Antediluvian Dread Surfaces in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nightmare fueled horror feature, launching Oct 2025 on top digital platforms

An bone-chilling unearthly fright fest from screenwriter / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an ancient malevolence when outsiders become instruments in a demonic experiment. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping chronicle of perseverance and prehistoric entity that will revamp scare flicks this cool-weather season. Crafted by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and claustrophobic screenplay follows five figures who find themselves imprisoned in a remote cottage under the malevolent control of Kyra, a young woman claimed by a ancient sacrosanct terror. Steel yourself to be seized by a big screen ride that combines raw fear with arcane tradition, arriving on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a mainstay tradition in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is radically shifted when the entities no longer emerge outside their bodies, but rather from their psyche. This depicts the shadowy shade of the players. The result is a bone-chilling emotional conflict where the events becomes a unyielding tug-of-war between good and evil.


In a desolate terrain, five figures find themselves sealed under the malicious force and infestation of a secretive person. As the ensemble becomes paralyzed to deny her power, disconnected and stalked by spirits ungraspable, they are thrust to reckon with their deepest fears while the doomsday meter unforgivingly ticks onward toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease deepens and ties erode, pressuring each participant to evaluate their identity and the structure of volition itself. The risk rise with every instant, delivering a horror experience that marries paranormal dread with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to dig into raw dread, an power older than civilization itself, manipulating mental cracks, and challenging a evil that questions who we are when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra needed manifesting something darker than pain. She is in denial until the control shifts, and that turn is bone-chilling because it is so emotional.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for home viewing beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing fans no matter where they are can dive into this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its initial teaser, which has been viewed over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, delivering the story to scare fans abroad.


Be sure to catch this unforgettable ride through nightmares. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to face these dark realities about the psyche.


For previews, special features, and reveals from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YACMovie across Facebook and TikTok and visit our horror hub.





Contemporary horror’s sea change: the 2025 cycle domestic schedule fuses primeval-possession lore, indie terrors, together with brand-name tremors

Ranging from pressure-cooker survival tales inspired by scriptural legend and including returning series as well as pointed art-house angles, 2025 is tracking to be the most complex along with strategic year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. the big studios lock in tentpoles with familiar IP, in parallel digital services pack the fall with fresh voices plus legend-coded dread. On the festival side, the artisan tier is drafting behind the echoes from a record 2024 festival run. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, distinctly in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are disciplined, hence 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: The Return of Prestige Fear

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 accelerates.

Universal Pictures kicks off the frame with a big gambit: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Steered by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. landing in mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Helmed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

By late summer, Warner’s pipeline sets loose the finale from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the memorable motifs return: old school creep, trauma in the foreground, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. Here the stakes rise, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The new chapter enriches the lore, builds out the animatronic fear crew, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It books December, holding the cold season’s end.

Platform Plays: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a tight space body horror vignette pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is virtually assured for fall.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is a calculated bet. No puffed out backstory. No brand fatigue. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

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 premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy Lines: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Trend Lines

Myth turns mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Forecast: Fall pileup, winter curveball

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The coming 2026 spook slate: Sequels, original films, together with A brimming Calendar geared toward screams

Dek The emerging genre calendar stacks from the jump with a January pile-up, after that runs through summer, and straight through the December corridor, fusing brand equity, inventive spins, and calculated calendar placement. Studios and platforms are embracing smart costs, theatrical leads, and social-fueled campaigns that frame genre titles into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This space has become the sturdy option in distribution calendars, a category that can lift when it breaks through and still protect the losses when it falls short. After the 2023 year showed strategy teams that mid-range entries can command cultural conversation, 2024 extended the rally with director-led heat and slow-burn breakouts. The head of steam translated to the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and elevated films confirmed there is an opening for multiple flavors, from ongoing IP entries to original features that translate worldwide. The end result for the 2026 slate is a roster that looks unusually coordinated across studios, with planned clusters, a blend of marquee IP and new concepts, and a tightened attention on exhibition windows that fuel later windows on premium home window and platforms.

Planners observe the horror lane now serves as a fill-in ace on the distribution slate. Horror can launch on nearly any frame, provide a clean hook for promo reels and UGC-friendly snippets, and exceed norms with moviegoers that respond on previews Thursday and stick through the next pass if the picture works. On the heels of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 plan shows belief in that equation. The slate starts with a loaded January run, then uses spring and early summer for balance, while reserving space for a September to October window that pushes into the fright window and into November. The arrangement also illustrates the continuing integration of specialty distributors and streamers that can platform a title, build word of mouth, and roll out at the inflection point.

A companion trend is brand curation across unified worlds and legacy IP. Big banners are not just greenlighting another continuation. They are looking to package connection with a heightened moment, whether that is a title treatment that announces a tonal shift or a lead change that reconnects a new installment to a initial period. At the very same time, the helmers behind the most watched originals are favoring real-world builds, in-camera effects and place-driven backdrops. That alloy affords the 2026 slate a vital pairing of brand comfort and invention, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount establishes early momentum with two big-ticket entries that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the front, steering it as both a baton pass and a origin-leaning character-driven entry. Production is active in Atlanta, and the authorial approach conveys a legacy-leaning framework without rehashing the last two entries’ family thread. Anticipate a campaign stacked with classic imagery, first images of characters, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm hitting late fall. Distribution is theatrical 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 reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will spotlight. As a summer counter-slot, this one will go after four-quadrant chatter through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick shifts to whatever owns trend lines that spring.

Universal has three specific pushes. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is clean, loss-driven, and big-hook: a grieving man sets up an AI companion that escalates into a fatal companion. The date puts it at the front of a thick month, with Universal’s campaign likely to replay strange in-person beats and micro spots that interweaves devotion and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a official title to become an fan moment closer to the first look. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele’s pictures are positioned as event films, with a teaser with minimal detail and a follow-up trailer set that define feel without revealing the concept. The spooky-season slot offers Universal room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has long shown that a blood-soaked, on-set effects led method can feel prestige on a controlled budget. Expect a blood-and-grime summer horror surge that maximizes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio lines up two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, extending a trusty supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is presenting as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both franchise faithful and novices. The fall slot hands Sony window to build campaign pieces around environmental design, and monster craft, elements that can lift IMAX and PLF uptake and fan-culture participation.

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 sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in immersive craft and historical speech, this time set against lycan legends. The company has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform strategies for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s slate shift to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a cadence that elevates both initial urgency and subscription bumps in the late-window. Prime Video blends acquired titles with global originals and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library curation, using in-app campaigns, seasonal hubs, and handpicked rows to lengthen the tail on aggregate take. Netflix remains opportunistic about own-slate titles and festival pickups, securing horror entries with shorter lead times and turning into events releases with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a one-two of precision releases and swift platform pivots that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a situational basis. The platform has shown a willingness to acquire select projects with award winners or headline-cast packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for platform stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is curating a 2026 pipeline with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is uncomplicated: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, updated for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the fall weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then turning to the year-end corridor to go wider. That positioning has paid off for director-led genre with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception allows. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using select theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Legacy titles versus originals

By proportion, 2026 tips toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on franchise value. The potential drawback, as ever, is viewer burnout. The go-to fix is to brand each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is bringing forward character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a Francophone tone from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the deal build is recognizable enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

The last three-year set make sense of the approach. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that observed windows did not preclude a simultaneous release test from performing when the brand was powerful. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror punched above its weight in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they change perspective and grow 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 double feature plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, creates space for marketing to relate entries through cast and motif and to hold creative in the market without hiatuses.

Craft and creative trends

The filmmaking conversations behind the upcoming entries telegraph a continued turn toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that underscores tone and tension rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in feature stories and guild coverage before rolling out a preview that leans on mood over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and creates shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta inflection that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster aesthetics and world-building, which are ideal for convention activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel essential. Look for trailers that underscore surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that shine in top rooms.

Month-by-month map

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 quiet contrast amid marquee brands. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the variety of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth persists.

February through May prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

August and September into October leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil follows September 18, a bridge slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a opaque tease strategy and limited information drops that put concept first.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card redemption.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s algorithmic partner shifts into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively 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 comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: gothic-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 severe boss claw to survive on a remote island as the power balance inverts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

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 terror, based on Cronin’s practical effects and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting setup that toys with the horror of a child’s unreliable senses. Rating: pending. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that targets today’s horror trends and true-crime crazes. Rating: pending. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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: TBA. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new household bound to past horrors. Rating: TBD. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits have a peek at these guys the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A restart designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on classic survival-horror tone over action-centric bombast. Rating: undetermined. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in progress. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 historical diction and primordial menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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: date shifting, fall likely.

Why this year, why now

Three workable forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that paused or re-sequenced in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage clippable moments from test screenings, managed scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, freeing space for genre entries that can capture a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will compete across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where low-to-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 exploit those windows. 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. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, 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 gain momentum, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night 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 detail, sound field, and visual design 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 update. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand equity where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, keep the secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.