Ancient Malevolence surfaces: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked chiller, rolling out October 2025 on leading streamers

This haunting paranormal shockfest from cinematographer / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an timeless horror when foreigners become pawns in a fiendish ceremony. Available October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing story of resilience and primeval wickedness that will resculpt genre cinema this cool-weather season. Crafted by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and atmospheric suspense flick follows five teens who snap to locked in a isolated cabin under the ominous command of Kyra, a troubled woman inhabited by a prehistoric ancient fiend. Brace yourself to be enthralled by a filmic outing that combines raw fear with arcane tradition, debuting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a classic motif in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is reimagined when the spirits no longer develop outside their bodies, but rather from their core. This illustrates the haunting shade of all involved. The result is a psychologically brutal mental war where the tension becomes a relentless clash between light and darkness.


In a forsaken woodland, five figures find themselves imprisoned under the dark grip and inhabitation of a haunted apparition. As the youths becomes helpless to resist her manipulation, cut off and stalked by terrors indescribable, they are compelled to wrestle with their deepest fears while the clock unceasingly ticks onward toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust mounts and partnerships implode, pressuring each person to contemplate their true nature and the principle of self-determination itself. The cost mount with every beat, delivering a frightening tale that weaves together otherworldly suspense with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to explore elemental fright, an entity from ancient eras, emerging via psychological breaks, and testing a spirit that dismantles free will when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra needed manifesting something beneath mortal despair. She is innocent until the evil takes hold, and that transformation is haunting because it is so private.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for worldwide release beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—so that watchers internationally can watch this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its release of trailer #1, which has earned over a viral response.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, taking the terror to global fright lovers.


Don’t miss this unforgettable descent into darkness. Confront *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to experience these spiritual awakenings about our species.


For previews, on-set glimpses, and press updates from inside the story, follow @YACFilm across Facebook and TikTok and visit the movie portal.





U.S. horror’s Turning Point: 2025 for genre fans domestic schedule melds Mythic Possession, underground frights, set against legacy-brand quakes

Moving from last-stand terror steeped in scriptural legend to series comebacks paired with focused festival visions, 2025 looks like horror’s most layered together with intentionally scheduled year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. Major studios lay down anchors with established lines, simultaneously OTT services front-load the fall with first-wave breakthroughs together with primordial unease. At the same time, the independent cohort is surfing the kinetic energy of 2024’s record festival wave. With Halloween holding the peak, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A fat September–October lane is customary now, however this time, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are intentional, accordingly 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige fear returns

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s pipeline fires the first shot with an audacious swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a clear present-tense world. From director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. arriving mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Steered by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Initial heat flags it as potent.

When summer tapers, Warner’s pipeline releases the last chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. While the template is known, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: retrograde shiver, trauma centered writing, with ghostly inner logic. Here the stakes rise, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The return delves further into myth, thickens the animatronic pantheon, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It drops in December, pinning the winter close.

Streaming Offerings: Tight funds, wide impact

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

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. Helmed by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

More contained by design is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Penned and steered 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. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is an astute call. No heavy handed lore. No franchise baggage. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

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

SXSW 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, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Brands: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

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. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Emerging Currents

Ancient myth goes wide
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

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

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Projection: Fall pileup, winter curveball

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The coming 2026 Horror cycle: follow-ups, non-franchise titles, together with A brimming Calendar geared toward goosebumps

Dek The emerging scare calendar lines up from the jump with a January wave, before it carries through the mid-year, and far into the December corridor, fusing name recognition, novel approaches, and calculated calendar placement. The big buyers and platforms are relying on efficient budgets, theater-first strategies, and viral-minded pushes that shape these pictures into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The field has grown into the consistent tool in studio calendars, a corner that can accelerate when it lands and still protect the liability when it underperforms. After 2023 showed buyers that disciplined-budget chillers can lead cultural conversation, 2024 kept energy high with festival-darling auteurs and surprise hits. The carry fed into the 2025 frame, where returns and premium-leaning entries proved there is capacity for diverse approaches, from franchise continuations to standalone ideas that play globally. The sum for 2026 is a schedule that presents tight coordination across the field, with clear date clusters, a balance of brand names and first-time concepts, and a renewed strategy on exhibition windows that drive downstream revenue on PVOD and streaming.

Executives say the space now slots in as a schedule utility on the schedule. The genre can launch on almost any weekend, yield a easy sell for teasers and UGC-friendly snippets, and overperform with moviegoers that appear on previews Thursday and return through the next pass if the feature lands. Coming out of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 plan shows assurance in that approach. The calendar begins with a heavy January lineup, then exploits spring through early summer for counterweight, while carving room for a autumn stretch that extends to All Hallows period and past Halloween. The map also includes the greater integration of specialty arms and subscription services that can stage a platform run, fuel WOM, and go nationwide at the right moment.

An added macro current is franchise tending across shared IP webs and classic IP. Distribution groups are not just making another follow-up. They are seeking to position connection with a heightened moment, whether that is a graphic identity that flags a fresh attitude or a cast configuration that anchors a new installment to a foundational era. At the meanwhile, the creative teams behind the most watched originals are returning to hands-on technique, real effects and distinct locales. That fusion provides the 2026 slate a confident blend of trust and surprise, which is what works overseas.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount plants an early flag with two headline entries that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the focus, signaling it as both a cross-generational handoff and a origin-leaning character-driven entry. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture signals a roots-evoking angle without recycling the last two entries’ family thread. Anticipate a campaign stacked with heritage visuals, character previews, and a two-beat trailer plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also reboots 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 behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will play up. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will seek mainstream recognition through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format fitting quick updates to whatever owns horror talk that spring.

Universal has three discrete projects. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is simple, sorrow-tinged, and logline-clear: a grieving man adopts an digital partner that evolves into a killer companion. The date places it at the front of a thick month, with Universal’s marketing likely to mirror uncanny live moments and micro spots that interlaces affection and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a title drop to become an fan moment closer to the initial promo. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s pictures are framed as creative events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second trailer wave that signal tone without plot the concept. The late-month date creates space for Universal to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has made clear that a gritty, makeup-driven execution can feel elevated on a efficient spend. Frame it as a red-band summer horror shot that maximizes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio books two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, Get More Info 2026, holding a steady supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is calling a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both loyalists and new audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build promo materials around setting detail, and creature builds, elements that can accelerate large-format demand and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by meticulous craft and textual fidelity, this time steeped in lycan lore. The specialty arm has already set the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is warm.

Streaming windows and tactics

Digital strategies for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s slate land on copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a tiered path that expands both FOMO and trial spikes in the later phase. Prime Video stitches together licensed films with international acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in deep cuts, using in-app campaigns, holiday hubs, and collection rows to keep attention on lifetime take. Netflix keeps flexible about original films and festival wins, timing horror entries near their drops and elevating as drops debuts with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a two-step of precision releases and short jumps to platform that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown appetite to acquire select projects with recognized filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a boutique 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 meaningful lever for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation swells.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 track with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is clean: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, elevated for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn stretch.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday frame to scale. That positioning has helped for director-led genre with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception merits. Anticipate 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 targeted theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their community.

Legacy titles versus originals

By weight, 2026 tips toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate fan equity. The potential drawback, as ever, is diminishing returns. The practical approach is to market each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is underscoring relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is floating a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a Francophone tone from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and director-driven titles bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the packaging is recognizable enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and first-night audiences.

Past-three-year patterns outline the plan. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that held distribution windows did not preclude a hybrid test from working when the brand was sticky. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror surged in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they shift POV and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters lensed sequentially, builds a path for marketing to tie installments through character web and themes and to keep materials circulating without hiatuses.

Craft and creative trends

The shop talk behind these films foreshadow a continued bias toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that foregrounds tone and tension rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and technical spotlights before rolling out a preview that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and spurs shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta refresh that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature craft and set design, which match well with convention floor stunts and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel primary. Look for trailers that underscore razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that shine in top rooms.

Release calendar overview

January is jammed. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a brooding contrast amid heavier IP. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the spread of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Winter into spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now enables 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 delivers severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Late summer into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil follows September 18, a pre-October slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited disclosures that lean on concept not plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift card usage.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s artificial companion becomes something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: gothic-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 hard-edged boss claw to survive on a isolated island as the chain of command upends and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

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 chill, driven by Cronin’s on-set craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 domestic haunting narrative that explores the fright of a child’s tricky interpretations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A genre lampoon that satirizes present-day genre chatter and true-crime buzz. Rating: not yet rated. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 international twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a young family lashed to lingering terrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in pure survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: pending. Production: continuing. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 era-faithful speech and ancient menace. Rating: pending. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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

Why 2026, why now

Three hands-on forces organize this lineup. First, production that decelerated or re-sequenced in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming launches. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest meme-ready beats from test screenings, managed scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can control a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will share space across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where cost-efficient genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to exploit those windows. 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, 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 tempo and variety. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two 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 chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, audio design, and picture 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 Looks Exciting

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand power where it counts, distinct 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, lock the reveals, and let the scares sell the seats.