Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed reignites primeval horror, a nerve shredding chiller, launching October 2025 across top digital platforms

A hair-raising occult scare-fest from storyteller / director Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an mythic nightmare when outsiders become conduits in a demonic struggle. Premiering on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping depiction of resistance and old world terror that will redefine the horror genre this spooky time. Crafted by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and eerie cinema piece follows five figures who are stirred caught in a unreachable cabin under the hostile rule of Kyra, a haunted figure occupied by a timeless ancient fiend. Be prepared to be hooked by a visual outing that combines instinctive fear with ancient myths, arriving on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a long-standing foundation in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is reversed when the presences no longer come beyond the self, but rather internally. This mirrors the grimmest version of the players. The result is a intense mind game where the narrative becomes a perpetual face-off between virtue and vice.


In a forsaken terrain, five adults find themselves marooned under the dark rule and possession of a unidentified female presence. As the team becomes paralyzed to withstand her manipulation, severed and chased by evils inconceivable, they are thrust to acknowledge their inner demons while the countdown mercilessly strikes toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust surges and friendships erode, driving each soul to rethink their values and the nature of independent thought itself. The stakes climb with every short lapse, delivering a horror experience that integrates spiritual fright with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to evoke primal fear, an presence beyond time, influencing psychological breaks, and confronting a curse that strips down our being when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra meant evoking something deeper than fear. She is uninformed until the entity awakens, and that transition is bone-chilling because it is so unshielded.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for on-demand beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—giving audiences from coast to coast can get immersed in this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its first trailer, which has received over massive response.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, extending the thrill to viewers around the world.


Tune in for this heart-stopping descent into hell. Explore *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to explore these chilling revelations about the soul.


For behind-the-scenes access, filmmaker commentary, and updates from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across platforms and visit the movie portal.





The horror genre’s inflection point: the year 2025 American release plan weaves ancient-possession motifs, underground frights, alongside legacy-brand quakes

Ranging from survival horror suffused with primordial scripture and extending to series comebacks as well as keen independent perspectives, 2025 is shaping up as the genre’s most multifaceted and deliberate year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. leading studios bookend the months with established lines, while digital services front-load the fall with fresh voices as well as ancient terrors. On the festival side, the independent cohort is fueled by the tailwinds from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, and in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are precise, therefore 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s schedule fires the first shot with a marquee bet: a refashioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, instead in a current-day frame. Directed by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. arriving mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. 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. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer wanes, Warner Bros. Pictures launches the swan song from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the memorable motifs return: throwback unease, trauma as theme, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This pass pushes higher, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The return delves further into myth, thickens the animatronic pantheon, courting teens and the thirty something base. It books December, stabilizing the winter back end.

SVOD Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While the big screen favors titles you know, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a sealed box body horror arc featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

On the docket is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative with 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 piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. From writer director 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 dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It is a calculated bet. No heavy handed lore. No continuity burden. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Heritage Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Key Trends

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror retakes ground
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Forecast: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The upcoming fright Year Ahead: Sequels, non-franchise titles, as well as A hectic Calendar optimized for chills

Dek: The fresh horror season packs early with a January logjam, from there stretches through the mid-year, and straight through the festive period, blending name recognition, inventive spins, and data-minded counterplay. Studios and streamers are relying on efficient budgets, exclusive theatrical windows first, and shareable marketing that transform these pictures into cross-demo moments.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

This space has established itself as the sturdy move in programming grids, a genre that can accelerate when it lands and still limit the losses when it falls short. After 2023 re-taught buyers that modestly budgeted pictures can shape social chatter, 2024 kept energy high with filmmaker-forward plays and stealth successes. The upswing extended into 2025, where revived properties and arthouse crossovers made clear there is capacity for diverse approaches, from franchise continuations to original one-offs that translate worldwide. The end result for 2026 is a roster that reads highly synchronized across the field, with purposeful groupings, a combination of marquee IP and new concepts, and a reinvigorated focus on theater exclusivity that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium on-demand and SVOD.

Schedulers say the category now performs as a schedule utility on the distribution slate. Horror can launch on virtually any date, offer a clear pitch for spots and short-form placements, and outperform with demo groups that come out on advance nights and sustain through the next pass if the release delivers. On the heels of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 rhythm exhibits belief in that playbook. The slate starts with a crowded January band, then uses spring and early summer for balance, while reserving space for a October build that connects to the Halloween frame and past Halloween. The gridline also shows the stronger partnership of indie arms and platforms that can grow from platform, create conversation, and grow at the precise moment.

Another broad trend is IP cultivation across brand ecosystems and heritage properties. Distribution groups are not just rolling another installment. They are looking to package lore continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a title design that signals a new vibe or a lead change that connects a latest entry to a heyday. At the same time, the writer-directors behind the most buzzed-about originals are embracing in-camera technique, on-set effects and distinct locales. That interplay delivers the 2026 slate a robust balance of known notes and novelty, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount leads early with two prominent entries that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the lead, presenting it as both a succession moment and a back-to-basics character-driven entry. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the tonal posture suggests a fan-service aware treatment without recycling the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Expect a marketing push centered on iconic art, intro reveals, and a rollout cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will stress. As a counterweight in summer, this one will drive wide appeal through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick turns to whatever drives horror talk that spring.

Universal has three discrete bets. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is clean, melancholic, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man implements an virtual partner that escalates into a perilous partner. The date puts it at the front of a stacked January, with the Universal machine likely to mirror strange in-person beats and quick hits that mixes romance and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob this page Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title drop to become an event moment closer to the initial promo. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele projects are sold as filmmaker events, with a opaque teaser and a follow-up trailer set that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot creates space for Universal to fill 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, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has consistently shown that a flesh-and-blood, prosthetic-heavy treatment can feel deluxe on a tight budget. Frame it as a blood-soaked summer horror rush that spotlights worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio lines up two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, maintaining a dependable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is billing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both franchise faithful and general audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build marketing units around lore, and monster craft, elements that can amplify IMAX and PLF uptake and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in historical precision and archaic language, this time engaging werewolf myth. The distributor has already set the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is positive.

Digital platform strategies

Digital strategies for 2026 run on well-known grooves. The Universal horror run shift to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a ladder that elevates both FOMO and platform bumps in the later window. Prime Video will mix licensed content with worldwide buys and brief theater runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in catalog discovery, using prominent placements, Halloween hubs, and handpicked rows to increase tail value on aggregate take. Netflix retains agility about own-slate titles and festival wins, securing horror entries closer to launch and turning into events launches with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a two-step of limited theatrical footprints and prompt platform moves that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a per-project basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to secure select projects with prestige directors or A-list packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for retention when the genre conversation swells.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 lane 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 setup is clear: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, updated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the autumn stretch.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through select festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday frame movies to open out. That positioning has worked well for arthouse horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception supports. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using boutique theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By share, the 2026 slate tips toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use cultural cachet. The watch-out, as ever, is fatigue. The preferred tactic is to pitch each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is centering relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a Francophone tone from a buzzed-about director. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles keep the lungs full. 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, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the package is assuring enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday previews.

Comparable trends from recent years frame the approach. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that maintained windows did not block a dual release from thriving when the brand was compelling. In 2024, precision craft horror rose in premium formats. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they reorient and raise the stakes. 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 linked-chapter plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, enables marketing to interlace chapters through personae and themes and to continue assets in field without lulls.

Creative tendencies and craft

The craft rooms behind the year’s Source horror signal a continued turn toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that highlights creep and texture rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in trade spotlights and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a teaser that withholds plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for red-band excess, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and earns shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta-horror reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will live or die on monster realization and design, which favor booth activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel essential. Look for trailers that foreground hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that sing on PLF.

The schedule at a glance

January is packed. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid big-brand pushes. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the menu of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Early-year through spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Late-season stretch leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a early fall window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited disclosures that stress concept over spoilers.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift-card burn.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s DNA. 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 becomes something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back 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 returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 severe boss scramble to survive on a desolate island as the power dynamic upends and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to horror, rooted in Cronin’s practical craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting scenario that toys with the fright of a child’s wobbly interpretations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-built and star-led paranormal 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 modern genre fads and true crime fixations. Rating: undetermined. Production: fall 2025 production window. 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 spreads, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further opens again, with a different family entangled with past horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A restart designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on true survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: TBD. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: TBD. Production: advancing. 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 era-accurate language and primordial menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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

Why 2026 lands now

Three execution-level forces shape this lineup. First, production that stalled or migrated in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming releases. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine shareable moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

A fourth factor is programming math. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, making room for genre entries that can lead a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will cluster across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where value-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run 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 wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, lean 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 surface detail, audio design, and image-making that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand power where it counts, creative ambition where it counts, 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-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, lock the reveals, and let the fear sell the seats.