Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primeval horror, a pulse pounding shocker, debuting Oct 2025 on top streamers

A blood-curdling mystic horror tale from author / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an primordial evil when passersby become tools in a devilish maze. Available this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking account of resilience and prehistoric entity that will redefine horror this cool-weather season. Created by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and immersive story follows five individuals who wake up imprisoned in a isolated shack under the sinister power of Kyra, a young woman possessed by a millennia-old religious nightmare. Ready yourself to be ensnared by a immersive adventure that intertwines gut-punch terror with ancient myths, debuting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a classic foundation in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is subverted when the entities no longer emerge from external sources, but rather within themselves. This portrays the most hidden aspect of the cast. The result is a riveting mind game where the story becomes a brutal struggle between divinity and wickedness.


In a remote woodland, five youths find themselves imprisoned under the unholy aura and infestation of a haunted being. As the companions becomes paralyzed to break her will, stranded and hunted by entities beyond reason, they are obligated to deal with their worst nightmares while the countdown brutally ticks toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread grows and bonds shatter, pressuring each protagonist to challenge their character and the philosophy of self-determination itself. The risk intensify with every breath, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that harmonizes unearthly horror with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to channel instinctual horror, an force that predates humanity, emerging via emotional fractures, and wrestling with a power that dismantles free will when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra required summoning something far beyond human desperation. She is unaware until the haunting manifests, and that conversion is shocking because it is so emotional.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be released for streaming beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—delivering fans worldwide can survive this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its first preview, which has garnered over notable views.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, spreading the horror to horror fans worldwide.


Mark your calendar for this heart-stopping spiral into evil. Join *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to dive into these fearful discoveries about the human condition.


For exclusive trailers, production insights, and promotions from those who lived it, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across social media and visit the official website.





Contemporary horror’s decisive shift: the year 2025 U.S. release slate Mixes biblical-possession ideas, indie terrors, alongside series shake-ups

Ranging from last-stand terror saturated with old testament echoes all the way to franchise returns together with keen independent perspectives, 2025 looks like the most stratified together with tactically planned year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. Major studios plant stakes across the year using marquee IP, concurrently platform operators saturate the fall with fresh voices plus archetypal fear. On the independent axis, festival-forward creators is fueled by the carry of a peak 2024 circuit. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, notably this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are targeted, hence 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Premium genre swings back

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 accelerates.

the Universal camp sets the tone with a statement play: a refreshed Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, but a crisp modern milieu. With Leigh Whannell at the helm fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. timed for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Eli Craig directs featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early reactions hint at fangs.

When summer fades, Warner’s schedule unveils the final movement of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson again directs, and those signature textures resurface: period tinged dread, trauma as text, and eerie supernatural logic. The stakes escalate here, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, grows the animatronic horror lineup, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It books December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streaming Firsts: No Budget, No Problem

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

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a body horror chamber piece including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn with Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is an astute call. No overinflated mythology. No franchise baggage. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Long Running Lines: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, with Francis Lawrence directing, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Trends to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

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

SVOD originals harden up
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

The Road Ahead: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

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. 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. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The approaching genre calendar year ahead: brand plays, non-franchise titles, as well as A busy Calendar designed for nightmares

Dek The brand-new horror season stacks immediately with a January bottleneck, from there flows through the mid-year, and running into the year-end corridor, mixing brand equity, creative pitches, and well-timed alternatives. Major distributors and platforms are prioritizing tight budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and influencer-ready assets that convert these offerings into mainstream chatter.

How the genre looks for 2026

Horror filmmaking has shown itself to be the predictable lever in studio slates, a lane that can accelerate when it breaks through and still hedge the risk when it stumbles. After 2023 proved to studio brass that low-to-mid budget horror vehicles can dominate social chatter, the following year carried the beat with visionary-driven titles and sleeper breakouts. The upswing fed into 2025, where returns and festival-grade titles underscored there is a market for different modes, from continued chapters to fresh IP that play globally. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a programming that is strikingly coherent across studios, with mapped-out bands, a spread of familiar brands and untested plays, and a tightened focus on big-screen windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium home window and OTT platforms.

Insiders argue the genre now serves as a swing piece on the slate. Horror can open on most weekends, furnish a grabby hook for spots and short-form placements, and lead with patrons that arrive on preview nights and maintain momentum through the subsequent weekend if the release works. Exiting a work stoppage lag, the 2026 layout underscores faith in that setup. The year kicks off with a crowded January block, then primes spring and early summer for contrast, while leaving room for a fall run that flows toward holiday-adjacent weekends and into early November. The program also includes the stronger partnership of arthouse labels and subscription services that can grow from platform, stoke social talk, and roll out at the proper time.

A second macro trend is IP stewardship across connected story worlds and long-running brands. The studios are not just greenlighting another installment. They are working to present ongoing narrative with a must-see charge, whether that is a title design that telegraphs a re-angled tone or a star attachment that bridges a fresh chapter to a heyday. At the in tandem, the filmmakers behind the top original plays are embracing on-set craft, real effects and place-driven backdrops. That combination offers the 2026 slate a robust balance of brand comfort and novelty, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount marks the early tempo with two high-profile releases that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the focus, steering it as both a lineage transfer and a rootsy character study. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance suggests a memory-charged strategy without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Look for a marketing run stacked with franchise iconography, character spotlights, and a two-beat trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will feature. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will hunt wide buzz through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format permitting quick shifts to whatever shapes horror talk that spring.

Universal has three discrete strategies. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is efficient, soulful, and high-concept: a grieving man activates an machine companion that shifts into a killer companion. The date lines it up at the front of a thick month, with the studio’s marketing likely to reprise viral uncanny stunts and short reels that melds longing and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title reveal to become an event moment closer to the initial promo. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele titles are sold as event films, with a teaser with minimal detail and a subsequent trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The spooky-season slot gives Universal room to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has established that a gritty, hands-on effects treatment can feel deluxe on a disciplined budget. Expect a grime-caked summer horror shock that pushes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio books two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, sustaining a evergreen supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio 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 charge to serve both players and newcomers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign creative around universe detail, and creature work, elements that can fuel premium format interest and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror defined by meticulous craft and textual fidelity, this time driven by werewolf stories. The company has already set the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is supportive.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform tactics for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s genre entries feed copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a ordering that elevates both initial urgency and subscription bumps in the later window. Prime Video interleaves licensed films with worldwide buys and limited cinema engagements when the data points to it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library curation, using in-app campaigns, seasonal hubs, and staff picks to extend momentum on the 2026 genre total. Netflix keeps flexible about originals and festival deals, finalizing horror entries closer to launch and positioning as event drops go-lives with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a laddered of precision theatrical plays and accelerated platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a per-project basis. The platform has proven amenable to take on select projects with top-tier auteurs or star packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for retention when the genre conversation intensifies.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 track with two franchise steps. 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 foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, recalibrated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late-season weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the year-end corridor to increase reach. That positioning has served the company well for filmmaker-first horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception allows. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using limited theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their community.

Known brands versus new stories

By proportion, 2026 leans toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap marquee value. The potential drawback, as ever, is viewer burnout. The pragmatic answer is to sell each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is spotlighting character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a continental coloration from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the configuration is comforting enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Rolling three-year comps make sense of the plan. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that respected streaming windows did not obstruct a day-date move from winning when the brand was powerful. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror surged in large-format rooms. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they shift POV and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, allows marketing to bridge entries through personae and themes and to leave creative active without dead zones.

How the films are being made

The shop talk behind the upcoming entries forecast a continued shift toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is on track 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 allowing efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and era-true language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in long-lead press and craft coverage before rolling out a tone piece that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and creates shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta-horror reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature work and production design, which fit with fan conventions and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel key. Look for trailers that elevate pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that benefit on big speakers.

How the year maps out

January is busy. 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 moody palate cleanser amid macro-brand pushes. The month closes 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 serious, but the range of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth endures.

Pre-summer months set up the summer. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with 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 spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. 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 rotated off PLF.

Back half into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil follows September 18, a early fall window that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a peekaboo tease plan and limited pre-release reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and card redemption.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s synthetic partner shifts into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. 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 struggle to survive on a remote island as the power dynamic flips and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to menace, built on Cronin’s material craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 household haunting premise that teases the fright of a child’s wobbly read. Rating: TBD. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that pokes at present-day genre chatter and true-crime buzz. Rating: undetermined. Production: shoot planned for 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 breaks out, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new household lashed to older hauntings. Rating: to be announced. this website Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward true survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: undetermined. Production: continuing. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-specific language and elemental fear. Rating: pending. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three workable forces inform this lineup. First, production that paused or migrated in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming releases. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, precision scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Calendar math also matters. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can capture a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will cluster across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, 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 ideal band. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where midrange-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a 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 escalate across the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, soundscape, and imagery 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 Shapes Up Strong

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand equity where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the fear sell the seats.