Antediluvian Evil Returns within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding supernatural thriller, launching Oct 2025 on top digital platforms

A unnerving spiritual fear-driven tale from dramatist / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an mythic dread when newcomers become victims in a hellish struggle. Available October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing depiction of survival and old world terror that will resculpt genre cinema this cool-weather season. Produced by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and atmospheric screenplay follows five figures who find themselves confined in a unreachable structure under the dark control of Kyra, a female presence haunted by a two-thousand-year-old biblical force. Ready yourself to be enthralled by a visual outing that intertwines intense horror with legendary tales, arriving on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a enduring element in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is reimagined when the malevolences no longer form externally, but rather inside their minds. This portrays the darkest element of the players. The result is a intense mind game where the story becomes a soul-crushing battle between moral forces.


In a abandoned no-man's-land, five campers find themselves confined under the evil grip and infestation of a shadowy apparition. As the ensemble becomes unresisting to oppose her power, left alone and tormented by spirits beyond reason, they are cornered to face their soulful dreads while the timeline unceasingly edges forward toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension deepens and ties crack, coercing each cast member to scrutinize their being and the notion of independent thought itself. The tension rise with every instant, delivering a scare-fueled ride that weaves together otherworldly panic with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to draw upon core terror, an malevolence born of forgotten ages, influencing our weaknesses, and dealing with a power that questions who we are when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra needed manifesting something deeper than fear. She is in denial until the control shifts, and that transformation is haunting because it is so deep.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for on-demand beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring fans in all regions can be part of this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its first trailer, which has received over six-figure audience.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, giving access to the movie to fans of fear everywhere.


Avoid skipping this unforgettable trip into the unknown. Join *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to explore these ghostly lessons about the human condition.


For behind-the-scenes access, director cuts, and reveals straight from the filmmakers, follow @YACMovie across platforms and visit our horror hub.





Modern horror’s tipping point: 2025 across markets U.S. release slate Mixes myth-forward possession, signature indie scares, stacked beside tentpole growls

Across survival horror infused with old testament echoes as well as installment follow-ups together with surgical indie voices, 2025 is coalescing into the most dimensioned as well as precision-timed year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. the big studios lock in tentpoles via recognizable brands, even as digital services stack the fall with discovery plays alongside mythic dread. In parallel, indie storytellers is drafting behind the tailwinds of 2024’s record festival wave. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and now, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are targeted, so 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Elevated fear reclaims ground

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s pipeline leads off the quarter with a risk-forward move: a reconceived Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, but a crisp modern milieu. Steered by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. Slated for mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Eli Craig directs anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

When summer fades, the WB camp delivers the closing chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson resumes command, and the tone that worked before is intact: retro dread, trauma explicitly handled, and eerie supernatural logic. This run ups the stakes, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The next entry deepens the tale, grows the animatronic horror lineup, reaching teens and game grownups. It opens in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a body horror chamber piece including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn starring Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Conceived and directed by 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. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within 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 is a clever angle. No overinflated mythology. No legacy baggage. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Franchise Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, under Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Trend Lines

Ancient myth goes wide
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

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

Streamers grow fangs
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Season Ahead: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The new spook Year Ahead: continuations, fresh concepts, and also A jammed Calendar geared toward jolts

Dek The incoming horror season crowds right away with a January logjam, after that runs through the mid-year, and carrying into the December corridor, marrying franchise firepower, untold stories, and shrewd counterplay. Studios with streamers are doubling down on efficient budgets, big-screen-first runs, and platform-native promos that elevate these offerings into culture-wide discussion.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror has become the most reliable option in studio lineups, a vertical that can lift when it resonates and still hedge the risk when it misses. After 2023 reconfirmed for buyers that disciplined-budget chillers can command the discourse, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with auteur-driven buzzy films and stealth successes. The momentum extended into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and premium-leaning entries proved there is capacity for a spectrum, from continued chapters to filmmaker-driven originals that perform internationally. The net effect for 2026 is a grid that shows rare alignment across distributors, with strategic blocks, a blend of household franchises and original hooks, and a re-energized commitment on theatrical windows that increase tail monetization on premium video on demand and digital services.

Studio leaders note the genre now operates like a versatile piece on the calendar. The genre can launch on almost any weekend, provide a quick sell for marketing and platform-native cuts, and outpace with patrons that line up on advance nights and sustain through the week two if the picture pays off. In the wake of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 rhythm signals trust in that dynamic. The year commences with a heavy January window, then primes spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while reserving space for a October build that flows toward Halloween and into post-Halloween. The gridline also underscores the continuing integration of specialized labels and SVOD players that can platform and widen, generate chatter, and roll out at the proper time.

A second macro trend is brand management across unified worlds and long-running brands. The companies are not just turning out another return. They are moving to present threaded continuity with a occasion, whether that is a art treatment that suggests a tonal shift or a casting pivot that ties a next entry to a foundational era. At the alongside this, the auteurs behind the most anticipated originals are celebrating in-camera technique, in-camera effects and vivid settings. That mix yields the 2026 slate a vital pairing of assurance and novelty, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount sets the tone early with two high-profile entries that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the core, presenting it as both a legacy handover and a classic-mode character piece. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach conveys a fan-service aware mode without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Look for a marketing run stacked with iconic art, early character teases, and a promo sequence landing toward late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will emphasize. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will drive wide appeal through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format inviting quick switches to whatever rules pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three discrete projects. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is straightforward, somber, and big-hook: a grieving man brings home an intelligent companion that escalates into a harmful mate. The date nudges it to the front of a packed window, with marketing at Universal likely to bring back creepy live activations and micro spots that blurs love and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered 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 creates space for a final title to become an teaser payoff closer to the first look. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. His entries are set up as event films, with a opaque teaser and a later trailer push that shape mood without giving away the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor gives Universal room to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has made clear that a flesh-and-blood, practical-first style can feel premium on a middle budget. Frame it as a splatter summer horror rush that leans hard into international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio sets two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, extending a reliable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is marketing as a fresh restart 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 mission to serve both core fans and general audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build assets around canon, and practical creature work, elements that can amplify premium format interest and fan-forward engagement.

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 extends Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by minute detail and archaic language, this time orbiting lycan myth. The distributor has already locked the day for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is favorable.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform plans for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s horror titles feed copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a cadence that maximizes both first-week urgency and viewer acquisition in the post-theatrical. Prime Video blends outside acquisitions with global pickups and targeted theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in back-catalog play, using prominent placements, fright rows, and staff picks to extend momentum on lifetime take. Netflix retains agility about internal projects and festival pickups, locking in horror entries closer to drop and positioning as event drops arrivals with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a laddered of targeted cinema placements and accelerated platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has indicated interest to acquire select projects with top-tier auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation builds.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 corridor with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is straightforward: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, elevated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the late stretch.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, managing the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then leveraging the year-end corridor to open out. That positioning has helped for arthouse horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception supports. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using limited runs to seed evangelism that fuels their audience.

Franchise entries versus originals

By proportion, the 2026 slate bends toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap brand equity. The challenge, as ever, is diminishing returns. The workable fix is to market each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is bringing forward relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a continental coloration from a hot helmer. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and director-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the cast-creatives package is anchored enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Rolling three-year comps outline the approach. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that honored streaming windows did not prevent a dual release from succeeding when the brand was strong. In 2024, director-craft horror surged in large-format rooms. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they reorient and scale the storytelling. 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 double feature plan, with chapters shot consecutively, provides the means for marketing to link the films through personae and themes and to keep assets in-market without lulls.

Behind-the-camera trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the 2026 entries telegraph a continued lean toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that leans on unease and texture rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in trade spotlights and department features before rolling out a tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and creates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a self-aware reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature work and production design, which favor con floor moments and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel compelling. Look for trailers that elevate disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that work in PLF.

From winter to holidays

January is stacked. 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 bigger brand plays. 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 thick, but the mix of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth sustains.

Early-year through spring load in summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with brand energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

August and September into October leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a late-September window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a peekaboo tease plan and limited previews that stress concept over spoilers.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can stand up at Check This Out Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card spend.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to confront 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 mourning man’s intelligent companion turns into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

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 changing 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 fight to survive on a isolated island as the power balance flips and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to menace, rooted in Cronin’s practical effects and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting setup that threads the dread through a little one’s uneven subjective lens. Rating: TBD. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-built and headline-actor led supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A satire sequel that targets present-day genre chatter and true-crime manias. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming slated 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 spreads, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further reopens, with a unlucky family lashed to old terrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: TBA. Production: active. 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 time-true diction and elemental menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 lands now

Three hands-on forces define this lineup. First, production that downshifted or migrated in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming landings. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate bite-size scare clips from test screenings, metered scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

There is also the slotting calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, clearing runway 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 stack 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 Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 dark-horse hunt 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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, audio design, and cinematography 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.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is name recognition where it counts, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.