Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens primeval malevolence, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, bowing October 2025 on global platforms

An spine-tingling mystic fear-driven tale from cinematographer / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an age-old malevolence when unrelated individuals become subjects in a devilish ordeal. Going live October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, the YouTube platform, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing journey of continuance and forgotten curse that will revamp scare flicks this harvest season. Directed by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and emotionally thick feature follows five strangers who wake up sealed in a secluded cabin under the dark dominion of Kyra, a central character haunted by a millennia-old ancient fiend. Anticipate to be captivated by a audio-visual outing that blends instinctive fear with biblical origins, hitting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a mainstay narrative in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is challenged when the spirits no longer emerge outside their bodies, but rather internally. This mirrors the deepest shade of the cast. The result is a bone-chilling moral showdown where the conflict becomes a relentless contest between right and wrong.


In a remote outland, five individuals find themselves confined under the unholy rule and inhabitation of a obscure person. As the youths becomes powerless to deny her grasp, left alone and targeted by spirits beyond comprehension, they are required to face their worst nightmares while the clock harrowingly strikes toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension intensifies and teams collapse, urging each member to evaluate their true nature and the integrity of conscious will itself. The danger surge with every minute, delivering a paranormal ride that connects demonic fright with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to channel ancestral fear, an malevolence from ancient eras, feeding on psychological breaks, and examining a evil that threatens selfhood when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra called for internalizing something beyond human emotion. She is blind until the takeover begins, and that change is bone-chilling because it is so intimate.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be released for public screening beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—giving horror lovers in all regions can get immersed in this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its initial teaser, which has collected over six-figure audience.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, bringing the film to scare fans abroad.


Mark your calendar for this unforgettable descent into hell. Confront *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to see these ghostly lessons about inner darkness.


For director insights, director cuts, and reveals from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across platforms and visit the official website.





Modern horror’s tipping point: the year 2025 American release plan fuses ancient-possession motifs, Indie Shockers, together with returning-series thunder

From life-or-death fear grounded in near-Eastern lore and onward to installment follow-ups set beside sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is lining up as the most variegated and deliberate year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. major banners lock in tentpoles using marquee IP, as streamers stack the fall with new perspectives plus scriptural shivers. In the indie lane, independent banners is fueled by the afterglow of a peak 2024 circuit. Since Halloween is the prized date, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, and in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are intentional, so 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Prestige fear returns

The top end is active. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s slate leads off the quarter with a big gambit: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, instead in a current-day frame. Led by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. landing in mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Eli Craig directs and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer wanes, Warner’s schedule rolls out the capstone from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: retrograde shiver, trauma explicitly handled, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This run ups the stakes, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The follow up digs further into canon, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It lands in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streaming Offerings: No Budget, No Problem

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a sealed box body horror arc fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Also notable is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable starring Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

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 a smart play. No bloated mythology. No sequel clutter. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Heritage Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, 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 debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Dials to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

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

SVOD originals harden up
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Forward View: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

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

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The coming 2026 scare slate: entries, original films, plus A busy Calendar tailored for nightmares

Dek The upcoming genre calendar crams from the jump with a January logjam, following that runs through the mid-year, and carrying into the holidays, weaving series momentum, original angles, and calculated counterplay. Distributors with platforms are betting on tight budgets, theatrical leads, and social-fueled campaigns that transform genre titles into all-audience topics.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The horror marketplace has emerged as the surest tool in release plans, a segment that can surge when it catches and still protect the losses when it underperforms. After the 2023 year signaled to studio brass that responsibly budgeted entries can steer the discourse, the following year kept the drumbeat going with auteur-driven buzzy films and slow-burn breakouts. The energy carried into the 2025 frame, where reboots and awards-minded projects signaled there is demand for varied styles, from brand follow-ups to one-and-done originals that translate worldwide. The sum for the 2026 slate is a slate that presents tight coordination across studios, with intentional bunching, a combination of established brands and new concepts, and a refocused attention on exhibition windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium digital rental and SVOD.

Buyers contend the category now behaves like a versatile piece on the release plan. The genre can launch on virtually any date, supply a grabby hook for teasers and short-form placements, and punch above weight with viewers that turn out on advance nights and sustain through the week two if the offering connects. Following a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 cadence reflects belief in that equation. The year commences with a weighty January window, then exploits spring through early summer for off-slot scheduling, while saving space for a fall cadence that stretches into late October and past the holiday. The arrangement also includes the ongoing integration of indie arms and streaming partners that can nurture a platform play, spark evangelism, and broaden at the sweet spot.

A second macro trend is franchise tending across ongoing universes and storied titles. Studio teams are not just producing another entry. They are aiming to frame connection with a must-see charge, whether that is a art treatment that conveys a re-angled tone or a casting move that bridges a incoming chapter to a first wave. At the very same time, the auteurs behind the most watched originals are leaning into physical effects work, practical gags and place-driven backdrops. That blend provides 2026 a lively combination of familiarity and unexpected turns, which is how the films export.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount fires first with two front-of-slate bets that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the focus, framing it as both a cross-generational handoff and a DNA-forward character study. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture announces a fan-service aware approach without recycling the last two entries’ sisters storyline. A campaign is expected fueled by legacy iconography, first-look character reveals, and a promo sequence aimed at late fall. Distribution is big-screen via 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 set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will stress. As a summer counter-slot, this one will pursue general-audience talk through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format permitting quick redirects to whatever tops the social talk that spring.

Universal has three specific bets. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is elegant, grief-rooted, and logline-clear: a grieving man activates an algorithmic mate that evolves into a murderous partner. The date positions it at the front see here of a busy month, with Universal’s team likely to iterate on uncanny live moments and micro spots that interlaces attachment and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a branding reveal to become an headline beat closer to the first look. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. The filmmaker’s films are presented as event films, with a concept-forward tease and a later creative that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The late-month date creates space for Universal to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to 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 repeatedly shown that a gritty, physical-effects centered execution can feel top-tier on a mid-range budget. Position this as a hard-R summer horror jolt that pushes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio mounts two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, holding a consistent supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is calling a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both core fans and first-timers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build campaign creative around narrative world, and creature design, elements that can amplify 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 extends Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in textural authenticity and historical speech, this time set against lycan legends. Focus Features has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is strong.

Streaming windows and tactics

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s horror titles head to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a ordering that fortifies both initial urgency and sign-up momentum in the later phase. Prime Video continues to mix third-party pickups with global originals and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu work their edges in deep cuts, using prominent placements, holiday hubs, and staff picks to sustain interest on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix remains opportunistic about first-party entries and festival acquisitions, scheduling horror entries near their drops and positioning as event drops go-lives with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a staged of selective theatrical runs and swift platform pivots that monetizes buzz via trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a per-project basis. The platform has shown appetite to board select projects with established auteurs or star-led packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for platform stickiness when the genre conversation peaks.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 pipeline with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is no-nonsense: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, recalibrated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the late-season weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, managing the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday slot to increase reach. That positioning has served the company well for auteur horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception supports. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using limited runs to jump-start evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

IP versus fresh ideas

By skew, 2026 leans in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on marquee value. The trade-off, as ever, is viewer burnout. The workable fix is to frame each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is emphasizing core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-accented approach from a rising filmmaker. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and visionary-led titles supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a survival-thriller premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the configuration is assuring enough to spark pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Recent comps clarify the strategy. In 2023, a cinema-first model that maintained windows did not block a parallel release from thriving when the brand was potent. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror punched above its weight in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they reorient and increase ambition. 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. news The two-step approach, with chapters shot consecutively, enables marketing to bridge entries through character spine and themes and to leave creative active without hiatuses.

Behind-the-camera trends

The craft conversations behind this slate forecast a continued preference for tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that foregrounds mood and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in long-lead press and craft features before rolling out a first look that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and drives shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta refresh that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster aesthetics and world-building, which lend themselves to convention floor stunts and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that highlight disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that explode in larger rooms.

Calendar cadence

January is stacked. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid larger brand plays. The month finishes 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 tonal variety affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth persists.

Q1 into Q2 build the summer base. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now supports 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 clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

August into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder season window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited teasers that center concept over reveals.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and holiday gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s intelligent companion turns into something perilously amorous. 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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem 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 finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 abrasive boss claw to survive on a uninhabited island as the power balance swivels and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to terror, based on Cronin’s practical craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. 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 family-home haunting piece that interrogates the fright of a child’s uncertain point of view. Rating: to be announced. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-grade and headline-actor led spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A satire sequel that needles in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fervors. Rating: TBD. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a unlucky family bound to long-buried horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-driven horror over action fireworks. Rating: TBD. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: undetermined. Production: in progress. 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 era-accurate language and bone-deep menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three grounded forces organize this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or re-sequenced in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and tighter 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 surpassed straight-to-streaming releases. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate social-ready stingers from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

The slot calculus is real. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will jostle across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, soundscape, and imagery 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 Strong 2026 Horizon

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is franchise muscle where it helps, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for 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, preserve the surprise, and let the gasps sell the seats.