Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons primeval malevolence, a spine tingling feature, launching October 2025 across top streaming platforms

One eerie supernatural shockfest from dramatist / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an primordial horror when strangers become instruments in a hellish game. Dropping this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching tale of endurance and prehistoric entity that will reshape the horror genre this Halloween season. Realized by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and shadowy fearfest follows five figures who wake up trapped in a cut-off dwelling under the aggressive power of Kyra, a haunted figure consumed by a prehistoric Old Testament spirit. Prepare to be immersed by a immersive event that combines gut-punch terror with legendary tales, coming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a historical theme in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is reimagined when the dark entities no longer descend beyond the self, but rather within themselves. This mirrors the most primal corner of every character. The result is a enthralling psychological battle where the plotline becomes a unyielding contest between purity and corruption.


In a wilderness-stricken outland, five characters find themselves sealed under the evil aura and possession of a mysterious figure. As the youths becomes paralyzed to withstand her control, cut off and chased by evils unfathomable, they are cornered to reckon with their core terrors while the deathwatch relentlessly counts down toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear amplifies and connections collapse, demanding each soul to reflect on their identity and the concept of personal agency itself. The intensity surge with every fleeting time, delivering a chilling narrative that harmonizes spiritual fright with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to awaken instinctual horror, an entity beyond time, feeding on emotional fractures, and navigating a curse that forces self-examination when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra was about accessing something far beyond human desperation. She is oblivious until the takeover begins, and that evolution is eerie because it is so intimate.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for worldwide release beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing audiences around the globe can watch this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its original promo, which has been viewed over six-figure audience.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, presenting the nightmare to a worldwide audience.


Don’t miss this mind-warping path of possession. Experience *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to witness these haunting secrets about mankind.


For behind-the-scenes access, filmmaker commentary, and promotions from the story's source, follow @YACFilm across your favorite networks and visit the film’s website.





Today’s horror Turning Point: the 2025 season stateside slate interlaces legend-infused possession, microbudget gut-punches, alongside returning-series thunder

Moving from life-or-death fear drawn from scriptural legend and stretching into series comebacks in concert with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is coalescing into the richest as well as strategic year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. studio powerhouses bookend the months with familiar IP, at the same time subscription platforms crowd the fall with new perspectives alongside ancestral chills. On the festival side, festival-forward creators is riding the uplift from a record 2024 festival run. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, and now, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are calculated, thus 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: The Return of Prestige Fear

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s schedule begins the calendar with a statement play: a contemporary Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, inside today’s landscape. Directed by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. set for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Directed by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

As summer wanes, the Warner lot rolls out the capstone from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Though the outline is tried, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson returns, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: retro dread, trauma driven plotting, plus otherworld rules that chill. The ante is higher this round, 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 franchise that brings its own crowd. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, stretches the animatronic parade, courting teens and the thirty something base. It posts in December, buttoning the final window.

Platform Plays: No Budget, No Problem

While theaters lean on names and sequels, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a close quarters body horror study anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is virtually assured for fall.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It looks like sharp programming. No bloated canon. No sequel clutter. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, guided by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

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.

What to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forward View: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The new terror slate: continuations, Originals, as well as A busy Calendar designed for nightmares

Dek The arriving terror cycle builds at the outset with a January logjam, thereafter stretches through the warm months, and carrying into the festive period, weaving franchise firepower, inventive spins, and calculated counterprogramming. The big buyers and platforms are relying on efficient budgets, exclusive theatrical windows first, and influencer-ready assets that turn horror entries into national conversation.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The genre has turned into the steady swing in studio lineups, a pillar that can surge when it catches and still insulate the drawdown when it fails to connect. After 2023 signaled to leaders that responsibly budgeted scare machines can drive pop culture, the following year continued the surge with high-profile filmmaker pieces and slow-burn breakouts. The carry fed into 2025, where re-entries and prestige plays underscored there is a lane for a variety of tones, from continued chapters to one-and-done originals that export nicely. The takeaway for 2026 is a schedule that shows rare alignment across distributors, with intentional bunching, a combination of established brands and first-time concepts, and a renewed focus on big-screen windows that fuel later windows on premium rental and SVOD.

Insiders argue the space now behaves like a versatile piece on the grid. The genre can debut on virtually any date, yield a grabby hook for promo reels and platform-native cuts, and over-index with demo groups that arrive on opening previews and keep coming through the week two if the film hits. In the wake of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 rhythm reflects faith in that setup. The calendar starts with a busy January corridor, then turns to spring and early summer for audience offsets, while clearing room for a late-year stretch that reaches into late October and into early November. The grid also highlights the expanded integration of specialty distributors and platforms that can platform and widen, generate chatter, and broaden at the optimal moment.

A companion trend is legacy care across shared IP webs and veteran brands. Big banners are not just producing another follow-up. They are aiming to frame ongoing narrative with a occasion, whether that is a title design that flags a reframed mood or a ensemble decision that ties a next entry to a classic era. At the alongside this, the filmmakers behind the eagerly awaited originals are embracing material texture, special makeup and location-forward worlds. That convergence gives the 2026 slate a robust balance of assurance and shock, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount plants an early flag with two marquee bets that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the lead, marketing it as both a cross-generational handoff and a origin-leaning character-forward chapter. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the artistic posture points to a throwback-friendly strategy without going over the last two entries’ sisters thread. Look for a marketing run fueled by iconic art, character previews, and a two-beat trailer plan targeting late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also brings back 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 partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will double down on. As a summer alternative, this one will pursue four-quadrant chatter through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick shifts to whatever drives pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three separate bets. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is efficient, soulful, and commercial: a grieving man purchases an intelligent companion that mutates into a harmful mate. The date positions it at the front of a packed window, with the Universal machine likely to mirror off-kilter promo beats and bite-size content that interlaces love and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a title drop to become an PR pop closer to the early tease. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele projects are branded as event films, with a teaser with minimal detail and a later creative that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date gives Universal room to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has demonstrated that a tactile, physical-effects centered execution can feel cinematic on a disciplined budget. Expect a grime-caked summer horror shock that pushes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio sets two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, keeping 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 anchors it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is marketing as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both devotees and fresh viewers. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign creative around setting detail, and creature builds, elements that can accelerate premium format interest and community activity.

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 builds on Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by obsessive craft and archaic language, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is glowing.

Where the platforms fit in

Windowing plans in 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s horror titles head to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a ordering that elevates both opening-weekend urgency and sign-up spikes in the back half. Prime Video will mix library titles with world buys and small theatrical windows when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in archive usage, using featured rows, October hubs, and handpicked rows to extend momentum on the annual genre haul. Netflix stays nimble about internal projects and festival additions, scheduling horror entries near their drops and framing as events drops with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a paired of targeted cinema placements and fast windowing that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on fan pipelines 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 small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation peaks.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 runway with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is tight: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, refined for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a cinema-first plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late-season weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the Christmas window to scale. That positioning has been successful for auteur horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception prompts. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using targeted theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their audience.

Franchise entries versus originals

By number, 2026 skews toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage brand equity. The watch-out, as ever, is diminishing returns. The operating solution is to position each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is emphasizing character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a continental coloration from a rising filmmaker. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the bundle is steady enough to build pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Recent comps outline the approach. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that respected streaming windows did not obstruct a hybrid test from thriving when the brand was big. In 2024, director-craft horror outperformed in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they change perspective and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, creates space for marketing to link the films through cast and motif and to hold creative in the market without hiatuses.

Behind-the-camera trends

The director conversations behind this slate indicate a continued lean toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that highlights mood and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and era-correct language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in feature stories and craft features before rolling out a teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and gathers shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a self-aware reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster work and world-building, which favor convention activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel irresistible. Look for trailers that foreground fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that work in PLF.

Calendar cadence

January is jammed. 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 brooding contrast amid heftier brand moves. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the variety of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth holds.

Late Q1 and spring seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Back half into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil follows September 18, a late-September window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a opaque tease strategy and limited information drops that elevate concept over story.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and card redemption.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to meet 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 mourning man’s digital partner becomes something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem 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 travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: tone-first 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 unyielding boss fight to survive on a remote island as the power dynamic upends and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 in the vault in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to menace, built on Cronin’s material craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 domestic haunting piece that filters its scares through a minor’s wavering point of view. Rating: not yet rated. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that lampoons present-day genre chatter and true crime preoccupations. Rating: undetermined. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 ignites, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a different family anchored to long-buried horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, this contact form 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on classic survival-horror tone over action-forward bombast. Rating: forthcoming. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: undetermined. Production: active. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and elemental fear. Rating: not yet rated. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three hands-on forces drive this lineup. First, production that eased or migrated in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate bite-size scare clips from test screenings, managed scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

A fourth factor is programming math. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can lead a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 midrange-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, aural design, and picture 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.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is IP strength where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, lock the reveals, and let the fear sell the seats.