Primeval Horror Returns in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising chiller, premiering Oct 2025 on global platforms

This spine-tingling paranormal scare-fest from screenwriter / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an age-old horror when unknowns become conduits in a malevolent experiment. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing journey of overcoming and ancient evil that will alter the fear genre this October. Produced by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and gothic thriller follows five characters who arise sealed in a remote dwelling under the unfriendly manipulation of Kyra, a haunted figure inhabited by a 2,000-year-old holy text monster. Be warned to be drawn in by a motion picture adventure that fuses deep-seated panic with spiritual backstory, streaming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a long-standing concept in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is flipped when the demons no longer develop from an outside force, but rather inside them. This suggests the most terrifying layer of the group. The result is a edge-of-seat mind game where the tension becomes a ongoing contest between purity and corruption.


In a barren woodland, five characters find themselves marooned under the sinister force and possession of a haunted character. As the cast becomes submissive to resist her manipulation, detached and hunted by spirits mind-shattering, they are obligated to reckon with their deepest fears while the final hour harrowingly runs out toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety rises and links implode, compelling each soul to reflect on their existence and the principle of personal agency itself. The hazard escalate with every passing moment, delivering a scare-fueled ride that combines otherworldly panic with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to dig into deep fear, an malevolence older than civilization itself, manifesting in fragile psyche, and exposing a darkness that threatens selfhood when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra asked for exploring something beneath mortal despair. She is uninformed until the control shifts, and that metamorphosis is terrifying because it is so emotional.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be available for home viewing beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—delivering viewers globally can get immersed in this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its first trailer, which has pulled in over 100,000 views.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, taking the terror to a worldwide audience.


Experience this mind-warping spiral into evil. Enter *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to confront these unholy truths about free will.


For previews, filmmaker commentary, and social posts from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across online outlets and visit the official website.





Modern horror’s tipping point: 2025 U.S. release slate Mixes legend-infused possession, independent shockers, and Franchise Rumbles

Running from endurance-driven terror drawn from primordial scripture through to series comebacks alongside focused festival visions, 2025 is coalescing into horror’s most layered paired with blueprinted year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. studio majors lock in tentpoles with known properties, while streamers front-load the fall with emerging auteurs together with scriptural shivers. On the independent axis, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is drafting behind the echoes from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, but this year, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are precise, so 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s distribution arm sets the tone with a bold swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, instead in a current-day frame. Directed by Leigh Whannell anchored by 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. targeting mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Steered by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

When summer tapers, the Warner Bros. banner launches the swan song from its bankable horror series: 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 outline is tried, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

After that, The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: throwback unease, trauma centered writing, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This time the stakes climb, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The follow up digs further into canon, thickens the animatronic pantheon, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It arrives in December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Offerings: Low budgets, big teeth

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a body horror duet anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Conceived and directed 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 menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

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 overstuffed canon. No franchise baggage. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Legacy Lines: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, under Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If packaged well, it could track like 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

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror reemerges
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Projection: Fall crush plus winter X factor

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.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The forthcoming 2026 terror Year Ahead: returning titles, standalone ideas, alongside A hectic Calendar engineered for jolts

Dek The current scare year packs at the outset with a January cluster, subsequently stretches through the summer months, and far into the festive period, weaving brand heft, new voices, and tactical calendar placement. The big buyers and platforms are prioritizing cost discipline, cinema-first plans, and short-form initiatives that elevate these offerings into mainstream chatter.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The genre has established itself as the dependable play in studio calendars, a genre that can scale when it connects and still buffer the floor when it under-delivers. After 2023 reassured decision-makers that cost-conscious fright engines can steer audience talk, the following year kept energy high with auteur-driven buzzy films and under-the-radar smashes. The tailwind pushed into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and arthouse crossovers proved there is demand for different modes, from ongoing IP entries to director-led originals that travel well. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a programming that presents tight coordination across distributors, with intentional bunching, a balance of known properties and new packages, and a revived commitment on exhibition windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on paid VOD and home platforms.

Buyers contend the genre now functions as a schedule utility on the distribution slate. Horror can launch on nearly any frame, provide a simple premise for spots and shorts, and exceed norms with viewers that arrive on Thursday nights and stay strong through the next weekend if the movie pays off. After a work stoppage lag, the 2026 pattern indicates assurance in that setup. The year launches with a heavy January schedule, then plants flags in spring and early summer for audience offsets, while making space for a fall cadence that stretches into holiday-adjacent weekends and past the holiday. The arrangement also includes the greater integration of indie distributors and streamers that can platform and widen, create conversation, and roll out at the sweet spot.

Another broad trend is brand curation across ongoing universes and storied titles. Big banners are not just rolling another entry. They are moving to present brand continuity with a specialness, whether that is a title design that signals a new vibe or a star attachment that anchors a new installment to a classic era. At the simultaneously, the auteurs behind the top original plays are embracing in-camera technique, makeup and prosthetics and vivid settings. That pairing affords the 2026 slate a strong blend of known notes and surprise, which is what works overseas.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount defines the early cadence with two marquee entries that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, marketing it as both a relay and a rootsy character piece. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture indicates a throwback-friendly approach without covering again the last two entries’ family thread. Plan for a rollout driven by recognizable motifs, first-look character reveals, and a rollout cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will double down on. As a counterweight in summer, this one will go after wide buzz through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick reframes to whatever shapes the social talk that spring.

Universal has three differentiated lanes. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is crisp, heartbroken, and concept-forward: a grieving man purchases an virtual partner that mutates into a lethal partner. The date slots it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s marketing likely to replay off-kilter promo beats and micro spots that fuses longing and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a public title to become an earned moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele’s releases are positioned as creative events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a second wave of trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween runway gives Universal room to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a visceral, practical-first method can feel top-tier on a tight budget. Frame it as a hard-R summer horror charge that leans hard into worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio deploys two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, maintaining a reliable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is presenting as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both fans and novices. The fall slot affords Sony time to build materials around narrative world, and creature design, elements that can amplify premium format interest and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on rigorous craft and dialect, this time orbiting lycan myth. The specialty arm has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is strong.

Where the platforms fit in

Windowing plans in 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s genre slate window into copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a tiered path that optimizes both initial urgency and platform bumps in the tail. Prime Video pairs licensed titles with cross-border buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in back-catalog play, using featured rows, genre hubs, and editorial rows to lengthen the tail on lifetime take. Netflix keeps optionality about own-slate titles and festival grabs, scheduling horror entries on shorter runways and making event-like rollouts with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a tiered of precision theatrical plays and fast windowing that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a curated basis. The platform has proven amenable to buy select projects with prestige directors or star-driven packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for platform stickiness when the genre conversation builds.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 sequence with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is simple: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, retooled for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has indicated a cinema-first plan for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the September weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then leveraging the Christmas window to scale. That positioning has been successful for craft-driven horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception supports. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using small theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their community.

Franchise entries versus originals

By proportion, the 2026 slate skews toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap household recognition. The concern, as ever, is fatigue. The practical approach is to pitch each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is emphasizing character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-inflected take from a new voice. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the packaging is assuring enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and first-night audiences.

Recent comps announce the method. In 2023, a theater-first model that held distribution windows did not preclude a same-day experiment from succeeding when the brand was big. In 2024, director-craft horror hit big in premium screens. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they reorient and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to tie installments through character and theme and to sustain campaign assets without dead zones.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The director conversations behind this year’s genre hint at a continued preference for material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that spotlights unease and texture rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and medieval diction, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in long-lead press and department features before rolling out a tone piece that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and spurs shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a self-aware reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature work and production design, which play well in convention floor stunts and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel definitive. Look for trailers that elevate razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that play in premium auditoriums.

How the year maps out

January is crowded. 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 foggy reset amid big-brand pushes. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the tonal variety makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

Late Q1 and spring prepare summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

End of summer through fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a transitional slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a minimalist tease strategy and limited teasers that prioritize concept over plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can win the holiday when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to 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 devastated man’s digital partner unfolds into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed 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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms 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 comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: ambience-forward adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her demanding boss claw to survive on a cut-off island as the control balance upends and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to dread, rooted in Cronin’s on-set craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting tale that interrogates the dread of a child’s mercurial point of view. Rating: pending. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-supported and name-above-title eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A satirical comeback that satirizes contemporary horror memes and true crime preoccupations. Rating: to be announced. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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: pending. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further extends again, with a fresh family bound to residual nightmares. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A fresh restart designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on pure survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: development underway with firm date. 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 era-accurate language and primordial menace. Rating: TBA. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the moment is 2026

Three operational forces frame this lineup. First, production that paused or shifted in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more measured 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 activate clippable moments from test screenings, select scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films click site above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, 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 exploit those windows. 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a banquet, 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 goes for the throat, 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 hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, audio design, and camera work that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand gravity where needed, new vision where it lands, 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, produce clean trailers, guard the secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.