Antediluvian Evil emerges: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding chiller, launching October 2025 across global platforms

A chilling mystic suspense film from literary architect / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an mythic malevolence when passersby become proxies in a hellish maze. Available on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching chronicle of struggle and age-old darkness that will reimagine fear-driven cinema this spooky time. Crafted by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and cinematic story follows five young adults who snap to ensnared in a isolated cabin under the malignant will of Kyra, a female presence consumed by a two-thousand-year-old biblical demon. Anticipate to be immersed by a cinematic presentation that melds gut-punch terror with mythic lore, dropping on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a iconic trope in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is turned on its head when the monsters no longer form outside their bodies, but rather from their core. This mirrors the shadowy side of the group. The result is a bone-chilling identity crisis where the events becomes a soul-crushing fight between righteousness and malevolence.


In a bleak outland, five characters find themselves cornered under the fiendish grip and domination of a enigmatic apparition. As the team becomes helpless to escape her control, stranded and chased by creatures unfathomable, they are made to battle their raw vulnerabilities while the seconds ruthlessly pushes forward toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust surges and friendships erode, compelling each character to reflect on their self and the notion of autonomy itself. The risk surge with every instant, delivering a scare-fueled ride that weaves together mystical fear with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to tap into basic terror, an evil rooted in antiquity, influencing our fears, and highlighting a evil that strips down our being when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra demanded embodying something outside normal anguish. She is clueless until the haunting manifests, and that shift is terrifying because it is so emotional.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be released for horror fans beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—giving viewers from coast to coast can face this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its intro video, which has pulled in over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, delivering the story to viewers around the world.


Avoid skipping this unforgettable exploration of dread. Stream *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to survive these haunting secrets about free will.


For previews, making-of footage, and news from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your favorite networks and visit our horror hub.





Contemporary horror’s pivotal crossroads: calendar year 2025 U.S. calendar weaves primeval-possession lore, art-house nightmares, plus franchise surges

Running from grit-forward survival fare infused with mythic scripture as well as installment follow-ups as well as incisive indie visions, 2025 looks like the most variegated paired with tactically planned year for the modern era.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. the big studios lock in tentpoles via recognizable brands, concurrently subscription platforms flood the fall with discovery plays together with old-world menace. On the festival side, the artisan tier is fueled by the kinetic energy of a banner 2024 fest year. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, however this time, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are targeted, therefore 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s pipeline fires the first shot with a bold swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in a clear present-tense world. With Leigh Whannell at the helm with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. dated for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Steered by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer winds down, the Warner lot sets loose the finale from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the memorable motifs return: retrograde shiver, trauma in the foreground, along with eerie supernatural rules. The ante is higher this round, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, broadens the animatronic terror cast, reaching teens and game grownups. It hits in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streamer Exclusives: Slim budgets, major punch

While the big screen favors titles you know, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a close quarters body horror study featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. From writer director 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. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed 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 is a clever angle. No swollen lore. No sequel clutter. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

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

Legacy Lines: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Signals and Trends

Mythic currents go mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

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

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Outlook: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. 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. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The oncoming chiller Year Ahead: brand plays, original films, alongside A Crowded Calendar tailored for shocks

Dek The brand-new horror season stacks from day one with a January traffic jam, then rolls through the mid-year, and straight through the holiday stretch, marrying brand heft, new concepts, and shrewd offsets. Studios and streamers are committing to cost discipline, theatrical-first rollouts, and social-fueled campaigns that convert genre releases into national conversation.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The genre has emerged as the steady swing in studio lineups, a vertical that can spike when it lands and still protect the liability when it underperforms. After 2023 reassured strategy teams that lean-budget genre plays can galvanize social chatter, 2024 kept energy high with buzzy auteur projects and slow-burn breakouts. The carry rolled into 2025, where reawakened brands and elevated films made clear there is room for several lanes, from sequel tracks to original one-offs that carry overseas. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a roster that feels more orchestrated than usual across distributors, with mapped-out bands, a pairing of recognizable IP and new packages, and a sharpened commitment on exclusive windows that increase tail monetization on premium digital and streaming.

Executives say the category now behaves like a plug-and-play option on the schedule. Horror can open on open real estate, furnish a clear pitch for promo reels and platform-native cuts, and overperform with ticket buyers that turn out on first-look nights and continue through the next weekend if the film pays off. Following a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 plan shows belief in that equation. The slate begins with a front-loaded January band, then primes spring and early summer for counterweight, while carving room for a late-year stretch that stretches into late October and into post-Halloween. The map also features the greater integration of specialty arms and subscription services that can nurture a platform play, stoke social talk, and scale up at the timely point.

A parallel macro theme is IP stewardship across brand ecosystems and legacy franchises. Big banners are not just greenlighting another continuation. They are moving to present story carry-over with a headline quality, whether that is a art treatment that signals a new vibe or a casting pivot that threads a fresh chapter to a heyday. At the same time, the creative teams behind the most anticipated originals are prioritizing real-world builds, in-camera effects and grounded locations. That convergence produces the 2026 slate a smart balance of comfort and novelty, which is what works overseas.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount defines the early cadence with two prominent projects that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the lead, marketing it as both a legacy handover and a heritage-centered character study. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the authorial approach conveys a fan-service aware treatment without recycling the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push driven by classic imagery, character previews, and a two-beat have a peek at these guys trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will spotlight. As a summer counter-slot, this one will generate mass reach through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick redirects to whatever leads the discourse that spring.

Universal has three defined lanes. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is efficient, tragic, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man onboards an synthetic partner that unfolds into a deadly partner. The date lines it up at the front of a competition-heavy month, with marketing at Universal likely to renew off-kilter promo beats and snackable content that melds companionship and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a final title to become an teaser payoff closer to the first trailer. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s releases are sold as creative events, with a hinting teaser and a next wave of trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The pre-Halloween slot allows Universal to dominate 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 commands, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has established that a gritty, makeup-driven execution can feel elevated on a middle budget. Position this as a hard-R summer horror jolt that spotlights offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio launches two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, maintaining a consistent supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is positioning 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 directive to serve both longtime followers and general audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build promo materials around world-building, and monster design, elements that can drive premium format interest and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in careful craft and linguistic texture, this time set against lycan legends. The imprint has already set the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is robust.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform tactics for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s releases feed copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a pacing that fortifies both FOMO and sign-up spikes in the downstream. Prime Video continues to mix licensed titles with global acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in library curation, using prominent placements, seasonal hubs, and programmed rows to sustain interest on lifetime take. Netflix stays nimble about own-slate titles and festival grabs, finalizing horror entries on shorter runways and coalescing around rollouts with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a dual-phase of precision releases and prompt platform moves that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has been willing to buy select projects with recognized filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for platform stickiness when the genre conversation intensifies.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 sequence with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is direct: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, recalibrated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a theatrical rollout for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the back half.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, piloting the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then deploying the Christmas corridor to widen. That positioning has paid off for prestige horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception supports. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using small theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their user base.

Franchises versus originals

By tilt, 2026 bends toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on franchise value. The question, as ever, is viewer burnout. The go-to fix is to market each entry as a new angle. Paramount is elevating core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-flavored turn from a new voice. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the assembly is recognizable enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and early previews.

Rolling three-year comps outline the approach. In 2023, a exclusive window model that maintained windows did not stop a day-date move from succeeding when the brand was big. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror rose in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they alter lens 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 dual-chapter plan, with chapters shot in tandem, builds a path for marketing to connect the chapters through personae and themes and to leave creative active without dead zones.

How the films are being made

The shop talk behind the year’s horror hint at a continued turn toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that highlights grain and menace rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft spotlights before rolling out a tease that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and gathers shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta recalibration that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature and environment design, which work nicely for convention floor stunts and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel necessary. Look for trailers that emphasize hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that sing on PLF.

How the year maps out

January is busy. 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 heftier brand moves. 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 credible, but the variety of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth persists.

Late winter and spring prime the summer. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now supports 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 unleashes brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

End of summer through fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited asset reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift-card burn.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s algorithmic partner shifts into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: ambience-forward adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss struggle to survive on a desolate island as the hierarchy tilts and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

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 suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 intimate haunting scenario that teases the dread of a child’s shaky impressions. Rating: pending. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven 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 targets of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime buzz. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites detonates, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a fresh family anchored to lingering terrors. Rating: TBD. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A restart designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival-first horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: undetermined. Production: proceeding. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

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 historical diction and ancient menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026, why now

Three execution-level forces structure this lineup. First, production that slowed or re-slotted in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and pared-down timelines. 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 placements. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate clippable moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

A fourth factor is programming math. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can seize a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will share space across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

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

The underdog chase 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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, 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 pace and range. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, 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 keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, efficient placements, 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 materiality, soundscape, and imagery 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 Shapes Up Strong

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand equity where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing 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, roll out exact trailers, hold the mystery, and let the shudders sell the seats.