Primordial Horror returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising horror feature, landing Oct 2025 on top streaming platforms

An blood-curdling occult suspense story from dramatist / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an mythic nightmare when unknowns become tokens in a satanic ritual. Going live October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing story of endurance and prehistoric entity that will reshape fear-driven cinema this spooky time. Visualized by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and tone-heavy fearfest follows five young adults who snap to ensnared in a hidden shelter under the menacing sway of Kyra, a young woman occupied by a biblical-era scriptural evil. Ready yourself to be ensnared by a cinematic presentation that fuses intense horror with arcane tradition, releasing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a time-honored fixture in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is challenged when the entities no longer come from a different plane, but rather internally. This symbolizes the most terrifying dimension of these individuals. The result is a bone-chilling emotional conflict where the drama becomes a merciless clash between divinity and wickedness.


In a haunting wilderness, five figures find themselves cornered under the evil rule and control of a haunted character. As the victims becomes defenseless to deny her rule, cut off and tracked by creatures unimaginable, they are cornered to acknowledge their inner horrors while the hours without pity strikes toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust builds and partnerships crack, forcing each figure to examine their true nature and the idea of decision-making itself. The intensity accelerate with every passing moment, delivering a cinematic nightmare that combines ghostly evil with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to explore raw dread, an force before modern man, feeding on soul-level flaws, and navigating a will that challenges autonomy when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra required summoning something far beyond human desperation. She is ignorant until the possession kicks in, and that transformation is eerie because it is so unshielded.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for viewing beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing households across the world can get immersed in this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its first trailer, which has garnered over a viral response.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, exporting the fear to fans of fear everywhere.


Don’t miss this gripping ride through nightmares. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to witness these chilling revelations about free will.


For bonus footage, set experiences, and insider scoops directly from production, follow @YACFilm across fan hubs and visit the official movie site.





Today’s horror major pivot: 2025 for genre fans U.S. Slate Mixes biblical-possession ideas, art-house nightmares, together with series shake-ups

Spanning pressure-cooker survival tales steeped in scriptural legend to brand-name continuations in concert with acutely observed indies, 2025 is shaping up as the most textured paired with calculated campaign year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. leading studios stabilize the year with familiar IP, in tandem premium streamers front-load the fall with emerging auteurs set against scriptural shivers. On another front, horror’s indie wing is buoyed by the backdraft from a record 2024 festival run. With Halloween holding the peak, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, distinctly in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are methodical, and 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Premium genre swings back

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s slate opens the year with a big gambit: a contemporary Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, within a sleek contemporary canvas. From director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. arriving 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 novel refit as minimal menace. Helmed by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

At summer’s close, Warner Bros. Pictures drops the final chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

After that, The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Scott Derrickson returns, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: retro dread, trauma explicitly handled, plus otherworld rules that chill. The ante is higher this round, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The continuation widens the legend, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It lands in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Originals: No Budget, No Problem

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a close quarters body horror study featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. 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 reads like an autumn stream lock.

On the docket is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga starring Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Penned and steered 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 dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is canny scheduling. No bloated canon. No canon weight. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

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 rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

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

Series Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, led by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

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

Platform originals gain bite
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

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

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Projection: Autumn density and winter pivot

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. 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 goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The oncoming spook season: entries, universe starters, together with A stacked Calendar Built For screams

Dek: The new scare year crowds from the jump with a January cluster, following that rolls through the summer months, and pushing into the festive period, fusing legacy muscle, fresh ideas, and well-timed alternatives. Studios with streamers are doubling down on mid-range economics, theatrical exclusivity first, and short-form initiatives that frame horror entries into national conversation.

How the genre looks for 2026

The field has grown into the surest move in programming grids, a corner that can lift when it clicks and still cushion the losses when it underperforms. After 2023 reminded buyers that disciplined-budget pictures can shape the national conversation, the following year extended the rally with visionary-driven titles and word-of-mouth wins. The carry fed into 2025, where re-entries and awards-minded projects made clear there is demand for diverse approaches, from series extensions to director-led originals that perform internationally. The net effect for 2026 is a slate that reads highly synchronized across the market, with planned clusters, a pairing of established brands and new packages, and a tightened focus on theatrical windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium home window and digital services.

Distribution heads claim the category now acts as a swing piece on the grid. The genre can premiere on open real estate, provide a grabby hook for spots and platform-native cuts, and outpace with fans that lean in on Thursday nights and continue through the second frame if the release pays off. After a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 rhythm reflects faith in that model. The calendar rolls out with a stacked January stretch, then turns to spring and early summer for audience offsets, while saving space for a autumn push that stretches into holiday-adjacent weekends and past Halloween. The arrangement also features the continuing integration of specialized imprints and subscription services that can develop over weeks, grow buzz, and expand at the strategic time.

A companion trend is IP cultivation across ongoing universes and classic IP. The companies are not just making another return. They are seeking to position continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a art treatment that conveys a new vibe or a star attachment that connects a fresh chapter to a vintage era. At the alongside this, the filmmakers behind the marquee originals are prioritizing on-set craft, physical gags and concrete locations. That pairing offers the 2026 slate a confident blend of comfort and discovery, which is why the genre exports well.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount defines the early cadence with two high-profile plays that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the spine, steering it as both a succession moment and a classic-mode character-first story. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the narrative stance announces a legacy-leaning mode without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push rooted in classic imagery, intro reveals, and a tease cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will stress. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will chase mass reach through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format enabling quick turns to whatever tops genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three discrete releases. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is tidy, soulful, and easily pitched: a grieving man sets up an algorithmic mate that unfolds into a perilous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s marketing likely to echo uncanny-valley stunts and short-form creative that interlaces intimacy and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a final title to become an event moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele titles are positioned as auteur events, with a teaser that reveals little and a later trailer push that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot creates space for Universal to saturate 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, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has long shown that a in-your-face, makeup-driven mix can feel prestige on a movies lean spend. Frame it as a grime-caked summer horror blast that leans into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio rolls out two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, keeping a trusty supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what the studio is marketing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both core fans and new audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build promo materials around setting detail, and monster aesthetics, elements that can increase PLF interest and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on textural authenticity and language, this time set against lycan legends. The distributor has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is glowing.

How the platforms plan to play it

Windowing plans in 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s genre slate shift to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a ladder that enhances both premiere heat and subscription bumps in the later window. Prime Video stitches together acquired titles with worldwide entries and limited runs in theaters when the data signals it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in catalog discovery, using featured rows, spooky hubs, and curated strips to keep attention on the annual genre haul. Netflix plays opportunist about Netflix originals and festival deals, securing horror entries closer to launch and turning into events launches with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a two-step of precision theatrical plays and rapid platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a per-project basis. The platform has shown appetite to board select projects with established auteurs or name-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation peaks.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 arc with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is clean: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, updated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the late stretch.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, stewarding the film through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday corridor to increase reach. That positioning has served the company well for elevated genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception encourages. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using small theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By weight, the 2026 slate tips toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage legacy awareness. The challenge, as ever, is brand erosion. The preferred tactic is to present each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is underscoring character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is promising a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a European tilt from a rising filmmaker. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries keep the lungs full. 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 in a marooned survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf rests on period my review here texture and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the bundle is steady enough to build pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Past-three-year patterns illuminate the playbook. In 2023, a cinema-first model that respected streaming windows did not obstruct a day-date try from hitting when the brand was compelling. In 2024, auteur craft horror rose in large-format rooms. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they pivot perspective and expand the canvas. 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 linked-chapter plan, with chapters shot in tandem, lets marketing to bridge entries through character and theme and to leave creative active without doldrums.

How the films are being made

The craft rooms behind the upcoming entries signal a continued shift toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that foregrounds tone and tension rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in long-lead press and craft coverage before rolling out a preview that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at red-band excess, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and generates shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta refresh that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will live or die on creature and environment design, which work nicely for expo activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that foreground razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that work in PLF.

From winter to holidays

January is full. Universal’s 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 bigger brand plays. The month ends 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 real, but the palette of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Winter into spring tee up summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Late-season stretch leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited previews that trade in concept over detail.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and holiday card usage.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s digital partner evolves into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a shifting 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 push to survive on a lonely island as the hierarchy flips and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to fright, rooted in Cronin’s practical craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting setup that routes the horror through a young child’s volatile point of view. Rating: not yet rated. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven spectral 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 comic send-up that skewers present-day genre chatter and true-crime obsessions. Rating: pending. Production: fall 2025 production window. 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 bursts, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a different family tethered to older hauntings. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A reboot designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survivalist horror over action fireworks. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: pending. Production: underway. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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 historical diction and elemental menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three nuts-and-bolts forces organize this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or recalendared in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and compressed schedules. 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 beaten straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine turnkey scare beats from test screenings, metered scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

The slot calculus is real. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can capture a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will trade weekends across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to press those advantages. 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, 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 pace and range. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, soundcraft, and picture 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

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is IP strength where it matters, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver 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-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the gasps sell the seats.