Primordial Horror Ascends in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling feature, premiering Oct 2025 on premium platforms

A spine-tingling mystic horror tale from literary architect / director Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an primordial malevolence when passersby become subjects in a demonic maze. Available this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, the YouTube platform, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing account of endurance and primordial malevolence that will transform the fear genre this fall. Created by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and eerie motion picture follows five individuals who awaken locked in a wilderness-bound shelter under the unfriendly sway of Kyra, a mysterious girl controlled by a 2,000-year-old Old Testament spirit. Arm yourself to be captivated by a big screen venture that fuses raw fear with spiritual backstory, landing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a iconic pillar in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is reimagined when the dark entities no longer arise from external sources, but rather deep within. This symbolizes the grimmest element of the protagonists. The result is a psychologically brutal spiritual tug-of-war where the conflict becomes a unforgiving clash between righteousness and malevolence.


In a forsaken wild, five adults find themselves imprisoned under the ghastly presence and grasp of a unknown entity. As the characters becomes unresisting to evade her power, disconnected and hunted by beings unfathomable, they are driven to wrestle with their raw vulnerabilities while the deathwatch harrowingly ticks onward toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia deepens and associations dissolve, requiring each survivor to scrutinize their essence and the idea of personal agency itself. The pressure magnify with every tick, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that marries spiritual fright with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to dive into pure dread, an threat beyond recorded history, feeding on soul-level flaws, and challenging a darkness that questions who we are when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra called for internalizing something darker than pain. She is ignorant until the curse activates, and that transformation is terrifying because it is so visceral.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be released for home viewing beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—giving fans anywhere can witness this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its original clip, which has collected over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, delivering the story to international horror buffs.


Make sure to see this bone-rattling exploration of dread. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to face these evil-rooted truths about mankind.


For teasers, production insights, and press updates from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursed across Instagram and Twitter and visit the movie portal.





Current horror’s Turning Point: calendar year 2025 American release plan braids together ancient-possession motifs, indie terrors, alongside returning-series thunder

From grit-forward survival fare suffused with near-Eastern lore as well as legacy revivals as well as acutely observed indies, 2025 appears poised to be the most textured together with precision-timed year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. studio majors stabilize the year by way of signature titles, while streamers front-load the fall with new perspectives and old-world menace. At the same time, festival-forward creators is riding the uplift from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Since Halloween is the prized date, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, notably this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are exacting, thus 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: High-craft horror returns

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

Universal starts the year with an audacious swing: a modernized Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, but a sharp contemporary setting. Guided by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. Slated for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Under Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

When summer fades, the Warner lot sets loose the finale from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Though the outline is tried, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

After that, 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 centered writing, plus otherworld rules that chill. This run ups the stakes, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The follow up digs further into canon, grows the animatronic horror lineup, bridging teens and legacy players. It arrives in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Offerings: No Budget, No Problem

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a body horror chamber piece pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it looks like a certain fall stream.

In the mix sits Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative featuring Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No overinflated mythology. No continuity burden. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, with Francis Lawrence directing, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in 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

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror reemerges
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

What’s Next: Fall stack and winter swing card

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The oncoming chiller Year Ahead: next chapters, non-franchise titles, paired with A hectic Calendar calibrated for shocks

Dek: The fresh horror cycle stacks from day one with a January traffic jam, thereafter extends through summer, and deep into the late-year period, mixing series momentum, original angles, and well-timed counterplay. Distributors with platforms are prioritizing cost discipline, theatrical leads, and shareable marketing that elevate these films into all-audience topics.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This space has solidified as the consistent move in studio lineups, a genre that can accelerate when it resonates and still limit the risk when it misses. After 2023 reassured greenlighters that modestly budgeted horror vehicles can command social chatter, the following year kept the drumbeat going with signature-voice projects and surprise hits. The trend moved into 2025, where revivals and awards-minded projects highlighted there is demand for different modes, from returning installments to original one-offs that travel well. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a slate that looks unusually coordinated across the industry, with planned clusters, a mix of legacy names and new pitches, and a revived priority on exclusive windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium video on demand and home platforms.

Distribution heads claim the space now slots in as a schedule utility on the rollout map. Horror can launch on numerous frames, furnish a grabby hook for creative and platform-native cuts, and punch above weight with ticket buyers that come out on previews Thursday and return through the second frame if the offering hits. In the wake of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 plan telegraphs certainty in that logic. The year starts with a thick January lineup, then taps spring and early summer for audience offsets, while clearing room for a September to October window that runs into the Halloween corridor and into early November. The gridline also shows the increasing integration of indie arms and subscription services that can platform a title, generate chatter, and move wide at the proper time.

A second macro trend is franchise tending across ongoing universes and storied titles. The companies are not just greenlighting another chapter. They are shaping as lore continuity with a occasion, whether that is a title treatment that telegraphs a re-angled navigate here tone or a talent selection that bridges a new entry to a heyday. At the parallel to that, the creative teams behind the headline-grabbing originals are leaning into on-set craft, on-set effects and distinct locales. That alloy gives 2026 a solid mix of recognition and newness, which is the formula for international play.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount defines the early cadence with two high-profile releases that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the heart, marketing it as both a lineage transfer and a foundation-forward character-first story. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the creative posture announces a roots-evoking bent without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign rooted in iconic art, character spotlights, and a rollout cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects 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 in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will feature. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will pursue large awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format inviting quick shifts to whatever dominates trend lines that spring.

Universal has three discrete entries. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is simple, heartbroken, and big-hook: a grieving man purchases an digital partner that becomes a perilous partner. The date positions it at the front of a front-loaded month, with the marketing arm likely to replay creepy live activations and brief clips that melds devotion and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a branding reveal to become an PR pop closer to the first trailer. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. The filmmaker’s films are set up as director events, with a minimalist tease and a second trailer wave that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The late-October frame allows Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has proven that a visceral, physical-effects centered strategy can feel elevated on a lean spend. Look for a red-band summer horror surge that pushes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio deploys two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, preserving a reliable supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch builds quietly. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what the studio is marketing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both core fans and fresh viewers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build promo materials around lore, and monster craft, elements that can stoke large-format demand and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by careful craft and historical speech, this time focused on werewolf legend. Focus Features has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Windowing plans in 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s genre slate shift to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a tiered path that maximizes both week-one demand and subscriber lifts in the later phase. Prime Video pairs licensed titles with world buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library engagement, using curated hubs, holiday hubs, and handpicked rows to increase tail value on the 2026 genre total. Netflix stays nimble about originals and festival pickups, finalizing horror entries with shorter lead times and positioning as event drops premieres with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a paired of targeted cinema placements and swift platform pivots that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on horror-fan channels in the months that Get More Info follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a curated basis. The platform has shown a willingness to take on select projects with name filmmakers or marquee packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation builds.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 track with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is clear: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, upgraded for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has signaled a cinema-first plan for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the October weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, piloting the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then working the holiday dates to open out. That positioning has proved effective for prestige horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception allows. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using precision theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their membership.

IP versus fresh ideas

By weight, the 2026 slate favors the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate legacy awareness. The trade-off, as ever, is audience fatigue. The go-to fix is to pitch each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is bringing forward character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a Francophone tone from a fresh helmer. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the cast-creatives package is grounded enough to build pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Past-three-year patterns frame the approach. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that kept streaming intact did not foreclose a dual release from hitting when the brand was sticky. In 2024, director-craft horror punched above its weight in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they rotate perspective and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters lensed back-to-back, creates space for marketing to thread films through protagonists and motifs and to sustain campaign assets without long breaks.

Craft and creative trends

The production chatter behind 2026 horror indicate a continued bias toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that underscores grain and menace rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in long-lead features and department features before rolling out a atmospheric tease that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and earns shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta refresh that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster aesthetics and world-building, which fit with con floor moments and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel primary. Look for trailers that highlight hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and Get More Info hush beats that land in premium houses.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is busy. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a foggy reset amid headline IP. The month buttons 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 formidable, but the menu of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Late winter and spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads 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 playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Back half into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a pre-October slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a minimalist tease strategy and limited teasers that put concept first.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift card usage.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s algorithmic partner becomes something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete 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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

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 confront a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 tough boss struggle to survive on a cut-off island as the power balance of power reverses and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to fright, based on Cronin’s in-camera craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting scenario that toys with the fright of a child’s unreliable POV. Rating: pending. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural 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 spoof revival that satirizes present-day genre chatter and true crime fascinations. Rating: undetermined. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 flares, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new household tethered to lingering terrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: pending. Logline: A fresh restart designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival-core horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: forthcoming. Production: continuing. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

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-precise speech and primordial menace. Rating: TBA. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. 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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three practical forces drive this lineup. First, production that paused or rearranged in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify clippable moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Calendar math also matters. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will stack across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where cost-efficient genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever 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.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit 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 hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, efficient screen counts, 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 detail, sound field, 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, Ready To Roar

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand equity where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the fear sell the seats.