Primeval Evil Rises in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding horror feature, premiering Oct 2025 on leading streamers

This spine-tingling metaphysical shockfest from cinematographer / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an primordial entity when outsiders become vehicles in a demonic experiment. Hitting screens on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing portrayal of survival and ancient evil that will revolutionize genre cinema this fall. Helmed by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and tone-heavy cinema piece follows five figures who suddenly rise trapped in a secluded cabin under the hostile sway of Kyra, a haunted figure claimed by a legendary biblical force. Anticipate to be ensnared by a motion picture journey that integrates bone-deep fear with ancient myths, releasing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a mainstay pillar in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is twisted when the spirits no longer emerge externally, but rather internally. This portrays the shadowy part of all involved. The result is a emotionally raw inner struggle where the intensity becomes a unyielding face-off between divinity and wickedness.


In a barren wilderness, five campers find themselves imprisoned under the ominous effect and domination of a haunted person. As the team becomes vulnerable to withstand her control, isolated and attacked by creatures beyond reason, they are cornered to endure their inner horrors while the countdown mercilessly draws closer toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion amplifies and connections dissolve, driving each survivor to scrutinize their being and the idea of independent thought itself. The stakes rise with every passing moment, delivering a horror experience that combines otherworldly suspense with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to extract ancestral fear, an malevolence from ancient eras, filtering through psychological breaks, and testing a power that questions who we are when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra needed manifesting something rooted in terror. She is blind until the haunting manifests, and that shift is harrowing because it is so visceral.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for audience access beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing streamers internationally can engage with this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its first trailer, which has seen over notable views.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, offering the tale to global fright lovers.


Avoid skipping this gripping trip into the unknown. Experience *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to face these ghostly lessons about free will.


For previews, director cuts, and alerts from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across social media and visit the movie’s homepage.





Today’s horror pivotal crossroads: 2025 U.S. rollouts fuses legend-infused possession, signature indie scares, plus series shake-ups

Moving from grit-forward survival fare drawn from old testament echoes through to franchise returns and acutely observed indies, 2025 is shaping up as the genre’s most multifaceted paired with blueprinted year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. studio majors lock in tentpoles with franchise anchors, in tandem OTT services crowd the fall with discovery plays in concert with ancestral chills. Meanwhile, independent banners is fueled by the momentum of a banner 2024 fest year. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The fall stretch is the proving field, but this year, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are precise, thus 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige fear returns

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s pipeline opens the year with a statement play: a reimagined Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, in a modern-day environment. Under director Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. Booked into mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. From director Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer eases, Warner Bros. Pictures bows the concluding entry of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson resumes command, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: old school creep, trauma driven plotting, and eerie supernatural logic. This time, the stakes are raised, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, courting teens and the thirty something base. It posts in December, locking down the winter tail.

Platform Plays: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While theaters lean on names and sequels, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a close quarters body horror study led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

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 From Within: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is a smart play. No overinflated mythology. No IP hangover. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They are more runway than museum.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

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

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Long Running Lines: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, steered by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Emerging Currents

Myth turns mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror swings back
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Season Ahead: Fall stack and winter swing card

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. 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.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The next scare Year Ahead: entries, fresh concepts, paired with A packed Calendar calibrated for shocks

Dek: The brand-new horror year builds right away with a January wave, from there stretches through the warm months, and deep into the festive period, combining brand equity, novel approaches, and data-minded counterweight. The major players are betting on lean spends, box-office-first windows, and shareable marketing that elevate these films into cross-demo moments.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

This space has become the sturdy release in studio slates, a genre that can break out when it connects and still limit the losses when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year re-taught decision-makers that modestly budgeted horror vehicles can own pop culture, the following year kept the drumbeat going with director-led heat and stealth successes. The run moved into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and arthouse crossovers showed there is a lane for a spectrum, from ongoing IP entries to one-and-done originals that resonate abroad. The aggregate for 2026 is a roster that presents tight coordination across studios, with mapped-out bands, a spread of familiar brands and new packages, and a renewed priority on theater exclusivity that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium digital rental and OTT platforms.

Studio leaders note the space now slots in as a fill-in ace on the release plan. Horror can premiere on many corridors, supply a tight logline for spots and short-form placements, and overperform with ticket buyers that line up on opening previews and return through the sophomore frame if the picture works. Coming out of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 mapping shows belief in that equation. The slate begins with a weighty January stretch, then uses spring and early summer for contrast, while clearing room for a fall run that runs into All Hallows period and beyond. The schedule also includes the tightening integration of boutique distributors and home platforms that can platform a title, grow buzz, and broaden at the timely point.

A parallel macro theme is IP cultivation across ongoing universes and classic IP. The studios are not just mounting another chapter. They are aiming to frame ongoing narrative with a marquee sheen, whether that is a logo package that broadcasts a recalibrated tone or a casting choice that threads a fresh chapter to a first wave. At the concurrently, the auteurs behind the marquee originals are returning to in-camera technique, practical gags and site-specific worlds. That fusion provides 2026 a smart balance of home base and unexpected turns, which is what works overseas.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount fires first with two marquee entries that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the lead, marketing it as both a baton pass and a foundation-forward character-centered film. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the story approach suggests a classic-referencing approach without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push fueled by signature symbols, character spotlights, and a tease cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also dusts off 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 feature. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will go after general-audience talk through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format enabling quick adjustments to whatever tops the social talk that spring.

Universal has three clear lanes. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is tidy, tragic, and big-hook: a grieving man adopts an virtual partner that grows into a lethal partner. The date slots it at the front of a heavy month, with marketing at Universal likely to renew eerie street stunts and short-form creative that threads longing and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title reveal to become an PR pop closer to the opening teaser. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. His projects are treated as creative events, with a teaser that holds back and a subsequent trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The prime October weekend offers Universal room to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has demonstrated that a flesh-and-blood, physical-effects centered style can feel prestige on a moderate cost. Look for a gore-forward summer horror jolt that emphasizes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio launches two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, holding a bankable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is presenting as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both players and novices. The fall slot offers Sony space to build campaign creative around environmental design, and creature builds, elements that can fuel deluxe auditorium demand and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror built on meticulous craft and textual fidelity, this time orbiting lycan myth. The label has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is favorable.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform strategies for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal titles head to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a ordering that expands both FOMO and sub growth in the later window. Prime Video continues to mix licensed content with worldwide entries and targeted theatrical runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library engagement, using timely promos, spooky hubs, and editorial rows to lengthen the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix stays nimble about first-party entries and festival deals, confirming horror entries toward the drop and positioning as event drops premieres with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a dual-phase of selective theatrical runs and quick platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a curated basis. The platform has signaled readiness to purchase select projects with accomplished filmmakers or A-list packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for monthly activity when the genre conversation swells.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 slate with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is clean: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, elevated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an promising marker for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the autumn weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, managing the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then working the holiday slot to expand. That positioning has shown results for auteur horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception justifies. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using select theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Franchise entries versus originals

By skew, the 2026 slate leans toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on name recognition. The caveat, as ever, is brand erosion. The standing approach is to pitch each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is spotlighting character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-flavored turn from a rising filmmaker. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and talent-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a island survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the bundle is familiar enough to accelerate early sales and first-night audiences.

The last three-year set announce the plan. In 2023, a theater-first model that respected streaming windows did not stop a dual release from working when the brand was powerful. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror over-performed in premium large format. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel new when they reorient and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds 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 produced back-to-back, enables marketing to cross-link entries through personae and themes and to keep assets in-market without pause points.

Technique and craft currents

The filmmaking conversations behind this year’s genre forecast a continued bias toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that highlights unease and texture rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and era-true language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in have a peek at these guys craft journalism and craft coverage before rolling out a first look that withholds plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and spurs shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta-horror reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature work and production design, which match well with expo activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel definitive. Look for trailers that highlight pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that explode in larger rooms.

Annual flow

January is packed. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid marquee brands. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the variety of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Late winter and spring tee up summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Late-season stretch leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited previews that favor idea over plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift-card spend.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s genes. 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 artificial companion shifts into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot 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 ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. 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 abrasive boss fight to survive on a lonely island as the hierarchy tilts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. 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 not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to horror, shaped by Cronin’s in-camera craft and encroaching 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 intimate haunting premise that routes the horror through a youngster’s flickering subjective view. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fully shot. 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 back in the creative mix. Logline: {A genre lampoon that lampoons modern genre fads and true-crime obsessions. Rating: not yet rated. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 bursts, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a unlucky family anchored to older hauntings. Rating: forthcoming. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A restart designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward classic survival-horror tone over set-piece spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: underway. 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 period-specific language and elemental dread. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three operational forces drive this lineup. First, production that slowed or shuffled in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming landings. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on bite-size scare clips from test screenings, precision scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, offering breathing room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will coexist across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

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

The dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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 tempo and variety. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide this contact form a ghostly double-hit 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 wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, aural design, and visual design that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Ready To Roar

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is IP strength where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, keep secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.