Antediluvian Terror returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising horror feature, bowing October 2025 on top streamers

A blood-curdling spiritual suspense film from dramatist / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an archaic dread when unfamiliar people become victims in a diabolical game. Dropping on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing story of perseverance and age-old darkness that will reshape fear-driven cinema this Halloween season. Visualized by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and tone-heavy suspense flick follows five young adults who suddenly rise sealed in a far-off structure under the unfriendly power of Kyra, a tormented girl consumed by a antiquated biblical force. Be prepared to be seized by a immersive journey that unites bodily fright with ancient myths, unleashing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a classic fixture in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is subverted when the presences no longer manifest externally, but rather from their core. This depicts the most primal facet of the protagonists. The result is a bone-chilling cognitive warzone where the suspense becomes a ongoing clash between right and wrong.


In a remote wild, five campers find themselves sealed under the malevolent rule and control of a shadowy person. As the victims becomes powerless to oppose her dominion, severed and preyed upon by creatures unnamable, they are cornered to encounter their inner demons while the time ruthlessly winds toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia swells and links collapse, driving each soul to reconsider their core and the foundation of decision-making itself. The consequences mount with every minute, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that combines otherworldly suspense with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to tap into ancestral fear, an force that predates humanity, operating within our weaknesses, and wrestling with a evil that challenges autonomy when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra demanded embodying something unfamiliar to reason. She is blind until the entity awakens, and that transition is shocking because it is so intimate.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for on-demand beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—allowing fans globally can dive into this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its original clip, which has earned over 100,000 views.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, extending the thrill to scare fans abroad.


Be sure to catch this gripping exploration of dread. Stream *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to acknowledge these unholy truths about the mind.


For behind-the-scenes access, extra content, and promotions from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across fan hubs and visit the movie portal.





American horror’s tipping point: 2025 in focus stateside slate fuses old-world possession, underground frights, set against IP aftershocks

From fight-to-live nightmare stories steeped in near-Eastern lore and onward to legacy revivals in concert with focused festival visions, 2025 is emerging as the richest together with blueprinted year for the modern era.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. top-tier distributors lay down anchors with franchise anchors, in parallel platform operators crowd the fall with emerging auteurs and ancestral chills. In the indie lane, festival-forward creators is catching the echoes of a record-setting 2024 festival season. As Halloween stays the prime week, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, however this time, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are disciplined, and 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige terror resurfaces

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 set the base, 2025 doubles down.

Universal Pictures opens the year with a bold swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Guided by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. landing in mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. From director Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer eases, Warner’s pipeline drops the final chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson is back, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: nostalgic menace, trauma as narrative engine, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This time, the stakes are raised, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The continuation widens the legend, stretches the animatronic parade, bridging teens and legacy players. It posts in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

While theaters bet on familiarity, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a room scale body horror descent featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story headlined by 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 story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and helmed 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. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It looks like sharp programming. No overinflated mythology. No brand fatigue. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Brands: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, steered by 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.

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

What to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

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

Originals on platforms bite harder
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Forward View: Fall saturation and a winter joker

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. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The upcoming spook season: installments, fresh concepts, paired with A stacked Calendar designed for Scares

Dek: The arriving terror slate builds right away with a January wave, after that runs through the summer months, and continuing into the late-year period, mixing legacy muscle, creative pitches, and data-minded alternatives. Studio marketers and platforms are focusing on efficient budgets, theater-first strategies, and platform-native promos that transform the slate’s entries into water-cooler talk.

Where horror stands going into 2026

Horror has shown itself to be the surest play in distribution calendars, a genre that can surge when it breaks through and still insulate the liability when it misses. After the 2023 year re-taught studio brass that disciplined-budget shockers can galvanize pop culture, the following year held pace with buzzy auteur projects and unexpected risers. The momentum moved into the 2025 frame, where reboots and awards-minded projects highlighted there is a lane for several lanes, from series extensions to one-and-done originals that carry overseas. The upshot for 2026 is a programming that is strikingly coherent across distributors, with planned clusters, a blend of household franchises and original hooks, and a re-energized attention on theater exclusivity that drive downstream revenue on premium digital rental and digital services.

Studio leaders note the genre now operates like a wildcard on the rollout map. The genre can premiere on open real estate, provide a simple premise for previews and social clips, and punch above weight with viewers that line up on advance nights and sustain through the next weekend if the picture works. Emerging from a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 pattern demonstrates trust in that approach. The slate launches with a stacked January run, then leans on spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while keeping space for a October build that runs into the Halloween corridor and into the next week. The calendar also features the continuing integration of boutique distributors and OTT outlets that can platform and widen, generate chatter, and go nationwide at the sweet spot.

Another broad trend is brand curation across interlocking continuities and legacy franchises. The players are not just making another installment. They are seeking to position brand continuity with a occasion, whether that is a title design that broadcasts a fresh attitude or a casting pivot that anchors a latest entry to a classic era. At the same time, the auteurs behind the top original plays are doubling down on in-camera technique, in-camera effects and place-driven backdrops. That interplay hands 2026 a strong blend of recognition and newness, which is what works overseas.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount marks the early tempo with two prominent pushes that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the spine, steering it as both a succession moment and a classic-mode character-focused installment. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture telegraphs a fan-service aware bent without recycling the last two entries’ family thread. A campaign is expected leaning on recognizable motifs, first-look character reveals, and a trailer cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will spotlight. As a summer counter-slot, this one will build general-audience talk through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format allowing quick updates to whatever defines the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three unique projects. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is tight, sorrow-tinged, and easily pitched: a grieving man activates an intelligent companion that unfolds into a dangerous lover. The date puts it at the front of a busy month, with marketing at Universal likely to bring back uncanny-valley stunts and short reels that mixes intimacy and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a official title to become an fan moment closer to the debut look. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. His entries are positioned as signature events, with a teaser that holds back and a later creative that signal tone without plot the concept. The late-October frame offers Universal room to own 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, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has consistently shown that a visceral, physical-effects centered treatment can feel prestige on a mid-range budget. Position this as a blood-soaked summer horror shot that spotlights global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio rolls out two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, extending a bankable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is framing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both diehards and general audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign pieces around world-building, and monster design, elements that can lift deluxe auditorium demand and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in obsessive craft and textual fidelity, this time focused on werewolf legend. Focus’s team has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is strong.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform tactics for 2026 run on predictable routes. The Universal horror run head to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a cadence that elevates both opening-weekend urgency and sign-up spikes in the post-theatrical. Prime Video stitches together library titles with world buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data supports it. Max and Hulu work their edges in back-catalog play, using seasonal hubs, spooky hubs, and curated rows to keep attention on lifetime take. Netflix remains opportunistic about original films and festival additions, locking in horror entries closer to launch and positioning as event drops go-lives with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a tiered of focused cinema runs and quick platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown appetite to buy select projects with acclaimed directors or headline-cast packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation heats up.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is curating a 2026 pipeline with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is straightforward: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, upgraded for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a cinema-first plan for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late stretch.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, marshalling the project through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday slot to move out. That positioning has served the company well for filmmaker-first horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception encourages. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using targeted theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their user base.

Series vs standalone

By share, the 2026 slate skews toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use brand equity. The watch-out, as ever, is fatigue. The go-to fix is to pitch each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is leading with character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a continental coloration from a ascendant talent. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a survival chiller premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the packaging is known enough to build pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Recent-year comps announce the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that respected streaming windows did not foreclose a day-and-date experiment from delivering when the brand was sticky. In 2024, art-forward horror rose in large-format rooms. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they alter lens and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, creates space for marketing to relate entries through character arcs and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without lulls.

Production craft signals

The production chatter behind these films forecast a continued move toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that spotlights aura and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and earns shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta reframe that centers an original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature and environment design, which work nicely for booth activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel must-have. Look for trailers that underscore precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that benefit on big speakers.

The schedule at a glance

January is loaded. 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 quiet contrast amid big-brand pushes. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the tone spread opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Late winter and spring prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s 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 comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can deliver 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 shuffled through big rooms.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a bridge slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a slow-reveal plan and limited teasers that favor idea over plot.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card redemption.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s machine mate mutates into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot 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 travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 scramble to survive on a rugged island as the power dynamic flips and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to menace, grounded in Cronin’s practical craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting premise that routes the horror through a young child’s flickering perspective. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-grade and star-led spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that satirizes today’s horror trends and true crime fervors. Rating: undetermined. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 erupts, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a new household snared by residual nightmares. Rating: pending. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: pending. Logline: A clean reboot designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in classic survival-horror tone over action spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: forthcoming. Production: underway. 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 period language and primordial menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. 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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the moment is 2026

Three grounded forces shape this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or re-slotted in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and accelerated 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 overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify bite-size scare clips from test screenings, precision scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can seize a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will share space 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 make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 midrange-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 capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, Source literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, aural 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.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand gravity where needed, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of 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, produce clean trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the chills sell the seats.