Antediluvian Evil awakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising horror feature, landing Oct 2025 across major platforms

An bone-chilling metaphysical horror tale from storyteller / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an timeless malevolence when guests become puppets in a hellish game. Airings begin October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing journey of survival and old world terror that will reshape the fear genre this scare season. Created by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and cinematic fearfest follows five people who come to isolated in a cut-off cabin under the aggressive manipulation of Kyra, a tormented girl consumed by a antiquated sacred-era entity. Prepare to be seized by a audio-visual spectacle that unites visceral dread with ancestral stories, releasing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a enduring pillar in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is reimagined when the beings no longer originate from beyond, but rather from within. This embodies the most terrifying facet of the cast. The result is a edge-of-seat psychological battle where the drama becomes a unforgiving face-off between divinity and wickedness.


In a barren landscape, five adults find themselves marooned under the possessive control and domination of a mysterious female presence. As the youths becomes incapacitated to reject her curse, isolated and tracked by creatures unnamable, they are cornered to confront their worst nightmares while the countdown coldly draws closer toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety amplifies and associations disintegrate, pressuring each cast member to reconsider their values and the idea of free will itself. The hazard amplify with every short lapse, delivering a nightmarish journey that blends demonic fright with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to evoke ancestral fear, an curse from prehistory, emerging via inner turmoil, and wrestling with a darkness that erodes the self when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra meant channeling something deeper than fear. She is uninformed until the haunting manifests, and that flip is harrowing because it is so private.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for digital release beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—offering streamers in all regions can get immersed in this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its first trailer, which has attracted over notable views.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, extending the thrill to viewers around the world.


Don’t miss this cinematic descent into hell. Watch *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to confront these evil-rooted truths about mankind.


For cast commentary, filmmaker commentary, and reveals directly from production, follow @YACFilm across your socials and visit the official website.





Contemporary horror’s pivotal crossroads: the 2025 season U.S. calendar weaves biblical-possession ideas, art-house nightmares, alongside franchise surges

Running from grit-forward survival fare infused with mythic scripture as well as series comebacks alongside incisive indie visions, 2025 stands to become the most stratified in tandem with calculated campaign year since the mid-2010s.

Call it full, but it is also focused. studio majors lock in tentpoles through proven series, concurrently platform operators stack the fall with discovery plays and archetypal fear. At the same time, the art-house flank is surfing the carry from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Since Halloween is the prized date, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The fall stretch is the proving field, yet in 2025, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are precise, as a result 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige terror resurfaces

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s slate kicks off the frame with an audacious swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, inside today’s landscape. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. arriving mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Led by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

When summer fades, Warner’s schedule unveils the final movement within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. While the template is known, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson resumes command, and the tone that worked before is intact: period tinged dread, trauma in the foreground, and a cold supernatural calculus. The bar is raised this go, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, grows the animatronic horror lineup, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It bows in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Firsts: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a sealed box body horror arc fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend with Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, 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 terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this film taps 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.

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 reads as sharp positioning. No puffed out backstory. No legacy baggage. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy IP: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, steered by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Trend Lines

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror comes roaring back
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Season Ahead: Autumn density and winter pivot

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

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 trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The coming 2026 spook slate: follow-ups, original films, and also A loaded Calendar calibrated for nightmares

Dek The upcoming genre slate crams early with a January glut, before it flows through midyear, and pushing into the year-end corridor, combining name recognition, untold stories, and smart counterplay. Studios and streamers are embracing responsible budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and platform-native promos that shape genre titles into mainstream chatter.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror marketplace has established itself as the sturdy counterweight in programming grids, a vertical that can lift when it catches and still buffer the exposure when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for greenlighters that mid-range horror vehicles can galvanize audience talk, 2024 kept energy high with visionary-driven titles and word-of-mouth wins. The tailwind pushed into 2025, where reawakened brands and elevated films highlighted there is appetite for varied styles, from continued chapters to filmmaker-driven originals that perform internationally. The end result for 2026 is a lineup that shows rare alignment across studios, with intentional bunching, a spread of marquee IP and new concepts, and a re-energized strategy on theatrical windows that enhance post-theatrical value on PVOD and platforms.

Buyers contend the genre now slots in as a fill-in ace on the grid. Horror can kick off on virtually any date, create a simple premise for teasers and UGC-friendly snippets, and exceed norms with moviegoers that line up on previews Thursday and stick through the second frame if the entry works. In the wake of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 setup shows faith in that playbook. The slate launches with a loaded January corridor, then plants flags in spring and early summer for audience offsets, while reserving space for a fall run that flows toward the Halloween frame and past Halloween. The grid also shows the ongoing integration of boutique distributors and SVOD players that can platform a title, grow buzz, and broaden at the optimal moment.

An added macro current is franchise tending across ongoing universes and long-running brands. The studios are not just mounting another follow-up. They are trying to present continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a art treatment that announces a recalibrated tone or a cast configuration that reconnects a next entry to a classic era. At the concurrently, the helmers behind the top original plays are celebrating material texture, in-camera effects and grounded locations. That this page interplay yields 2026 a lively combination of brand comfort and invention, which is how the films export.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount marks the early tempo with two prominent plays that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the front, framing it as both a handoff and a back-to-basics character-driven entry. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach suggests a nostalgia-forward framework without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected anchored in heritage visuals, initial cast looks, and a trailer cadence rolling toward 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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will emphasize. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will go after wide appeal through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format allowing quick switches to whatever shapes horror talk that spring.

Universal has three defined entries. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is elegant, heartbroken, and concept-forward: a grieving man purchases an AI companion that turns into a fatal companion. The date locates it at the front of a thick month, with Universal’s marketing likely to replay off-kilter promo beats and bite-size content that fuses devotion and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a proper title to become an event moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele titles are marketed as creative events, with a mystery-first teaser and a second beat that define feel without revealing the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date opens a lane to saturate 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, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has consistently shown that a in-your-face, hands-on effects method can feel elevated on a efficient spend. Look for a blood-and-grime summer horror surge that pushes offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio launches two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, extending a evergreen supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch builds quietly. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is describing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both franchise faithful and curious audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build materials around mythos, and monster craft, elements that can amplify premium format interest and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by minute detail and historical speech, this time set against lycan legends. The specialty arm has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is favorable.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform strategies for 2026 run on familiar rails. The Universal horror run land on copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a ladder that fortifies both premiere heat and trial spikes in the post-theatrical. Prime Video balances catalogue additions with world buys and limited cinema engagements when the data supports it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library curation, using curated hubs, genre hubs, and staff picks to maximize the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix retains agility about originals and festival snaps, confirming horror entries closer to drop and framing as events premieres with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a laddered of precision releases and quick platforming that translates talk to trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a situational basis. The platform has indicated interest to board select projects with award winners or star-driven packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for retention when the genre conversation spikes.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 lane with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is tight: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, reimagined for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has positioned a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the autumn weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through select festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday corridor to widen. That positioning has served the company well for elevated genre with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception merits. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using limited runs to kindle evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Legacy titles versus originals

By volume, 2026 leans in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness franchise value. The watch-out, as ever, is brand erosion. The operating solution is to frame each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is underscoring character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is floating a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-accented approach from a rising filmmaker. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and talent-first projects keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the configuration is grounded enough to spark pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Rolling three-year comps illuminate the logic. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that respected streaming windows did not stop a parallel release from paying off when the brand was robust. In 2024, director-craft horror hit big in premium large format. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they reorient and expand the canvas. 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 linked-chapter plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, permits marketing to interlace chapters through personae and themes and to keep assets alive without lulls.

How the films are being made

The creative meetings behind the 2026 slate forecast a continued emphasis on hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that spotlights grain and menace rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in deep-dive features and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a first look that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and gathers shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a self-referential reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature craft and set design, which work nicely for convention activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that emphasize razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in big rooms.

Annual flow

January is heavy. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a foggy reset amid headline IP. The month buttons 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 serious, but the mix of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Late winter and spring prime the summer. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Shoulder season into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a shoulder season window that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited asset reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can play the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card burn.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling check over here basis as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s synthetic partner escalates into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: gothic-game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her difficult boss push to survive on a lonely island as the hierarchy flips and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to dread, shaped by Cronin’s practical effects and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting scenario that explores the dread of a child’s wobbly impressions. Rating: not yet rated. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A parody return that teases in-vogue horror tropes and true crime preoccupations. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 flares, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new household bound to residual nightmares. Rating: forthcoming. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward pure survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: TBA. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: pending. Production: ongoing. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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 elemental fear. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. 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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three operational forces frame this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or reshuffled in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on clippable moments from test screenings, curated scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, making room for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will jostle across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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 modest-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 exploit those windows. 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, sound, and framing that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Looks Exciting

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is franchise muscle where it helps, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the screams sell the seats.