Age-old Horror awakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding feature, bowing Oct 2025 on top streaming platforms

An unnerving metaphysical thriller from cinematographer / director Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an ancient terror when guests become vehicles in a satanic trial. Streaming this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish story of overcoming and archaic horror that will reimagine the fear genre this spooky time. Directed by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and immersive film follows five individuals who come to stranded in a hidden hideaway under the menacing grip of Kyra, a central character occupied by a legendary religious nightmare. Ready yourself to be enthralled by a big screen spectacle that merges primitive horror with spiritual backstory, unleashing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a enduring pillar in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is twisted when the demons no longer form from elsewhere, but rather from their psyche. This suggests the malevolent element of the victims. The result is a enthralling moral showdown where the tension becomes a unforgiving conflict between divinity and wickedness.


In a isolated forest, five individuals find themselves sealed under the dark sway and haunting of a enigmatic being. As the victims becomes submissive to combat her will, exiled and followed by forces unnamable, they are cornered to battle their inner horrors while the final hour unforgivingly runs out toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia deepens and alliances erode, driving each figure to examine their being and the concept of free will itself. The stakes rise with every breath, delivering a terror ride that fuses spiritual fright with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to tap into basic terror, an malevolence before modern man, feeding on psychological breaks, and examining a power that strips down our being when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra meant channeling something more primal than sorrow. She is oblivious until the evil takes hold, and that change is deeply unsettling because it is so internal.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for viewing beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring viewers no matter where they are can be part of this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its intro video, which has earned over a viral response.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, extending the thrill to viewers around the world.


Make sure to see this bone-rattling path of possession. Join *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to witness these spiritual awakenings about the soul.


For film updates, on-set glimpses, and insider scoops from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursed across your favorite networks and visit the movie’s homepage.





Horror’s inflection point: the year 2025 U.S. Slate melds old-world possession, microbudget gut-punches, together with franchise surges

From pressure-cooker survival tales steeped in primordial scripture all the way to returning series alongside pointed art-house angles, 2025 appears poised to be the genre’s most multifaceted in tandem with calculated campaign year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. studio majors hold down the year with franchise anchors, as premium streamers flood the fall with first-wave breakthroughs and primordial unease. On the festival side, the artisan tier is catching the backdraft of 2024’s record festival wave. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, distinctly in 2025, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are methodical, hence 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 compounds the move.

the Universal camp sets the tone with a bold swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, but a crisp modern milieu. Guided by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. dated for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Guided by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer eases, the WB camp rolls out the capstone of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Although the framework is familiar, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re teams, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: nostalgic menace, trauma centered writing, and a cold supernatural calculus. The ante is higher this round, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The new chapter enriches the lore, grows the animatronic horror lineup, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It drops in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

SVOD Originals: Economy, maximum dread

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a close quarters body horror study starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

On the docket is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is canny scheduling. No overstuffed canon. No canon weight. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Heritage Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Key Trends

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror reemerges
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Laurels convert to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

The Road Ahead: Fall stack and winter swing card

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The upcoming fear slate: Sequels, standalone ideas, And A packed Calendar tailored for Scares

Dek: The new terror season crowds immediately with a January bottleneck, after that carries through the summer months, and far into the festive period, braiding IP strength, creative pitches, and smart counterprogramming. Studio marketers and platforms are relying on mid-range economics, exclusive theatrical windows first, and short-form initiatives that transform these pictures into culture-wide discussion.

How the genre looks for 2026

The genre has shown itself to be the surest play in studio slates, a vertical that can break out when it resonates and still buffer the drawdown when it misses. After the 2023 year showed top brass that low-to-mid budget chillers can lead mainstream conversation, the following year held pace with filmmaker-forward plays and stealth successes. The upswing fed into the 2025 frame, where revivals and elevated films proved there is space for different modes, from continued chapters to fresh IP that translate worldwide. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a grid that is strikingly coherent across the major shops, with intentional bunching, a balance of established brands and new packages, and a re-energized priority on exclusive windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium video on demand and home streaming.

Marketers add the genre now behaves like a flex slot on the schedule. Horror can premiere on most weekends, yield a grabby hook for trailers and shorts, and over-index with viewers that turn out on Thursday previews and hold through the next pass if the feature works. Exiting a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 layout indicates trust in that setup. The year kicks off with a weighty January schedule, then plants flags in spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while keeping space for a late-year stretch that stretches into Halloween and beyond. The arrangement also includes the increasing integration of specialized labels and SVOD players that can platform and widen, grow buzz, and grow at the inflection point.

A companion trend is franchise tending across shared universes and storied titles. Major shops are not just making another entry. They are aiming to frame lore continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a title presentation that suggests a reframed mood or a casting choice that bridges a incoming chapter to a classic era. At the in tandem, the auteurs behind the most watched originals are prioritizing in-camera technique, practical effects and grounded locations. That alloy affords 2026 a solid mix of familiarity and freshness, which is how the films export.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount establishes early momentum with two big-ticket entries that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, framing it as both a passing of the torch and a DNA-forward character-centered film. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the artistic posture points to a memory-charged mode without repeating the last two entries’ sibling arc. A campaign is expected anchored in recognizable motifs, early character teases, and a tiered teaser plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will play up. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will generate broad awareness through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format enabling quick switches to whatever rules the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three distinct bets. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is simple, melancholic, and concept-forward: a grieving man onboards an algorithmic mate that becomes a murderous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a thick month, with marketing at Universal likely to revisit uncanny-valley stunts and short-form creative that hybridizes love and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places 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 public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a title drop to become an event moment closer to the debut look. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. The filmmaker’s films are marketed as signature events, with a teaser that holds back and a second wave of trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The prime October weekend creates space for Universal to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has long shown that a flesh-and-blood, physical-effects centered mix can feel deluxe on a tight budget. Look for a grime-caked summer horror charge that pushes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio deploys two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, sustaining a evergreen supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is calling a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both franchise faithful and new audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build campaign creative around canon, and creature design, elements that can lift premium screens and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror centered on obsessive craft and period language, this time set against lycan legends. The specialty arm has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a bold stance in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is positive.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform tactics for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s slate shift to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a ordering that amplifies both week-one demand and sign-up momentum in the downstream. Prime Video stitches together licensed titles with international acquisitions and targeted theatrical runs when the data supports it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in catalog discovery, using prominent placements, spooky hubs, and featured rows to stretch the tail on the 2026 genre total. Netflix keeps optionality about Netflix originals and festival grabs, locking in horror entries on shorter runways and turning into events drops with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a two-step of selective theatrical runs and prompt platform moves that turns chatter to conversion. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has shown appetite to pick up select projects with top-tier auteurs or star packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation ramps.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 runway with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is straightforward: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, recalibrated for modern sound and image. 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 signaled a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the October weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday frame to scale. That positioning has delivered for prestige 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 likely scenario is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception supports. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using targeted theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their user base.

Known brands versus new stories

By count, 2026 favors the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap fan equity. The trade-off, as ever, is viewer burnout. The operating solution is to sell each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is underscoring character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-accented approach from a hot helmer. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the cast-creatives package is grounded enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Past-three-year patterns announce the approach. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that kept streaming intact did not foreclose a dual release from hitting when the brand was strong. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror exceeded expectations in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they rotate perspective and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters shot back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to relate entries through character spine and themes and to hold creative in the market without doldrums.

Creative tendencies and craft

The director conversations behind this year’s genre telegraph a continued turn toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that centers creep and texture rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in long-lead press and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a first look that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and spurs shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a self-aware reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature craft and set design, which lend themselves to convention floor stunts and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel necessary. Look for trailers that accent precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that land in big rooms.

From winter to holidays

January is packed. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a brooding contrast amid big-brand pushes. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the spread of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth spreads.

Early-year through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The 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 heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Back half into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a early fall window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited information drops that center concept over reveals.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift card usage.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s synthetic partner shifts into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. 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 demanding boss claw to survive on a cut-off island as the control balance swivels and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to nightmare, driven by Cronin’s tactile craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting chiller that frames the panic through a minor’s uncertain perspective. Rating: rating pending. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-built and star-led haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A genre lampoon that targets modern genre fads and true crime fascinations. Rating: not yet rated. this content Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites erupts, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. 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: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a different family bound to older hauntings. Rating: not yet rated. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A restart designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for true survival horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: TBD. Production: underway. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and bone-deep menace. Rating: pending. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. 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: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the moment is 2026

Three workable forces shape this lineup. First, production that downshifted or recalendared in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and shorter timelines. 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 drops. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify bite-size scare clips from test screenings, controlled scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

The slot calculus is real. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, making room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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 lower and mid-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to work those windows. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, soundscape, and visuals 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 Promising 2026

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand gravity where needed, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the shocks sell the seats.