Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens ancient terror, a hair raising feature, launching October 2025 across leading streamers

An spine-tingling spiritual thriller from dramatist / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an primordial force when unrelated individuals become pawns in a satanic game. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping depiction of resistance and primeval wickedness that will redefine the horror genre this Halloween season. Visualized by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and cinematic fearfest follows five teens who awaken confined in a secluded wooden structure under the menacing influence of Kyra, a troubled woman inhabited by a legendary sacrosanct terror. Steel yourself to be ensnared by a audio-visual outing that intertwines instinctive fear with timeless legends, streaming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a enduring theme in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is reimagined when the spirits no longer manifest from elsewhere, but rather internally. This depicts the most sinister aspect of all involved. The result is a psychologically brutal mental war where the conflict becomes a unforgiving clash between innocence and sin.


In a haunting terrain, five youths find themselves confined under the possessive rule and grasp of a unidentified female presence. As the companions becomes unresisting to withstand her command, stranded and stalked by unknowns impossible to understand, they are compelled to deal with their soulful dreads while the deathwatch relentlessly ticks toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety escalates and links fracture, driving each survivor to doubt their being and the integrity of freedom of choice itself. The stakes rise with every second, delivering a paranormal ride that combines occult fear with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to tap into primitive panic, an power before modern man, influencing emotional fractures, and confronting a being that threatens selfhood when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra demanded embodying something more primal than sorrow. She is in denial until the demon emerges, and that turn is harrowing because it is so close.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—giving watchers in all regions can watch this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its original clip, which has attracted over strong viewer count.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, extending the thrill to a worldwide audience.


Join this visceral ride through nightmares. Enter *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to survive these terrifying truths about free will.


For featurettes, filmmaker commentary, and promotions from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your socials and visit the movie portal.





American horror’s major pivot: 2025 across markets U.S. rollouts integrates ancient-possession motifs, festival-born jolts, alongside brand-name tremors

Ranging from last-stand terror suffused with biblical myth and onward to series comebacks alongside sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 looks like the most dimensioned plus strategic year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. major banners bookend the months via recognizable brands, while OTT services front-load the fall with discovery plays and scriptural shivers. On another front, horror’s indie wing is buoyed by the momentum of a record-setting 2024 festival season. With Halloween holding the peak, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A fat September–October lane is customary now, distinctly in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are surgical, and 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige fear returns

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s slate leads off the quarter with a confident swing: a modernized Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, instead in a current-day frame. Led by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. landing in 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 brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Under Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer wanes, Warner’s slate releases the last chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson re teams, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: retro dread, trauma explicitly handled, with ghostly inner logic. The bar is raised this go, 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 release that travels on brand alone. The follow up digs further into canon, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It books December, securing the winter cap.

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 cold-case linked horror tapestry splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a two hander body horror spiral anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga starring Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is a clever angle. No bloated mythology. No brand fatigue. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

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 steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

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 staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Long Running Lines: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, under Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

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.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror comes roaring back
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Forward View: Autumn density and winter pivot

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The forthcoming 2026 genre Year Ahead: follow-ups, universe starters, as well as A Crowded Calendar geared toward shocks

Dek: The arriving scare calendar packs in short order with a January glut, thereafter extends through summer, and running into the year-end corridor, weaving series momentum, novel approaches, and savvy calendar placement. The major players are leaning into right-sized spends, theatrical leads, and shareable marketing that convert these releases into mainstream chatter.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The horror marketplace has shown itself to be the predictable counterweight in programming grids, a corner that can spike when it breaks through and still insulate the drawdown when it under-delivers. After 2023 signaled to top brass that cost-conscious genre plays can galvanize audience talk, 2024 carried the beat with director-led heat and surprise hits. The upswing rolled into 2025, where revived properties and arthouse crossovers highlighted there is capacity for many shades, from series extensions to non-IP projects that scale internationally. The result for 2026 is a schedule that presents tight coordination across studios, with purposeful groupings, a pairing of household franchises and first-time concepts, and a renewed focus on exclusive windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium digital rental and subscription services.

Schedulers say the horror lane now serves as a utility player on the distribution slate. The genre can premiere on open real estate, provide a tight logline for creative and vertical videos, and over-index with moviegoers that arrive on advance nights and stick through the next pass if the title hits. In the wake of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 rhythm exhibits trust in that engine. The year opens with a loaded January stretch, then uses spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while keeping space for a autumn push that extends to late October and into November. The gridline also reflects the expanded integration of arthouse labels and streamers that can nurture a platform play, spark evangelism, and go nationwide at the optimal moment.

An added macro current is IP stewardship across interlocking continuities and legacy IP. Major shops are not just rolling another chapter. They are moving to present brand continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a typeface approach that flags a new vibe or a star attachment that bridges a next entry to a classic era. At the concurrently, the creative teams behind the marquee originals are prioritizing on-set craft, physical gags and concrete locations. That fusion delivers 2026 a smart balance of familiarity and invention, which is why the genre exports well.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount sets the tone early with two headline releases that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, Get More Info framing it as both a handoff and a back-to-basics relationship-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the authorial approach hints at a fan-service aware angle without rehashing the last two entries’ sisters thread. Look for a marketing run fueled by legacy iconography, character previews, and a tease cadence aimed at late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will stress. As a counterweight in summer, this one will seek general-audience talk through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format enabling quick turns to whatever leads the discourse that spring.

Universal has three distinct lanes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is clean, soulful, and commercial: a grieving man purchases an virtual partner that unfolds into a fatal companion. The date slots it at the front of a stacked January, with the studio’s marketing likely to reprise uncanny live moments and brief clips that blurs love and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a title drop to become an fan moment closer to the initial promo. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. His entries are positioned as signature events, with a teaser that reveals little and a subsequent trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The pre-Halloween slot opens a lane to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on 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 leads, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has demonstrated that a tactile, practical-first method can feel prestige on a controlled budget. Position this as a gore-forward summer horror rush that maximizes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio mounts two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, sustaining a steady supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is billing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both devotees and newcomers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build campaign pieces around setting detail, and monster design, elements that can amplify large-format demand and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains Eggers’ run of period horror driven by careful craft and period speech, this time engaging werewolf myth. The label has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is glowing.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform strategies for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre slate shift to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a structure that enhances both first-week urgency and platform bumps in the after-window. Prime Video interleaves licensed titles with international acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library curation, using timely promos, horror hubs, and collection rows to maximize the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps options open about Netflix originals and festival buys, scheduling horror entries with shorter lead times and turning into events premieres with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a paired of targeted cinema placements and swift platform pivots that translates talk to trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown appetite to purchase select projects with top-tier auteurs or name-led packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for platform stickiness when the genre conversation ramps.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 track with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is no-nonsense: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, modernized for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a cinema-first plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the September weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday dates to expand. That positioning has served the company well for elevated genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception allows. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using select theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their audience.

Brands and originals

By volume, the 2026 slate favors the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use franchise value. The concern, as ever, is audience fatigue. The standing approach is to present each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is centering character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is floating a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-inflected take from a new voice. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the package is assuring enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Comparable trends from recent years outline the method. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that held distribution windows did not deter a day-date try from winning when the brand was trusted. In 2024, art-forward horror hit big in premium formats. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they reframe POV and elevate scope. 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-film strategy, with chapters filmed consecutively, creates space for marketing to interlace chapters through personae and themes and to leave creative active without dead zones.

Production craft signals

The craft rooms behind this slate indicate a continued tilt toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that highlights atmosphere and fear rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in craft journalism and department features before rolling out a tease that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and creates shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta pivot that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature execution and sets, which are ideal for fan-con activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel irresistible. Look for trailers that center hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that explode in larger rooms.

The schedule at a glance

January is loaded. 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 big-brand pushes. The month finishes 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 serious, but the tone spread ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

Winter into spring build the summer base. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late summer into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder season window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited advance reveals that trade in concept over detail.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card redemption.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s intelligent companion mutates into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with 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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively 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 travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: tone-first 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 abrasive boss battle to survive on a desolate island as the chain of command shifts and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 TBA in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to chill, driven by Cronin’s practical craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. 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 home-set haunting premise that interrogates the chill of a child’s mercurial POV. Rating: rating pending. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed and headline-actor led ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A genre lampoon that needles present-day genre chatter and true crime fascinations. Rating: TBA. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 surges, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a fresh family bound to old terrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: pending. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on true survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: forthcoming. Production: continuing. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and bone-deep menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. 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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026, why now

Three hands-on forces organize this lineup. First, production that eased or shuffled in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, movies a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming landings. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work bite-size scare clips from test screenings, curated scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, making room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will stack across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can use 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 stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The sleeper chase continues in Q1, where value-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first unexpected 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.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, soundcraft, and image-making 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 Is Well Positioned

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is IP strength where it matters, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, protect the mystery, and let the chills sell the seats.