Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primordial evil, a hair raising chiller, launching October 2025 across top digital platforms

This chilling otherworldly suspense film from storyteller / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an ancient force when strangers become pawns in a malevolent conflict. Debuting on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a intense chronicle of struggle and timeless dread that will remodel the horror genre this October. Created by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and claustrophobic thriller follows five figures who come to sealed in a remote dwelling under the unfriendly command of Kyra, a tormented girl controlled by a legendary scriptural evil. Anticipate to be immersed by a immersive adventure that integrates raw fear with mythic lore, landing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a iconic concept in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is twisted when the beings no longer develop from a different plane, but rather from their psyche. This echoes the most primal side of these individuals. The result is a intense spiritual tug-of-war where the suspense becomes a relentless face-off between good and evil.


In a forsaken terrain, five adults find themselves confined under the sinister grip and spiritual invasion of a unknown female figure. As the ensemble becomes paralyzed to resist her power, stranded and chased by presences beyond comprehension, they are driven to battle their inner horrors while the timeline unceasingly counts down toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust intensifies and links erode, pressuring each soul to doubt their identity and the idea of personal agency itself. The tension accelerate with every fleeting time, delivering a scare-fueled ride that merges otherworldly panic with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to extract raw dread, an force that existed before mankind, emerging via emotional fractures, and testing a evil that redefines identity when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra meant evoking something beneath mortal despair. She is insensitive until the curse activates, and that shift is gut-wrenching because it is so visceral.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for on-demand beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—so that watchers in all regions can get immersed in this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its original clip, which has racked up over a viral response.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, giving access to the movie to global fright lovers.


Experience this haunted fall into madness. Experience *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to uncover these terrifying truths about existence.


For cast commentary, set experiences, and reveals from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursed across entertainment pages and visit youngandcursed.com.





Current horror’s watershed moment: 2025 for genre fans U.S. lineup interlaces archetypal-possession themes, microbudget gut-punches, set against brand-name tremors

Beginning with endurance-driven terror steeped in mythic scripture all the way to series comebacks together with focused festival visions, 2025 is shaping up as the most textured as well as deliberate year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. Major studios lock in tentpoles by way of signature titles, at the same time streaming platforms pack the fall with emerging auteurs in concert with primordial unease. On the independent axis, indie storytellers is catching the afterglow of a banner 2024 fest year. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. A fat September–October lane is customary now, and now, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are exacting, which means 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Prestige fear returns

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal banner fires the first shot with a statement play: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, but a crisp modern milieu. Steered by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. Booked into mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Helmed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s slate sets loose the finale of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

The Black Phone 2 follows. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re engages, and those signature textures resurface: old school creep, trauma driven plotting, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This pass pushes higher, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The new chapter enriches the lore, stretches the animatronic parade, reaching teens and game grownups. It opens in December, pinning the winter close.

Streamer Exclusives: No Budget, No Problem

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a tight space body horror vignette including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is a near certain autumn drop.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn starring 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 cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, 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.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It reads as sharp positioning. No puffed out backstory. No IP hangover. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Badges as Fuel

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

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Heritage Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

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

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, guided 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 the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Dials to Watch

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror reemerges
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Season Ahead: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The upcoming chiller season: brand plays, new stories, and also A brimming Calendar Built For Scares

Dek: The brand-new genre calendar clusters right away with a January logjam, following that flows through midyear, and well into the late-year period, weaving name recognition, new voices, and strategic counter-scheduling. Studios and platforms are focusing on tight budgets, theatrical-first rollouts, and platform-native promos that elevate these releases into cross-demo moments.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

This space has emerged as the consistent option in programming grids, a corner that can accelerate when it breaks through and still buffer the risk when it does not. After the 2023 year re-taught greenlighters that mid-range chillers can drive mainstream conversation, the following year extended the rally with visionary-driven titles and under-the-radar smashes. The trend extended into the 2025 frame, where reboots and awards-minded projects signaled there is appetite for a spectrum, from continued chapters to director-led originals that perform internationally. The net effect for 2026 is a schedule that looks unusually coordinated across the field, with defined corridors, a balance of known properties and untested plays, and a tightened attention on exclusive windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium home window and digital services.

Planners observe the space now acts as a wildcard on the calendar. Horror can premiere on nearly any frame, create a clean hook for spots and reels, and outperform with demo groups that appear on previews Thursday and sustain through the week two if the feature satisfies. After a work stoppage lag, the 2026 pattern exhibits assurance in that setup. The year gets underway with a stacked January band, then taps spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while saving space for a late-year stretch that carries into the fright window and afterwards. The map also underscores the ongoing integration of boutique distributors and home platforms that can launch in limited release, generate chatter, and move wide at the inflection point.

An added macro current is brand management across shared universes and heritage properties. The studios are not just turning out another continuation. They are setting up ongoing narrative with a heightened moment, whether that is a typeface approach that indicates a fresh attitude or a casting choice that reconnects a upcoming film to a early run. At the very same time, the writer-directors behind the eagerly awaited originals are doubling down on tactile craft, practical gags and location-forward worlds. That interplay delivers the 2026 slate a robust balance of home base and surprise, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount opens strong with two front-of-slate plays that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the center, framing it as both a relay and a origin-leaning character-centered film. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the creative stance telegraphs a legacy-leaning angle without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Plan for a rollout stacked with signature symbols, character spotlights, and a trailer cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will lean on. As a summer relief option, this one will build general-audience talk through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format permitting quick updates to whatever leads trend lines that spring.

Universal has three unique plays. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is efficient, melancholic, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man brings home an virtual partner that mutates into a lethal partner. The date locates it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to renew uncanny live moments and quick hits that hybridizes love and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title drop to become an marketing beat closer to the initial tease. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele projects are sold as marquee events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a next wave of trailers that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The Halloween runway gives the studio room to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has shown that a visceral, practical-effects forward strategy can feel high-value on a tight budget. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror rush that pushes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio books two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, sustaining a evergreen supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is selling 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 mission to serve both loyalists and casuals. The fall slot gives Sony time to build campaign creative around narrative world, and practical creature work, elements that can drive IMAX and PLF uptake and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places 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 driven by obsessive craft and period speech, this time orbiting lycan myth. The label has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is positive.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform tactics for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s genre entries head to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a stair-step that maximizes both FOMO and subscriber lifts in the downstream. Prime Video blends acquired titles with global acquisitions and limited runs in theaters when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in catalog discovery, using featured rows, fright rows, and curated strips to sustain interest on the 2026 genre total. Netflix plays opportunist about Netflix originals and festival deals, scheduling horror entries toward the drop and making event-like go-lives with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a tiered of selective theatrical runs and fast windowing that translates talk to trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a selective basis. The platform has signaled readiness to buy select projects with top-tier auteurs or star-driven packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for retention when the genre conversation builds.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 arc with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is simple: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, updated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a theatrical rollout for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the uncompromising series and Source for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the late-season weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday corridor to increase reach. That positioning has proved effective for filmmaker-driven genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception encourages. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using targeted theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their user base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By share, 2026 leans toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on fan equity. The trade-off, as ever, is staleness. The standing approach is to brand each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is underscoring character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a European tilt from a fresh helmer. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a island-set survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the package is comforting enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and early previews.

Comps from the last three years outline the logic. In 2023, a exclusive window model that observed windows did not deter a simultaneous release test from succeeding when the brand was potent. In 2024, auteur craft horror over-performed in premium formats. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they change perspective and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, gives leeway to marketing to connect the chapters through personae and themes and to keep assets alive without hiatuses.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft conversations behind these films indicate a continued emphasis on tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that centers tone and tension rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for textured sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in long-lead features and department features before rolling out a mood teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and spurs shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a self-aware reset that centers its original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature craft and set design, which work nicely for fan-con activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel definitive. Look for trailers that highlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that land in premium houses.

How the year maps out

January is full. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid marquee brands. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the variety of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

Post-January through spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends navigate here that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. 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 serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

August into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited plot reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift card usage.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s machine mate becomes something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces 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 be swallowed by a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: atmospheric game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: this website After a plane crash, an employee and her difficult boss push to survive on a desolate island as the power dynamic shifts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. 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 renewed vision that returns the monster to fright, founded on Cronin’s material craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting tale that manipulates the dread of a child’s shaky POV. Rating: rating pending. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven spectral suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A parody return that teases hot-button genre motifs and true-crime manias. Rating: TBD. Production: filming slated 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 flares, 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: unrevealed. Logline: The Further opens again, with a different family entangled with past horrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on true survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: TBA. Production: continuing. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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 ancient menace. Rating: TBD. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. 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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three practical forces shape this lineup. First, production that slowed or shuffled in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous 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 landings. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine clippable moments from test screenings, metered scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

The slot calculus is real. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, making room for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will coexist across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where disciplined-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 work those windows. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, 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 scale over time, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, aural design, 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, Lined Up To Scare

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is name recognition where it counts, inventive vision where it helps, 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-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the shudders sell the seats.