Antediluvian Terror rises: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling horror feature, bowing Oct 2025 on major streaming services

One bone-chilling spiritual fear-driven tale from storyteller / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an long-buried entity when drifters become vehicles in a fiendish ceremony. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful portrayal of perseverance and forgotten curse that will resculpt genre cinema this Halloween season. Visualized by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and eerie fearfest follows five teens who snap to trapped in a secluded cottage under the malevolent dominion of Kyra, a tormented girl inhabited by a 2,000-year-old sacred-era entity. Get ready to be immersed by a filmic presentation that harmonizes gut-punch terror with mystical narratives, streaming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a legendary pillar in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is radically shifted when the forces no longer arise from elsewhere, but rather from within. This marks the most hidden dimension of the group. The result is a relentless spiritual tug-of-war where the intensity becomes a soul-crushing battle between good and evil.


In a haunting forest, five campers find themselves cornered under the ghastly sway and inhabitation of a unknown character. As the cast becomes unresisting to evade her will, exiled and targeted by creatures ungraspable, they are required to deal with their core terrors while the clock unforgivingly moves toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion deepens and relationships implode, compelling each protagonist to scrutinize their identity and the nature of self-determination itself. The intensity grow with every instant, delivering a cinematic nightmare that weaves together ghostly evil with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to extract primitive panic, an force born of forgotten ages, manipulating emotional fractures, and wrestling with a being that peels away humanity when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra required summoning something unfamiliar to reason. She is uninformed until the spirit seizes her, and that turn is deeply unsettling because it is so internal.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for on-demand beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—ensuring audiences from coast to coast can face this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its original promo, which has received over massive response.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, making the film to fans of fear everywhere.


Experience this haunted voyage through terror. Confront *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to uncover these unholy truths about the soul.


For featurettes, set experiences, and news from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across social media and visit the film’s website.





Horror’s sea change: 2025 for genre fans U.S. rollouts braids together biblical-possession ideas, microbudget gut-punches, set against returning-series thunder

Across last-stand terror inspired by ancient scripture all the way to returning series and sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 stands to become the most textured and intentionally scheduled year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. studio powerhouses hold down the year with franchise anchors, even as streaming platforms stack the fall with first-wave breakthroughs alongside archetypal fear. On the festival side, the artisan tier is surfing the afterglow from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A fat September–October lane is customary now, though in this cycle, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are targeted, as a result 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: High-craft horror returns

The majors are assertive. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 accelerates.

the Universal banner kicks off the frame with a statement play: a reimagined Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in a modern-day environment. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. arriving mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Guided by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

As summer winds down, Warner Bros. Pictures launches the swan song of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Even with a familiar chassis, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson returns, and the tone that worked before is intact: old school creep, trauma foregrounded, and a cold supernatural calculus. This run ups the stakes, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The follow up digs further into canon, stretches the animatronic parade, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It books December, buttoning the final window.

Digital Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a sealed box body horror arc with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

On the docket is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga featuring Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It looks like sharp programming. No overstuffed canon. No canon weight. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Long Running Lines: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Dials to Watch

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror comes roaring back
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

The Road Ahead: Fall crush plus winter X factor

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The forthcoming 2026 chiller year to come: continuations, new stories, plus A Crowded Calendar calibrated for shocks

Dek The current scare cycle stacks at the outset with a January pile-up, subsequently carries through summer corridors, and pushing into the festive period, weaving name recognition, novel approaches, and tactical counter-scheduling. The major players are doubling down on efficient budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and buzz-forward plans that shape these pictures into national conversation.

Horror momentum into 2026

The field has emerged as the most reliable tool in programming grids, a segment that can surge when it resonates and still insulate the downside when it doesn’t. After 2023 proved to executives that responsibly budgeted entries can command pop culture, 2024 sustained momentum with signature-voice projects and stealth successes. The energy pushed into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and filmmaker-prestige bets showed there is demand for a spectrum, from returning installments to original one-offs that perform internationally. The combined impact for 2026 is a programming that appears tightly organized across the major shops, with obvious clusters, a mix of marquee IP and original hooks, and a refocused commitment on exclusive windows that fuel later windows on premium digital and digital services.

Planners observe the category now operates like a wildcard on the rollout map. Horror can open on most weekends, deliver a clear pitch for previews and TikTok spots, and outperform with audiences that show up on advance nights and stick through the follow-up frame if the picture delivers. Coming out of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 pattern demonstrates trust in that engine. The year gets underway with a stacked January corridor, then targets spring into early summer for genre counterpoints, while holding room for a autumn stretch that reaches into All Hallows period and into post-Halloween. The arrangement also includes the continuing integration of specialty arms and platforms that can nurture a platform play, fuel WOM, and scale up at the precise moment.

An added macro current is brand management across ongoing universes and veteran brands. Studios are not just turning out another chapter. They are working to present lineage with a must-see charge, whether that is a title design that telegraphs a tonal shift or a cast configuration that links a fresh chapter to a original cycle. At the meanwhile, the creative leads behind the most anticipated originals are returning to physical effects work, special makeup and grounded locations. That convergence gives 2026 a vital pairing of comfort and discovery, which is why the genre exports well.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount fires first with two centerpiece plays 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 forefront, positioning the film as both a succession moment and a heritage-centered character-focused installment. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the directional approach suggests a classic-referencing treatment without looping the last two entries’ family thread. Plan for a rollout anchored in brand visuals, character previews, and a promo sequence landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will feature. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will generate wide appeal through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format permitting quick shifts to whatever drives the social talk that spring.

Universal has three defined entries. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is crisp, melancholic, and logline-clear: a grieving man sets up an artificial companion that evolves into a killer companion. The date places it at the front of a thick month, with Universal’s marketing likely to recreate off-kilter promo beats and bite-size content that interlaces affection and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid useful reference currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a public title to become an PR pop closer to the opening teaser. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. The filmmaker’s films are sold as creative events, with a teaser that holds back and a subsequent trailers that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The prime October weekend offers Universal room to maximize 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 helms, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has made clear that a raw, hands-on effects execution can feel prestige on a efficient spend. Expect a viscera-heavy summer horror rush that centers overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio books two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, extending a consistent supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is positioning as a ground-zero 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 well-defined brief to serve both core fans and casuals. The fall slot provides the studio time to build campaign pieces around universe detail, and creature work, elements that can fuel format premiums and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in textural authenticity and historical speech, this time steeped in lycan lore. The company has already locked the day for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

How the platforms plan to play it

Digital strategies for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s horror titles head to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a ordering that elevates both debut momentum and sub growth in the late-window. Prime Video blends third-party pickups with global originals and select theatrical runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library engagement, using curated hubs, holiday hubs, and editorial rows to maximize the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps optionality about own-slate titles and festival pickups, confirming horror entries toward the drop and coalescing around launches with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a tiered of precision releases and accelerated platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown appetite to purchase select projects with top-tier auteurs or marquee packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly activity when the genre conversation intensifies.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 pipeline with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is tight: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, elevated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a theatrical rollout for the title, an promising marker for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late stretch.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then leveraging the Christmas corridor to go wider. That positioning has helped for craft-driven horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles 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 scale if reception allows. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using select theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their subs.

Balance of brands and originals

By volume, the 2026 slate tips toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on legacy awareness. The watch-out, as ever, is viewer burnout. The preferred tactic is to position each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is centering character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-tinted vision from a fresh helmer. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the package is steady enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Recent comps contextualize the strategy. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that maintained windows did not stop a day-date try from working when the brand was robust. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror exceeded expectations in premium screens. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they alter lens and increase ambition. 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 back-to-back plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, permits marketing to connect the chapters through cast and motif and to maintain a flow of assets without extended gaps.

Behind-the-camera trends

The craft rooms behind the 2026 entries indicate a continued bias toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that underscores aura and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and era-true language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in long-lead features and department features before rolling out a first look that elevates tone over story, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and spurs shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a self-aware reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature and environment design, which work nicely for expo activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel primary. Look for trailers that underscore surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that shine in top rooms.

Annual flow

January is loaded. 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 foggy reset amid bigger brand plays. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the mix of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth persists.

Late Q1 and spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. 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 run their PLF course.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a bridge slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited asset reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card spend.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s machine mate mutates into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished 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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

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 run into a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: mood-led 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 try to survive on a desolate island as the control balance reverses and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to fright, rooted in Cronin’s practical craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal 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 in-home haunting chiller that explores the unease of a child’s unreliable interpretations. Rating: TBA. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A comic send-up that riffs on contemporary horror memes and true-crime buzz. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: cameras due to roll 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 ignites, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a young family tethered to returning horrors. Rating: pending. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A fresh restart designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on pure survival horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: TBD. Production: in progress. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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 ancient menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026, why now

Three grounded forces organize this lineup. First, production that stalled or re-sequenced in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and compressed 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 drops. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work bite-size scare clips from test screenings, controlled scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

A fourth factor is programming math. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, making room for genre entries that can capture a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will jostle across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where lower and mid-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to harvest those lanes. 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, soundcraft, 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

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand heft where it matters, original vision where it matters, 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 late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, protect the mystery, and let the shocks sell the seats.