Mythic Terror awakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding chiller, launching October 2025 on global platforms

An hair-raising ghostly fear-driven tale from writer / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an timeless fear when guests become instruments in a cursed struggle. Debuting this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping portrayal of struggle and ancient evil that will reimagine scare flicks this ghoul season. Brought to life by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and gothic fearfest follows five people who find themselves locked in a isolated hideaway under the unfriendly manipulation of Kyra, a tormented girl possessed by a two-thousand-year-old religious nightmare. Get ready to be captivated by a immersive presentation that intertwines visceral dread with ancestral stories, unleashing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a historical foundation in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is twisted when the forces no longer arise from beyond, but rather inside their minds. This illustrates the shadowy aspect of the protagonists. The result is a riveting internal warfare where the conflict becomes a unyielding struggle between virtue and vice.


In a unforgiving natural abyss, five figures find themselves caught under the possessive force and overtake of a mysterious being. As the ensemble becomes incapable to combat her manipulation, detached and hunted by spirits unimaginable, they are cornered to battle their deepest fears while the moments without pity moves toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia builds and ties implode, compelling each figure to contemplate their personhood and the integrity of autonomy itself. The risk surge with every tick, delivering a paranormal ride that marries supernatural terror with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to tap into pure dread, an entity beyond time, embedding itself in human fragility, and questioning a evil that peels away humanity when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra involved tapping into something unfamiliar to reason. She is in denial until the demon emerges, and that metamorphosis is terrifying because it is so deep.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for audience access beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—offering audiences everywhere can dive into this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its first trailer, which has earned over massive response.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, extending the thrill to scare fans abroad.


Witness this bone-rattling journey into fear. Confront *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to face these evil-rooted truths about inner darkness.


For film updates, extra content, and promotions directly from production, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across social media and visit the movie’s homepage.





U.S. horror’s inflection point: calendar year 2025 American release plan integrates ancient-possession motifs, festival-born jolts, alongside brand-name tremors

Moving from endurance-driven terror inspired by old testament echoes as well as returning series plus pointed art-house angles, 2025 looks like the most variegated along with tactically planned year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. studio powerhouses stabilize the year by way of signature titles, as OTT services prime the fall with discovery plays together with scriptural shivers. Across the art-house lane, horror’s indie wing is surfing the uplift from a record 2024 festival run. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, distinctly in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are disciplined, as a result 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Prestige terror resurfaces

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s pipeline sets the tone with a confident swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in a clear present-tense world. Guided by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. arriving mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Eli Craig directs with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Initial heat flags it as potent.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s pipeline launches the swan song of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Granted the structure is classic, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

The Black Phone 2 follows. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson is back, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: throwback unease, trauma driven plotting, and eerie supernatural logic. This time the stakes climb, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The follow up digs further into canon, broadens the animatronic terror cast, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It arrives in December, buttoning the final window.

Platform Plays: Slim budgets, major punch

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a body horror chamber piece fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Also notable is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets 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.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. 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.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is a smart play. No overstuffed canon. No series drag. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Brands: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

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

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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.

Dials to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror returns
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

What’s Next: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The upcoming scare year to come: brand plays, universe starters, and also A loaded Calendar engineered for jolts

Dek The arriving terror calendar loads up front with a January pile-up, thereafter stretches through the warm months, and deep into the festive period, combining brand equity, novel approaches, and tactical counterprogramming. Studio marketers and platforms are focusing on cost discipline, big-screen-first runs, and buzz-forward plans that turn these films into mainstream chatter.

Horror momentum into 2026

Horror filmmaking has proven to be the sturdy option in studio calendars, a segment that can expand when it resonates and still safeguard the floor when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for greenlighters that responsibly budgeted genre plays can galvanize social chatter, 2024 carried the beat with director-led heat and surprise hits. The upswing rolled into 2025, where revived properties and arthouse crossovers highlighted there is appetite for a spectrum, from series extensions to fresh IP that travel well. The takeaway for 2026 is a run that appears tightly organized across the industry, with strategic blocks, a spread of familiar brands and untested plays, and a sharpened strategy on exhibition windows that drive downstream revenue on paid VOD and platforms.

Studio leaders note the space now slots in as a plug-and-play option on the schedule. Horror can bow on most weekends, provide a sharp concept for creative and reels, and over-index with ticket buyers that come out on early shows and keep coming through the subsequent weekend if the offering delivers. Emerging from a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 pattern telegraphs comfort in that playbook. The year commences with a loaded January block, then taps spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while saving space for a autumn push that connects to late October and into post-Halloween. The gridline also spotlights the continuing integration of arthouse labels and OTT outlets that can nurture a platform play, grow buzz, and roll out at the inflection point.

Another broad trend is franchise tending across interlocking continuities and legacy franchises. The studios are not just making another sequel. They are shaping as brand continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a title presentation that indicates a tonal shift or a star attachment that connects a latest entry to a original cycle. At the meanwhile, the helmers behind the top original plays are celebrating hands-on technique, practical effects and grounded locations. That interplay yields 2026 a vital pairing of trust and novelty, which is how the films export.

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

Paramount opens strong with two big-ticket pushes that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, presenting it as both a cross-generational handoff and a foundation-forward character-centered film. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach announces a heritage-honoring approach without looping the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Look for a marketing run built on franchise iconography, early character teases, and a promo sequence hitting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will feature. As a summer contrast play, this one will build broad awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format inviting quick switches to whatever tops the conversation that spring.

Universal has three separate bets. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is clean, soulful, and premise-first: a grieving man purchases an intelligent companion that unfolds into a fatal companion. The date positions it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the studio’s marketing likely to echo uncanny-valley stunts and quick hits that fuses attachment and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a name unveil to become an attention spike closer to the opening teaser. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele’s work are positioned as auteur events, with a minimalist tease and a later creative that shape mood without giving away the concept. The spooky-season slot lets the studio to lead 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 helms, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has established that a gritty, practical-first strategy can feel big on a efficient spend. Position this as a viscera-heavy summer horror hit that leans into international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio lines up two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, sustaining a consistent supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what Sony is selling as a from-the-ground-up reboot 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 mission to serve both devotees and newcomers. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign creative around mythos, and creature effects, elements that can boost PLF interest and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in minute detail and textual fidelity, this time orbiting lycan myth. Focus has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is supportive.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform strategies for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre slate window into copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a tiered path that maximizes both week-one demand and sign-up momentum in the late-window. Prime Video interleaves licensed films with worldwide buys and limited cinema engagements when the data points to it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in catalog engagement, using timely promos, Halloween hubs, and curated rows to stretch the tail on lifetime take. Netflix stays nimble about in-house releases and festival wins, scheduling horror entries with shorter lead times and framing as events rollouts with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a two-step of tailored theatrical exposure and swift platform pivots that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a discrete basis. The platform has indicated interest to invest in select projects with established auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for monthly engagement when the genre conversation heats up.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 track with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of navigate here Konami’s classic title. The promise is clear: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, reimagined for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a traditional cinema play for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the late-season weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, shepherding the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then using the Christmas corridor to broaden. That positioning has been successful for filmmaker-first horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception drives. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using select theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Series vs standalone

By number, 2026 favors the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap brand equity. The challenge, as ever, is brand erosion. The near-term solution is to sell each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is leading with core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is promising a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-inflected take from a emerging director. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and visionary-led titles keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the configuration is grounded enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Comparable trends from recent years announce the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that respected streaming windows did not hamper a same-day experiment from working when the brand was robust. In 2024, director-craft horror rose in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they reframe POV and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters filmed in sequence, lets marketing to cross-link entries through cast and motif and to continue assets in field without dead zones.

Creative tendencies and craft

The production chatter behind this year’s genre signal a continued lean toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that leans on tone and tension rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and era-true language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in feature stories and department features before rolling out a tease that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and spurs shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a self-aware reset that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature craft and set design, which are ideal for con floor moments and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel must-have. Look for trailers that spotlight precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that work in PLF.

From winter to holidays

January is crowded. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid headline IP. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the tonal variety carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth holds.

Winter into spring stage summer. Scream 7 opens February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now enables 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 divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Back half into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a opaque tease strategy and limited teasers that elevate concept over story.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift card usage.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s essence. 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 synthetic partner mutates into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: aura-driven 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 tough boss work to survive on a lonely island as the control balance flips and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to chill, grounded in Cronin’s in-camera craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting narrative that filters its scares through a child’s shifting subjective view. Rating: TBD. Production: fully shot. 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 reuniting creatively. Logline: {A parody return that skewers contemporary horror memes and true crime fervors. Rating: undetermined. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites ignites, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a young family bound to returning horrors. Rating: pending. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A new start designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on classic survival-horror tone over action-forward bombast. Rating: forthcoming. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: TBD. Production: ongoing. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 primal menace. Rating: pending. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. 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 variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three practical forces inform this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or shuffled in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will compete 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 use 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 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 surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where value-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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout 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. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, 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 rhythm and variety. January is a spread, 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 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 sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

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

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand heft where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, 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 late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, protect the mystery, and let the frights sell the seats.