and past Halloween. The calendar also reflects the greater integration of indie distributors and streamers that can launch in limited release, generate chatter, and scale up at the strategic time.

A companion trend is series management across interlocking continuities and storied titles. Big banners are not just pushing another chapter. They are working to present continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a brandmark that conveys a fresh attitude or a casting choice that reconnects a incoming chapter to a first wave. At the very same time, the writer-directors behind the high-profile originals are doubling down on on-set craft, on-set effects and distinct locales. That mix produces 2026 a solid mix of trust and shock, which is what works overseas.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount leads early with two prominent releases that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the core, setting it up as both a legacy handover and a origin-leaning character-centered film. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the authorial approach points to a classic-referencing angle without recycling the last two entries’ sibling arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive leaning on legacy iconography, intro reveals, and a staggered trailer plan slated for late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will lean on. As a summer contrast play, this one will build broad awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick redirects to whatever defines the discourse that spring.

Universal has three differentiated pushes. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is straightforward, somber, and big-hook: a grieving man onboards an virtual partner that unfolds into a fatal companion. The date locates it at the front of a packed window, with the Universal machine likely to bring back eerie street stunts and short-form creative that threads devotion and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a name unveil to become an marketing beat closer to the teaser. 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 takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s releases are framed as marquee events, with a teaser that reveals little and a follow-up trailer set that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date gives the studio room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a tactile, prosthetic-heavy style can feel prestige on a tight budget. Position this as a viscera-heavy summer horror shot that leans into overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio launches two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, carrying a steady supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is marketing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both fans and curious audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build materials around world-building, and monster aesthetics, elements that can stoke IMAX and PLF uptake and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by rigorous craft and historical speech, this time set against lycan legends. The imprint has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is favorable.

Where the platforms fit in

Windowing plans in 2026 run on stable tracks. The Universal horror run land on copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a cadence that elevates both week-one demand and subscription bumps in the later phase. Prime Video continues to mix catalogue additions with cross-border buys and brief theater runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in archive usage, using in-app campaigns, October hubs, and curated rows to extend momentum on lifetime take. Netflix plays opportunist about original films and festival pickups, timing horror entries on shorter runways and staging as events drops with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a hybrid of targeted theatrical exposure and fast windowing that turns chatter to conversion. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has shown a willingness to secure select projects with accomplished filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation intensifies.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 arc with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is simple: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, refined for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the fall weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through select festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday frame to scale. That positioning has helped for filmmaker-first horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception prompts. Do not be surprised by 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 jointly, using limited runs to fuel evangelism that fuels their audience.

Balance of brands and originals

By tilt, 2026 skews toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap cultural cachet. The potential drawback, as ever, is overexposure. The pragmatic answer is to brand each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is centering character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-accented approach from a buzzed-about director. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the deal build is anchored enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years announce the model. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that respected streaming windows did not hamper a simultaneous release test from hitting when the brand was big. In 2024, art-forward horror exceeded expectations in premium large format. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they shift POV and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, creates space for marketing to connect the chapters through relationships and themes and to keep assets alive without lulls.

Craft and creative trends

The director conversations behind the upcoming entries telegraph a continued turn toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that centers atmosphere and fear rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that withholds plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and spurs shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta-horror reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will live or die on creature craft and set design, which are ideal for fan-con activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel necessary. Look for trailers that highlight razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that benefit on big speakers.

How the year maps out

January is stacked. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid bigger brand plays. The month ends 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 credible, but the menu of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth persists.

Late Q1 and spring stage summer. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can pop 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.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a bridge slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited asset reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and holiday gift-card burn.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s machine mate unfolds into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed 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. click to read more 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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: atmospheric game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her hard-edged boss claw to survive on a remote island as the power balance reverses and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to menace, grounded in Cronin’s practical craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting narrative that plays with the unease of a child’s mercurial POV. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-financed and toplined haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A parody return that pokes at present-day genre chatter and true crime preoccupations. Rating: TBD. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites breaks out, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new household entangled with lingering terrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A new start designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survivalist horror over action fireworks. Rating: pending. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: continuing. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

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 primordial menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026 and why now

Three execution-level forces drive this lineup. First, production that downshifted or recalendared in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming landings. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on repeatable beats from test screenings, select scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

The slot calculus is real. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will coexist across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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-hit hunt continues in Q1, where lower and mid-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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 this contact form Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, disciplined footprints, 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 materiality, soundscape, 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 Robust 2026 On Deck

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand heft where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, lock the reveals, and let the gasps sell the seats.