Primordial Evil Rises in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling chiller, debuting Oct 2025 on leading streamers

One frightening ghostly scare-fest from scriptwriter / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an primeval evil when drifters become instruments in a fiendish game. Airings begin October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching tale of staying alive and old world terror that will transform the horror genre this Halloween season. Helmed by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and atmospheric tale follows five people who wake up isolated in a far-off structure under the ominous power of Kyra, a central character possessed by a time-worn sacrosanct terror. Anticipate to be seized by a big screen experience that harmonizes deep-seated panic with ancestral stories, debuting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a classic tradition in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is flipped when the presences no longer emerge outside the characters, but rather inside their minds. This echoes the grimmest corner of the cast. The result is a enthralling mental war where the story becomes a unforgiving struggle between right and wrong.


In a remote wild, five individuals find themselves sealed under the dark sway and domination of a shadowy woman. As the survivors becomes incapable to combat her dominion, disconnected and tormented by unknowns unimaginable, they are cornered to battle their greatest panics while the countdown without pity winds toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread mounts and connections crack, coercing each protagonist to question their values and the concept of independent thought itself. The tension accelerate with every short lapse, delivering a fear-soaked story that connects supernatural terror with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to dive into primitive panic, an evil from prehistory, embedding itself in emotional vulnerability, and confronting a presence that peels away humanity when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra required summoning something far beyond human desperation. She is unaware until the possession kicks in, and that pivot is deeply unsettling because it is so emotional.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for worldwide release beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—giving viewers no matter where they are can get immersed in this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its release of trailer #1, which has earned over massive response.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, extending the thrill to a global viewership.


Mark your calendar for this haunted journey into fear. Confront *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to dive into these nightmarish insights about the mind.


For teasers, making-of footage, and reveals directly from production, follow @YACFilm across fan hubs and visit the official website.





American horror’s tipping point: 2025 in focus stateside slate fuses myth-forward possession, microbudget gut-punches, in parallel with series shake-ups

Ranging from survival horror saturated with primordial scripture and including returning series as well as cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is tracking to be the most complex along with strategic year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. the big studios hold down the year by way of signature titles, in tandem digital services saturate the fall with new voices paired with ancient terrors. At the same time, festival-forward creators is carried on the carry of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, but this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are intentional, which means 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Elevated fear reclaims ground

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 deepens the push.

the Universal banner sets the tone with a confident swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, instead in a current-day frame. Led by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. landing in mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Directed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

At summer’s close, Warner’s pipeline releases the last chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Though the outline is tried, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

The Black Phone 2 follows. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson re boards, and the tone that worked before is intact: retrograde shiver, trauma centered writing, and eerie supernatural logic. This pass pushes higher, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, grows the animatronic horror lineup, courting teens and the thirty something base. It bows in December, securing the winter cap.

SVOD Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a two hander body horror spiral including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative featuring Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. That is a savvy move. No heavy handed lore. No continuity burden. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Heritage Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, under Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Trends to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror comes roaring back
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

What’s Next: Fall saturation and a winter joker

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The oncoming Horror Year Ahead: brand plays, universe starters, together with A Crowded Calendar aimed at frights

Dek The arriving terror season stacks immediately with a January bottleneck, before it runs through the summer months, and pushing into the year-end corridor, combining marquee clout, new concepts, and tactical counter-scheduling. Distributors with platforms are relying on right-sized spends, cinema-first plans, and social-driven marketing that elevate these releases into broad-appeal conversations.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror has shown itself to be the sturdy counterweight in release strategies, a segment that can spike when it catches and still cushion the losses when it underperforms. After 2023 showed buyers that efficiently budgeted pictures can own the national conversation, the following year extended the rally with visionary-driven titles and under-the-radar smashes. The carry fed into 2025, where resurrections and awards-minded projects made clear there is space for a spectrum, from ongoing IP entries to filmmaker-driven originals that perform internationally. The upshot for 2026 is a roster that appears tightly organized across companies, with mapped-out bands, a balance of known properties and novel angles, and a tightened attention on cinema windows that power the aftermarket on premium video on demand and SVOD.

Insiders argue the space now slots in as a schedule utility on the release plan. Horror can arrive on nearly any frame, offer a tight logline for marketing and shorts, and punch above weight with viewers that arrive on early shows and maintain momentum through the subsequent weekend if the picture pays off. Exiting a work stoppage lag, the 2026 mapping underscores conviction in that setup. The year kicks off with a crowded January stretch, then targets spring into early summer for genre counterpoints, while keeping space for a autumn stretch that flows toward Halloween and into early November. The map also features the expanded integration of indie distributors and digital platforms that can nurture a platform play, ignite recommendations, and grow at the sweet spot.

A parallel macro theme is brand curation across interlocking continuities and established properties. Big banners are not just rolling another installment. They are working to present connection with a heightened moment, whether that is a art treatment that suggests a new vibe or a ensemble decision that connects a fresh chapter to a initial period. At the concurrently, the writer-directors behind the high-profile originals are returning to material texture, in-camera effects and site-specific worlds. That pairing provides the 2026 slate a strong blend of known notes and surprise, which is what works overseas.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount sets the tone early with two centerpiece moves that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, marketing it as both a lineage transfer and a foundation-forward character-driven entry. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the authorial approach points to a roots-evoking bent without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push driven by heritage visuals, intro reveals, and a tease cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also dusts off 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 in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will spotlight. As a summer relief option, this one will build large awareness through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format enabling quick turns to whatever leads horror talk that spring.

Universal has three clear releases. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is crisp, tragic, and commercial: a grieving man purchases an virtual partner that becomes a deadly partner. The date places it at the front of a thick month, with the Universal machine likely to recreate strange in-person beats and micro spots that interlaces love and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar 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. His entries are framed as creative events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second wave of trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The pre-Halloween slot gives the studio room to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has long shown that a raw, practical-first mix can feel deluxe on a middle budget. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror surge that leans into international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio rolls out two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, preserving a evergreen supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is presenting as a ground-zero restart 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 charge to serve both fans and new audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build promo materials around universe detail, and monster aesthetics, elements that can stoke premium screens and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror centered on textural authenticity and period language, this time exploring werewolf lore. The specialty arm has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is glowing.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform tactics for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal titles flow to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a structure that maximizes both first-week urgency and platform bumps in the later phase. Prime Video blends acquired titles with worldwide entries and select theatrical runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in archive usage, using curated hubs, horror hubs, and editorial rows to stretch the tail on lifetime take. Netflix keeps options open about first-party entries and festival pickups, securing horror entries tight to release and framing as events arrivals with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a two-step of precision releases and short jumps to platform that translates talk to trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a per-project basis. The platform has signaled readiness to buy select projects with acclaimed directors or headline-cast packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 slate with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is direct: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, refined for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late stretch.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, managing the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the Christmas corridor to widen. That positioning has paid off for prestige horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception prompts. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using boutique theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

IP versus fresh ideas

By count, the 2026 slate leans toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness household recognition. The concern, as ever, is staleness. The operating solution is to position each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is centering character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French sensibility from a rising filmmaker. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a marooned survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the configuration is known enough to generate pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Past-three-year patterns clarify the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that honored streaming windows did not prevent a dual release from working when the brand was trusted. In 2024, auteur craft horror surged in PLF. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they alter lens and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, enables marketing to tie installments through relationships and themes and to keep assets alive without lulls.

Production craft signals

The creative meetings behind this year’s genre signal a continued emphasis on tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that spotlights aura and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in craft profiles and artisan spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that elevates tone over story, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and spurs shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta inflection that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster work and world-building, which favor fan-con activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel essential. Look for trailers that underscore pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that work in PLF.

From winter to holidays

January is busy. 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 somber counterpoint amid marquee brands. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the variety of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth sustains.

Post-January through spring stage summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into 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 comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can win 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.

August into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a bridge slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited previews that prioritize concept over plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can play the holidays when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and holiday gift-card burn.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s synthetic partner becomes something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: gothic-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 hard-edged boss work to survive on a rugged island as the power balance of power turns and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to fright, shaped by Cronin’s physical craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting tale that interrogates the dread of a child’s mercurial perceptions. Rating: rating pending. 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 rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A satire sequel that lampoons hot-button genre motifs and true crime preoccupations. Rating: TBA. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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: forthcoming. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new clan linked to older hauntings. Rating: to be announced. 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 ground-up reset designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for true survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: TBD. Production: ongoing. 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-accurate language and elemental fear. Rating: not yet rated. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three grounded forces organize this lineup. First, production that slowed or rearranged in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming launches. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, precision scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can seize a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will jostle across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The sleeper chase continues in Q1, where lean-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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, smart allocations, 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 detail, sound field, 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 Looks Exciting

Schedules movies slip. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand heft where it matters, original 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 late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the chills sell the seats.