Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed reignites age-old dread, a fear soaked thriller, debuting Oct 2025 on major streaming services

An terrifying paranormal nightmare movie from narrative craftsman / director Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an primordial dread when unfamiliar people become tools in a fiendish trial. Debuting this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving tale of overcoming and forgotten curse that will revamp scare flicks this scare season. Created by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and claustrophobic story follows five characters who wake up isolated in a unreachable cottage under the hostile power of Kyra, a young woman possessed by a legendary Old Testament spirit. Prepare to be shaken by a screen-based experience that harmonizes soul-chilling terror with ancestral stories, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a historical narrative in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is reversed when the demons no longer arise from elsewhere, but rather from within. This depicts the shadowy corner of the victims. The result is a gripping cognitive warzone where the intensity becomes a constant battle between good and evil.


In a barren terrain, five individuals find themselves imprisoned under the malevolent presence and spiritual invasion of a mysterious apparition. As the youths becomes paralyzed to resist her dominion, detached and tormented by powers unnamable, they are forced to encounter their inner demons while the clock ruthlessly edges forward toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia swells and partnerships break, pressuring each protagonist to question their core and the concept of self-determination itself. The threat accelerate with every short lapse, delivering a fear-soaked story that marries occult fear with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to extract deep fear, an entity from ancient eras, working through emotional vulnerability, and exposing a force that tests the soul when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra asked for exploring something beyond human emotion. She is unaware until the haunting manifests, and that transformation is emotionally raw because it is so personal.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be released for audiences beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—offering subscribers from coast to coast can get immersed in this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its initial teaser, which has collected over strong viewer count.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, extending the thrill to thrill-seekers globally.


Tune in for this bone-rattling descent into hell. Explore *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to dive into these terrifying truths about existence.


For previews, director cuts, and press updates from the story's source, follow @YACFilm across platforms and visit the film’s website.





Current horror’s sea change: calendar year 2025 U.S. rollouts weaves archetypal-possession themes, Indie Shockers, and tentpole growls

Spanning endurance-driven terror rooted in legendary theology and extending to legacy revivals plus keen independent perspectives, 2025 is emerging as the most textured and strategic year for the modern era.

Call it full, but it is also focused. major banners plant stakes across the year with familiar IP, at the same time subscription platforms front-load the fall with discovery plays set against primordial unease. On the festival side, the independent cohort is carried on the backdraft from a record 2024 festival run. Since Halloween is the prized date, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, however this time, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are precise, so 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige fear returns

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 doubles down.

Universal starts the year with an audacious swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, but a crisp modern milieu. Led by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. Slated for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. From director Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Initial heat flags it as potent.

By late summer, the Warner lot launches the swan song from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Even with a familiar chassis, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Next is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the memorable motifs return: nostalgic menace, trauma centered writing, and a cold supernatural calculus. This time, the stakes are raised, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The continuation widens the legend, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, bridging teens and legacy players. It bows in December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Firsts: Modest spend, serious shock

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a tight space body horror vignette with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend led by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to 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 chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. 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 bloated mythology. No continuity burden. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy Lines: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

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

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. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, under Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Key Trends

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror retakes ground
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Projection: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

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

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The new chiller release year: follow-ups, non-franchise titles, as well as A stacked Calendar aimed at frights

Dek The fresh scare year clusters early with a January wave, after that spreads through June and July, and far into the holiday frame, braiding series momentum, new concepts, and well-timed release strategy. The big buyers and platforms are relying on right-sized spends, theater-first strategies, and short-form initiatives that shape these releases into broad-appeal conversations.

The genre’s posture for 2026

This category has solidified as the dependable option in studio lineups, a genre that can surge when it clicks and still buffer the risk when it does not. After 2023 reconfirmed for studio brass that lean-budget scare machines can drive the national conversation, the following year continued the surge with high-profile filmmaker pieces and sleeper breakouts. The energy carried into the 2025 frame, where reboots and awards-minded projects highlighted there is capacity for many shades, from series extensions to original features that travel well. The aggregate for 2026 is a lineup that seems notably aligned across distributors, with planned clusters, a mix of known properties and new pitches, and a reinvigorated stance on theatrical windows that drive downstream revenue on paid VOD and SVOD.

Planners observe the genre now works like a plug-and-play option on the programming map. The genre can arrive on nearly any frame, furnish a clear pitch for previews and vertical videos, and overperform with fans that respond on Thursday previews and sustain through the second weekend if the entry lands. Post a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 layout exhibits assurance in that playbook. The calendar rolls out with a front-loaded January stretch, then leans on spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while reserving space for a October build that reaches into the Halloween frame and into the next week. The arrangement also features the tightening integration of specialty distributors and OTT outlets that can platform a title, spark evangelism, and move wide at the sweet spot.

Another broad trend is franchise tending across linked properties and established properties. Big banners are not just pushing another chapter. They are working to present connection with a must-see charge, whether that is a graphic identity that telegraphs a new vibe or a star attachment that binds a upcoming film to a classic era. At the concurrently, the helmers behind the eagerly awaited originals are doubling down on practical craft, practical gags and vivid settings. That blend provides the 2026 slate a healthy mix of home base and surprise, which is why the genre exports well.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount defines the early cadence with two headline pushes that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the lead, angling it as both a legacy handover and a return-to-roots character-focused installment. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance telegraphs a throwback-friendly mode without covering again the last two entries’ sisters storyline. The studio is likely to mount a drive anchored in signature symbols, first-look character reveals, and a tease cadence targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will feature. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will go after mass reach through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format enabling quick turns to whatever dominates the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three differentiated bets. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is clean, loss-driven, and premise-first: a grieving man activates an machine companion that mutates into a harmful mate. The date slots it at the front of a packed window, with Universal’s promo team likely to bring back creepy live activations and brief clips that hybridizes affection and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as 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 preserves a proper title to become an teaser payoff closer to the teaser. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele’s work are marketed as marquee events, with a teaser that holds back and a later creative that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor creates space for Universal to command 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, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has consistently shown that a tactile, on-set effects led execution can feel high-value on a controlled budget. Look for a red-band summer horror jolt that leans hard into global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio places two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, continuing a trusty supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is marketing as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both loyalists and casuals. The fall slot gives Sony time to build campaign creative around lore, and monster aesthetics, elements that can accelerate premium booking interest and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by minute detail and period language, this time driven by werewolf stories. Focus Features has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is strong.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform plans for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s horror titles window into copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a stair-step that expands both first-week urgency and sub growth in the post-theatrical. Prime Video balances licensed films with cross-border buys and select theatrical runs when the data supports it. Max and Hulu work their edges in deep cuts, using timely promos, horror hubs, and curated strips to keep attention on lifetime take. Netflix plays opportunist about internal projects and festival wins, scheduling horror entries tight to release and coalescing around arrivals with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a two-step of focused cinema runs and swift platform pivots that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will matter 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+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has signaled readiness to acquire select projects with recognized filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for platform stickiness when the genre conversation intensifies.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 lane with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is direct: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, recalibrated for modern audio-visual craft. 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 positioned a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an good sign for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the autumn stretch.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then using the holiday frame to move out. That positioning has worked well for arthouse horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception supports. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using small theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Series vs standalone

By tilt, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use name recognition. The challenge, as ever, is diminishing returns. The workable fix is to brand each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is bringing forward character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French sensibility from a new voice. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a island-set survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. 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 property, the assembly is assuring enough to drive advance ticketing and first-night audiences.

Three-year comps illuminate the template. In 2023, a theater-first model that preserved streaming windows did not prevent a dual release from delivering when the brand was strong. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror surged in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they shift POV and scale the storytelling. 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 twin-shoot approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, creates space for marketing to link the films through personae and themes and to keep assets in-market without lulls.

Behind-the-camera trends

The director conversations behind these films telegraph a continued preference for practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that highlights atmosphere and fear rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for textured sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in long-lead press and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a preview that keeps plot minimal, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and creates shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta inflection that centers an original star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster aesthetics and world-building, which align with convention floor stunts and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel essential. Look for trailers that highlight pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that work in PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is stacked. 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 marquee brands. The month concludes 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 serious, but the tone spread lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

Pre-summer months tee up summer. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with nostalgia 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 enables 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 sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late summer into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited teasers that elevate concept over story.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and holiday gift-card burn.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s synthetic partner unfolds into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

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 stumble upon a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

Send Get More Info 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 hard-edged boss try to survive on a uninhabited island as the power balance of power turns and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 under wraps in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to horror, anchored by Cronin’s practical effects and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting setup that manipulates the panic of a child’s shaky perspective. Rating: TBD. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly 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 needles today’s horror trends and true crime fervors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: principal photography set 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 cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new family caught in older hauntings. Rating: to be announced. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on true survival horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: to be announced. Production: active. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

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-faithful speech and ancient menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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

Why the moment is 2026

Three hands-on forces inform this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or shifted in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming landings. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can capture a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will trade weekends across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, 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 surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where disciplined-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

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

2026 Is Well Positioned

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand heft where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, hold the mystery, and let the chills sell the seats.