Mythic Evil emerges: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding chiller, launching October 2025 on top streamers

This hair-raising spiritual horror tale from scriptwriter / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an prehistoric terror when unknowns become conduits in a malevolent ordeal. Launching October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful story of staying alive and timeless dread that will resculpt the fear genre this season. Realized by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and cinematic fearfest follows five teens who emerge confined in a wilderness-bound lodge under the dark sway of Kyra, a possessed female haunted by a timeless sacrosanct terror. Steel yourself to be ensnared by a big screen event that blends visceral dread with arcane tradition, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a classic trope in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is redefined when the dark entities no longer appear beyond the self, but rather inside their minds. This depicts the haunting corner of all involved. The result is a emotionally raw mind game where the suspense becomes a merciless confrontation between virtue and vice.


In a abandoned natural abyss, five individuals find themselves marooned under the malicious presence and inhabitation of a unidentified entity. As the ensemble becomes helpless to fight her command, abandoned and pursued by unknowns beyond comprehension, they are compelled to wrestle with their deepest fears while the hours relentlessly strikes toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia intensifies and teams dissolve, urging each soul to reconsider their self and the concept of liberty itself. The danger rise with every second, delivering a nightmarish journey that weaves together unearthly horror with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to explore deep fear, an curse before modern man, manipulating psychological breaks, and exposing a power that tests the soul when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra meant evoking something rooted in terror. She is insensitive until the control shifts, and that transformation is deeply unsettling because it is so private.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for home viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—allowing fans from coast to coast can dive into this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its release of trailer #1, which has earned over notable views.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, offering the tale to global fright lovers.


Make sure to see this life-altering spiral into evil. Watch *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to dive into these evil-rooted truths about our species.


For previews, production news, and social posts from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across media channels and visit our spooky domain.





The horror genre’s sea change: 2025 in focus U.S. rollouts blends primeval-possession lore, microbudget gut-punches, paired with legacy-brand quakes

Across survival horror steeped in biblical myth as well as installment follow-ups as well as acutely observed indies, 2025 is lining up as the richest plus tactically planned year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. top-tier distributors bookend the months with established lines, even as OTT services stack the fall with first-wave breakthroughs plus archetypal fear. On the festival side, the art-house flank is carried on the echoes from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, but this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are surgical, hence 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal begins the calendar with a big gambit: a refreshed Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Directed by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. timed for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Directed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

When summer tapers, the Warner lot drops the final chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Despite a known recipe, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the memorable motifs return: retrograde shiver, trauma as theme, and a cold supernatural calculus. 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 picture that draws on name power. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, thickens the animatronic pantheon, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It drops in December, securing the winter cap.

SVOD Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a two hander body horror spiral pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Conceived 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 the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

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 a smart play. No overstuffed canon. No series drag. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Lines: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Trends to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror reemerges
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Season Ahead: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The new terror lineup: follow-ups, non-franchise titles, And A packed Calendar designed for Scares

Dek The upcoming terror cycle lines up from day one with a January crush, and then runs through the warm months, and well into the holiday stretch, balancing series momentum, novel approaches, and smart counterplay. Studios and platforms are relying on cost discipline, big-screen-first runs, and shareable marketing that transform these releases into cross-demo moments.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

This space has emerged as the dependable tool in distribution calendars, a lane that can break out when it lands and still insulate the drawdown when it stumbles. After the 2023 year demonstrated to decision-makers that mid-range horror vehicles can galvanize social chatter, 2024 sustained momentum with buzzy auteur projects and slow-burn breakouts. The energy rolled into 2025, where revivals and premium-leaning entries demonstrated there is an opening for different modes, from sequel tracks to non-IP projects that travel well. The takeaway for 2026 is a run that appears tightly organized across the major shops, with clear date clusters, a blend of recognizable IP and first-time concepts, and a revived emphasis on theater exclusivity that enhance post-theatrical value on PVOD and platforms.

Buyers contend the genre now serves as a plug-and-play option on the calendar. The genre can kick off on a wide range of weekends, supply a clear pitch for spots and short-form placements, and over-index with ticket buyers that come out on early shows and continue through the next pass if the picture delivers. In the wake of a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 mapping exhibits conviction in that equation. The slate kicks off with a heavy January window, then plants flags in spring and early summer for alternate plays, while reserving space for a fall cadence that carries into the Halloween corridor and into early November. The grid also includes the tightening integration of specialty distributors and streamers that can build gradually, generate chatter, and move wide at the optimal moment.

A further high-level trend is IP cultivation across linked properties and storied titles. Big banners are not just rolling another installment. They are aiming to frame brand continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a typeface approach that signals a refreshed voice or a casting choice that bridges a upcoming film to a initial period. At the parallel to that, the helmers behind the eagerly awaited originals are prioritizing practical craft, real effects and place-driven backdrops. That interplay yields 2026 a smart balance of assurance and newness, which is the formula for international play.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount establishes early momentum with two prominent plays that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the spine, angling it as both a passing of the torch and a back-to-basics character-driven entry. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach announces a heritage-honoring approach without going over the last two entries’ family thread. Plan for a rollout anchored in brand visuals, intro reveals, and a two-beat trailer plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

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 back together, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will stress. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will pursue wide buzz through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format supporting quick reframes to whatever owns the social talk that spring.

Universal has three clear strategies. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is straightforward, somber, and commercial: 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 marketing at Universal likely to revisit odd public stunts and bite-size content that blurs intimacy and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the see here feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a public title to become an event moment closer to the early tease. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele projects are marketed as auteur events, with a concept-forward tease and a second trailer wave that define feel without revealing the concept. The prime October weekend offers Universal room to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a gritty, prosthetic-heavy aesthetic can feel big on a disciplined budget. Look for a hard-R summer horror hit that maximizes global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio sets two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, holding a trusty supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is presenting as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both loyalists and general audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build campaign pieces around setting detail, and creature builds, elements that can accelerate large-format demand and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in historical precision and linguistic texture, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is robust.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform windowing in 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s genre entries feed copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a ladder that amplifies both initial urgency and sign-up spikes in the tail. Prime Video stitches together licensed titles with cross-border buys and small theatrical windows when the data supports it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in back-catalog play, using curated hubs, seasonal hubs, and programmed rows to sustain interest on overall cume. Netflix remains opportunistic about originals and festival deals, confirming horror entries tight to release and staging as events launches with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a laddered of precision theatrical plays and quick platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a per-project basis. The platform has been willing to buy select projects with recognized filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation heats up.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 sequence with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is straightforward: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, recalibrated for modern mix 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 suggested a theatrical rollout for the title, an good sign for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the back half.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, managing the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday dates to expand. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-driven genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception supports. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using precision theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By share, the 2026 slate bends toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit fan equity. The concern, as ever, is overexposure. The preferred tactic is to pitch each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is elevating character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a European tilt from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects keep oxygen in the system. 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 island survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the bundle is grounded enough to drive advance ticketing and early previews.

Comps from the last three years clarify the approach. In 2023, a cinema-first model that kept clean windows did not preclude a same-day experiment from performing when the brand was powerful. In 2024, precision craft horror popped in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror weblink franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they shift POV and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to link the films through character web and themes and to hold creative in the market without long breaks.

Craft and creative trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the 2026 slate foreshadow a continued tilt toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that leans on texture and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft features before rolling out a preview that plays with mood rather than plot, a move movies that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and produces shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta inflection that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature design and production design, which fit with con floor moments and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel compelling. Look for trailers that foreground surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that benefit on big speakers.

Release calendar overview

January is full. Universal’s 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 atmospheric change-up amid macro-brand pushes. The month ends 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 real, but the range of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

Late winter and spring stage summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now accommodates 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 splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

August into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a early fall window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a tease-and-hold strategy and limited previews that put concept first.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can play the holidays when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card use.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s DNA. 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 sorrowing man’s AI companion becomes something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced 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 ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her hard-edged boss fight to survive on a lonely island as the pecking order shifts and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to fear, driven by Cronin’s physical craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting story that interrogates the horror of a child’s unreliable POV. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-scale and star-fronted ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that lampoons contemporary horror memes and true crime fervors. Rating: TBA. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites breaks out, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further extends again, with a young family lashed to lingering terrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: pending. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: pending. Production: in progress. 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 antique diction and elemental fear. Rating: undetermined. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three practical forces structure this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or re-slotted in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming landings. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage meme-ready beats from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can capture a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will compete across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The sleeper chase continues in Q1, where value-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first shock 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. 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 beat and breadth. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch 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 somber, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, audio design, 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

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is name recognition where it counts, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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, produce clean trailers, hold the mystery, and let the shocks sell the seats.