Mythic Evil Rises in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising horror thriller, bowing October 2025 across premium platforms

This hair-raising otherworldly thriller from screenwriter / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an forgotten horror when passersby become instruments in a fiendish ritual. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching story of perseverance and forgotten curse that will remodel the fear genre this scare season. Directed by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and claustrophobic suspense flick follows five lost souls who awaken stranded in a wilderness-bound dwelling under the menacing rule of Kyra, a haunted figure claimed by a biblical-era scriptural evil. Ready yourself to be immersed by a cinematic presentation that blends intense horror with ancestral stories, debuting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a historical trope in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is inverted when the malevolences no longer appear outside their bodies, but rather from their core. This illustrates the haunting version of every character. The result is a intense spiritual tug-of-war where the suspense becomes a ongoing conflict between moral forces.


In a wilderness-stricken wilderness, five figures find themselves stuck under the ominous presence and possession of a uncanny character. As the survivors becomes helpless to break her power, stranded and followed by evils impossible to understand, they are obligated to wrestle with their worst nightmares while the hours unceasingly ticks toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion grows and teams disintegrate, coercing each character to challenge their essence and the idea of free will itself. The consequences magnify with every fleeting time, delivering a cinematic nightmare that connects demonic fright with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to dig into core terror, an evil from prehistory, operating within our weaknesses, and wrestling with a being that redefines identity when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra was about accessing something darker than pain. She is ignorant until the control shifts, and that pivot is gut-wrenching because it is so visceral.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for home viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—offering households around the globe can be part of this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its original clip, which has pulled in over six-figure audience.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, presenting the nightmare to a worldwide audience.


Do not miss this heart-stopping path of possession. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to see these terrifying truths about the psyche.


For bonus footage, on-set glimpses, and reveals from those who lived it, follow @YACFilm across entertainment pages and visit our horror hub.





Today’s horror tipping point: 2025 in focus American release plan weaves legend-infused possession, indie terrors, stacked beside series shake-ups

Across fight-to-live nightmare stories inspired by mythic scripture through to legacy revivals together with pointed art-house angles, 2025 is tracking to be the most stratified and tactically planned year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. the big studios are anchoring the year through proven series, at the same time digital services saturate the fall with unboxed visions as well as old-world menace. On the independent axis, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is buoyed by the backdraft of 2024’s record festival wave. With Halloween holding the peak, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A fat September–October lane is customary now, notably this year, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are intentional, which means 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: The Return of Prestige Fear

The top end is active. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal Pictures leads off the quarter with a risk-forward move: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in a modern-day environment. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. landing in mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Eli Craig directs starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

Toward summer’s end, Warner Bros. sets loose the finale inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re teams, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: period tinged dread, trauma driven plotting, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This time the stakes climb, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The follow up digs further into canon, builds out the animatronic fear crew, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It drops in December, locking down the winter tail.

Digital Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a body horror chamber piece pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is virtually assured for fall.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as 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 smart play. No overinflated mythology. No legacy baggage. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

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

Long Running Lines: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, steered by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Signals and Trends

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror ascends again
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Outlook: Fall saturation and a winter joker

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

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The new terror lineup: brand plays, Originals, in tandem with A hectic Calendar geared toward Scares

Dek: The current genre slate crowds right away with a January crush, before it spreads through the warm months, and well into the winter holidays, balancing series momentum, untold stories, and savvy counterweight. The big buyers and platforms are relying on smart costs, theater-first strategies, and short-form initiatives that transform genre titles into broad-appeal conversations.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

This space has solidified as the consistent play in studio calendars, a corner that can spike when it breaks through and still hedge the downside when it stumbles. After the 2023 year proved to greenlighters that mid-range horror vehicles can steer audience talk, 2024 extended the rally with signature-voice projects and word-of-mouth wins. The momentum translated to the 2025 frame, where returns and prestige plays confirmed there is room for diverse approaches, from series extensions to fresh IP that resonate abroad. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a slate that appears tightly organized across the major shops, with obvious clusters, a combination of brand names and original hooks, and a reinvigorated commitment on theatrical windows that fuel later windows on premium digital and SVOD.

Buyers contend the genre now serves as a swing piece on the grid. The genre can kick off on numerous frames, create a grabby hook for teasers and reels, and exceed norms with viewers that show up on preview nights and stay strong through the next pass if the picture delivers. Post a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 layout underscores faith in that playbook. The calendar gets underway with a stacked January band, then leans on spring and early summer for audience offsets, while making space for a fall cadence that stretches into All Hallows period and beyond. The schedule also features the increasing integration of specialized imprints and platforms that can build gradually, fuel WOM, and roll out at the right moment.

A further high-level trend is IP cultivation across interlocking continuities and storied titles. Distribution groups are not just mounting another entry. They are looking to package story carry-over with a marquee sheen, whether that is a graphic identity that suggests a tonal shift or a cast configuration that anchors a new installment to a early run. At the very same time, the writer-directors behind the high-profile originals are prioritizing practical craft, practical gags and place-driven backdrops. That interplay yields 2026 a smart balance of assurance and unexpected turns, which is how the genre sells abroad.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount fires first with two spotlight plays that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the core, marketing it as both a lineage transfer and a heritage-centered character-driven entry. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the tonal posture indicates a classic-referencing framework without covering again the last two entries’ sisters thread. Plan for a rollout leaning on iconic art, initial cast looks, and a staggered trailer plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

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 back together, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will lean on. As a summer relief option, this one will pursue four-quadrant chatter through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format allowing quick redirects to whatever rules trend lines that spring.

Universal has three clear entries. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is elegant, soulful, and big-hook: a grieving man purchases an synthetic partner that unfolds into a murderous partner. The date places it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to iterate on off-kilter promo beats and quick hits that interlaces romance and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a official title to become an teaser payoff closer to the initial promo. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s work are positioned as creative events, with a teaser that reveals little and a follow-up trailer set that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The spooky-season slot creates space for Universal to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has long shown that a blood-soaked, prosthetic-heavy mix can feel top-tier on a efficient spend. Look for a splatter summer horror rush that maximizes offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio rolls out two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, extending a reliable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is framing as a new foundation 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 mission to serve both fans and new audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign pieces around world-building, and creature effects, elements that can increase premium booking interest and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by obsessive craft and historical speech, this time engaging werewolf myth. The distributor has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is favorable.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform windowing in 2026 run on known playbooks. The studio’s horror films shift to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a ladder that elevates both FOMO and trial spikes in the late-window. Prime Video blends licensed films with world buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu work their edges in archive usage, using seasonal hubs, October hubs, and programmed rows to maximize the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix plays opportunist about Netflix originals and festival acquisitions, timing horror entries closer to launch and staging as events drops with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a hybrid of selective theatrical runs and prompt platform moves that turns chatter to conversion. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a per-project basis. The platform has been willing to invest in select projects with award winners or celebrity-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for monthly activity when the genre conversation builds.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 track with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is clear: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, reimagined for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has suggested a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the September weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, news guiding the film through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then pressing the Christmas corridor to scale. That positioning has shown results for auteur horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception allows. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using targeted theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their community.

Brands and originals

By weight, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness household recognition. The question, as ever, is brand wear. The workable fix is to sell each entry as a new angle. Paramount is foregrounding character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a European tilt from a fresh helmer. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the deal build is steady enough to drive advance ticketing and preview-night crowds.

Rolling three-year comps help explain the model. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that honored streaming windows did not stop a day-date try from working when the brand was strong. In 2024, precision craft horror punched above its weight in PLF. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they reframe POV and elevate scope. 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 double feature plan, with chapters filmed consecutively, provides the means for marketing to link the news films through relationships and themes and to keep materials circulating without hiatuses.

How the films are being made

The production chatter behind 2026 horror suggest a continued shift toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that emphasizes aura and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in feature stories and craft features before rolling out a first look that withholds plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and creates shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta-horror reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature work and production design, which lend themselves to fan-con activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel essential. Look for trailers that emphasize razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in premium houses.

Annual flow

January is busy. 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 bigger brand plays. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the mix of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth persists.

Early-year through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a pre-October slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited pre-release reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can play the holidays when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card use.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s core. 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 loss-struck man’s AI companion evolves into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal 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 extends 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: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss battle to survive on a desolate island as the power balance of power turns and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to fright, grounded in Cronin’s hands-on craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting premise that twists the terror of a child’s inconsistent POV. Rating: pending. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-built and headline-actor led paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that needles today’s horror trends and true-crime manias. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a unlucky family lashed to old terrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A reboot designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survivalist horror over action fireworks. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: to be announced. Production: advancing. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

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 language and primordial menace. Rating: TBA. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three workable forces shape this lineup. First, production that decelerated or reshuffled in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and compressed schedules. 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 out-earned straight-to-streaming releases. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on repeatable beats from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will cluster across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, 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 sleeper chase 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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first surprise 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, disciplined footprints, 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 dimensionality, sonics, and framing that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Looks Exciting

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand heft where it matters, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, keep secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.