Mythic Dread Returns within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding thriller, landing October 2025 across top streamers

A terrifying mystic fear-driven tale from writer / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an age-old fear when strangers become tokens in a satanic trial. Hitting screens this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving account of resistance and old world terror that will revolutionize terror storytelling this harvest season. Crafted by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and immersive fearfest follows five characters who awaken ensnared in a remote hideaway under the unfriendly power of Kyra, a mysterious girl haunted by a biblical-era Old Testament spirit. Ready yourself to be immersed by a visual adventure that blends bone-deep fear with spiritual backstory, unleashing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demonic control has been a iconic fixture in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is radically shifted when the fiends no longer develop outside their bodies, but rather inside them. This embodies the grimmest facet of the protagonists. The result is a bone-chilling identity crisis where the events becomes a soul-crushing confrontation between righteousness and malevolence.


In a unforgiving forest, five adults find themselves trapped under the ominous presence and overtake of a uncanny spirit. As the protagonists becomes powerless to deny her rule, stranded and followed by terrors unnamable, they are cornered to endure their raw vulnerabilities while the final hour without pause runs out toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia amplifies and partnerships dissolve, pushing each soul to challenge their self and the structure of free will itself. The risk magnify with every second, delivering a paranormal ride that merges demonic fright with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to dig into primitive panic, an spirit rooted in antiquity, embedding itself in mental cracks, and confronting a spirit that questions who we are when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra asked for exploring something rooted in terror. She is innocent until the control shifts, and that evolution is bone-chilling because it is so private.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be released for audiences beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—giving fans in all regions can watch this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its original clip, which has been viewed over 100,000 views.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, presenting the nightmare to a worldwide audience.


Mark your calendar for this bone-rattling spiral into evil. Experience *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to confront these unholy truths about free will.


For featurettes, filmmaker commentary, and reveals from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across entertainment pages and visit our spooky domain.





Current horror’s tipping point: 2025 for genre fans U.S. lineup Mixes biblical-possession ideas, indie terrors, together with brand-name tremors

Ranging from last-stand terror inspired by scriptural legend and including franchise returns as well as keen independent perspectives, 2025 is emerging as the most dimensioned plus precision-timed year in ten years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. Top studios set cornerstones with established lines, while platform operators front-load the fall with new voices in concert with ancient terrors. In parallel, the independent cohort is surfing the momentum from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. With Halloween holding the peak, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, and now, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are exacting, as a result 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: High-craft horror returns

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 accelerates.

Universal lights the fuse with a big gambit: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in an immediate now. Steered by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. arriving mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Helmed by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer eases, the Warner Bros. banner launches the swan song from its cornerstone horror IP: 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. Even if the pattern is recognizable, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re teams, and the tone that worked before is intact: old school creep, trauma as narrative engine, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The stakes escalate here, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The return delves further into myth, grows the animatronic horror lineup, reaching teens and game grownups. It books December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Originals: No Budget, No Problem

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

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a room scale body horror descent led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is destined for a fall landing.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story featuring Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

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 bloated mythology. No franchise baggage. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Dials to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror reemerges
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. 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.

Forward View: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The approaching chiller cycle: entries, fresh concepts, paired with A busy Calendar aimed at frights

Dek The new genre season lines up from the jump with a January pile-up, after that runs through summer, and straight through the holiday stretch, blending IP strength, untold stories, and data-minded alternatives. The major players are prioritizing 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

The genre has shown itself to be the sturdy move in studio calendars, a segment that can scale when it performs and still buffer the risk when it stumbles. After 2023 signaled to top brass that responsibly budgeted entries can shape the zeitgeist, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with visionary-driven titles and stealth successes. The run moved into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and arthouse crossovers signaled there is space for diverse approaches, from sequel tracks to standalone ideas that carry overseas. The end result for the 2026 slate is a programming that appears tightly organized across the industry, with intentional bunching, a equilibrium of established brands and new pitches, and a renewed attention on exclusive windows that fuel later windows on premium rental and SVOD.

Insiders argue the space now performs as a wildcard on the slate. The genre can kick off on a wide range of weekends, offer a clean hook for promo reels and vertical videos, and outpace with viewers that appear on advance nights and stay strong through the week two if the title delivers. In the wake of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 cadence demonstrates conviction in that model. The slate launches with a front-loaded January band, then plants flags in spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while saving space for a fall corridor that flows toward late October and into early November. The grid also features the ongoing integration of specialized imprints and digital platforms that can stage a platform run, create conversation, and expand at the right moment.

A second macro trend is IP cultivation across shared universes and heritage properties. Distribution groups are not just pushing another follow-up. They are working to present connection with a marquee sheen, whether that is a logo package that broadcasts a reframed mood or a casting move that anchors a new entry to a foundational era. At the in tandem, the helmers behind the high-profile originals are embracing hands-on technique, practical effects and site-specific worlds. That fusion affords 2026 a solid mix of home base and shock, which is how the films export.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount defines the early cadence with two front-of-slate pushes that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the spine, marketing it as both a relay and a return-to-roots character-first story. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the tonal posture hints at a throwback-friendly campaign without replaying the last two entries’ sibling arc. Plan for a rollout fueled by heritage visuals, intro reveals, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

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 as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will double down on. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will generate broad awareness through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format allowing quick updates to whatever shapes pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three defined pushes. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is tidy, heartbroken, and easily pitched: a grieving man purchases an algorithmic mate that grows into a perilous partner. The date positions it at the front of a stacked January, with marketing at Universal likely to recreate strange in-person beats and micro spots that threads romance and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a official title to become an teaser payoff closer to the teaser. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. His projects are branded as filmmaker events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second beat that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween runway creates space for Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has shown that a gnarly, physical-effects centered treatment can feel big on a lean spend. Expect a gore-forward summer horror shot that spotlights offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio launches two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, continuing a dependable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is framing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both fans and newcomers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build assets around setting detail, and creature design, elements that can lift deluxe auditorium demand and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by careful craft and linguistic texture, this time set against lycan legends. The company has already set the date for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is strong.

Where the platforms fit in

Digital strategies for 2026 run on stable tracks. The Universal horror run transition to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a cadence that expands both opening-weekend urgency and sign-up spikes in the downstream. Prime Video balances outside acquisitions with world buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data signals it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in catalog engagement, using well-timed internal promotions, genre hubs, and featured rows to sustain interest on the horror cume. Netflix retains agility about internal projects and festival buys, confirming horror entries with shorter lead times and eventizing releases with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a tiered of focused cinema runs and speedy platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a per-project basis. The platform has proven amenable to take on select projects with top-tier auteurs or star-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for monthly activity when the genre conversation ramps.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 slate with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is uncomplicated: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, recalibrated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the back half.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the Christmas corridor to widen. That positioning has paid off for prestige horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception prompts. Anticipate 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 in tandem, using limited theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their user base.

Balance of brands and originals

By proportion, 2026 favors the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap cultural cachet. The potential drawback, as ever, is overexposure. The near-term solution is to sell each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is elevating character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a Francophone tone from a fresh helmer. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and director-driven titles add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the team and cast is familiar enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

The last three-year set frame the logic. In 2023, a exclusive window model that held distribution windows did not block a day-date move from delivering when the brand was powerful. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror exceeded expectations in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they reorient and stretch the story. 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 paired-chapter approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, enables marketing to interlace chapters through personae and themes and to keep assets alive without doldrums.

Craft and creative trends

The director conversations behind the 2026 entries suggest a continued lean toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that spotlights aura and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft features before rolling out a teaser that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and gathers shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta-horror reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will live or die on monster aesthetics and world-building, which match well with booth activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that spotlight pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that land in premium houses.

Release calendar overview

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 brooding contrast amid marquee brands. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the tone spread ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

Q1 into Q2 set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited information drops that favor idea over plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and holiday gift-card burn.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s algorithmic partner unfolds into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

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 meet a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: atmospheric game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her abrasive boss try to survive on a lonely island as the control balance flips and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to chill, rooted in Cronin’s practical effects and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting story that frames the panic through a minor’s shifting internal vantage. Rating: to be announced. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven spectral suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that teases of-the-moment horror beats and true crime preoccupations. Rating: pending. Production: fall 2025 production window. 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 surges, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new household snared by residual nightmares. Rating: to be announced. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on true survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: TBD. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: TBA. Production: underway. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and elemental dread. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. 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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 and why now

Three practical forces frame this lineup. First, production that eased or shuffled in 2024 needed his comment is here calendar breathing room. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and shorter timelines. 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 outpaced straight-to-streaming landings. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate social-ready stingers from test screenings, controlled scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

There is also the slotting calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can capture a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, 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 low-to-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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first unexpected 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a feast, 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 gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, tight deployments, 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 detail, sonics, and visual design 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, Lined Up To Scare

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is franchise muscle where it helps, original 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, protect the mystery, and let the chills sell the seats.