Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons ancient dread, a bone chilling horror feature, rolling out October 2025 across major platforms

An hair-raising occult horror tale from screenwriter / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an ancient entity when strangers become tools in a cursed ceremony. Launching October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful story of survival and old world terror that will reimagine scare flicks this October. Directed by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and shadowy story follows five young adults who emerge stranded in a isolated lodge under the dark rule of Kyra, a possessed female controlled by a timeless holy text monster. Be warned to be immersed by a audio-visual venture that merges instinctive fear with folklore, coming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a classic trope in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is inverted when the demons no longer manifest from elsewhere, but rather from deep inside. This embodies the malevolent facet of these individuals. The result is a emotionally raw mind game where the suspense becomes a soul-crushing confrontation between right and wrong.


In a haunting backcountry, five souls find themselves caught under the malicious grip and grasp of a elusive person. As the companions becomes unable to reject her power, isolated and tracked by powers ungraspable, they are compelled to confront their raw vulnerabilities while the moments unforgivingly ticks onward toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust grows and alliances implode, pushing each character to contemplate their essence and the nature of decision-making itself. The risk intensify with every passing moment, delivering a nightmarish journey that weaves together supernatural terror with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to dive into instinctual horror, an curse older than civilization itself, manifesting in emotional fractures, and highlighting a force that tests the soul when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra asked for exploring something unfamiliar to reason. She is unaware until the curse activates, and that pivot is bone-chilling because it is so close.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for worldwide release beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—allowing audiences in all regions can experience this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its original promo, which has gathered over strong viewer count.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, spreading the horror to thrill-seekers globally.


Avoid skipping this unforgettable voyage through terror. Explore *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to acknowledge these dark realities about inner darkness.


For previews, behind-the-scenes content, and announcements from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across your socials and visit the movie’s homepage.





Contemporary horror’s tipping point: the 2025 season U.S. rollouts interlaces old-world possession, indie terrors, set against IP aftershocks

Beginning with survival horror steeped in near-Eastern lore to returning series paired with acutely observed indies, 2025 stands to become the most variegated paired with intentionally scheduled year since the mid-2010s.

Call it full, but it is also focused. major banners lay down anchors through proven series, in parallel streamers saturate the fall with new voices alongside ancient terrors. On the festival side, the artisan tier is surfing the echoes from a record 2024 festival run. As Halloween stays the prime week, the other windows are mapped with care. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, notably this year, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are calculated, as a result 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige fear returns

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal Pictures starts the year with a statement play: a modernized Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, instead in a current-day frame. Steered by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. targeting mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Guided by Eli Craig featuring turns by 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. Early reactions hint at fangs.

By late summer, Warner’s pipeline releases the last chapter from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

The Black Phone 2 follows. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson resumes command, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: retrograde shiver, trauma centered writing, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This time the stakes climb, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The next entry deepens the tale, stretches the animatronic parade, reaching teens and game grownups. It drops in December, buttoning the final window.

SVOD Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a tight space body horror vignette with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is virtually assured for fall.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable led by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Shaped and helmed 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 dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. 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. It is a clever angle. No bloated canon. No franchise baggage. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Lines: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, under Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

What to Watch

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror ascends again
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Forecast: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

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 including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

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 brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The upcoming Horror slate: brand plays, non-franchise titles, in tandem with A Crowded Calendar calibrated for Scares

Dek The upcoming terror season loads up front with a January bottleneck, after that unfolds through the mid-year, and running into the December corridor, balancing franchise firepower, new voices, and data-minded counterweight. Studio marketers and platforms are leaning into right-sized spends, exclusive theatrical windows first, and social-driven marketing that position these releases into cross-demo moments.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror has proven to be the steady counterweight in studio slates, a lane that can scale when it performs and still safeguard the drag when it falls short. After the 2023 year reassured strategy teams that modestly budgeted fright engines can steer pop culture, 2024 continued the surge with visionary-driven titles and under-the-radar smashes. The energy moved into the 2025 frame, where revived properties and festival-grade titles proved there is capacity for varied styles, from ongoing IP entries to fresh IP that export nicely. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a roster that presents tight coordination across the field, with obvious clusters, a combination of brand names and first-time concepts, and a revived focus on cinema windows that fuel later windows on paid VOD and SVOD.

Studio leaders note the horror lane now works like a wildcard on the slate. The genre can premiere on nearly any frame, yield a clear pitch for teasers and platform-native cuts, and overperform with patrons that arrive on early shows and hold through the second frame if the release hits. Exiting a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 rhythm underscores belief in that setup. The calendar launches with a front-loaded January run, then plants flags in spring and early summer for counterweight, while reserving space for a autumn push that pushes into Halloween and into the next week. The calendar also highlights the deeper integration of indie distributors and OTT outlets that can develop over weeks, spark evangelism, and move wide at the optimal moment.

A notable top-line trend is legacy care across shared IP webs and heritage properties. Studios are not just greenlighting another return. They are setting up ongoing narrative with a occasion, whether that is a brandmark that announces a re-angled tone or a lead change that connects a incoming chapter to a early run. At the same time, the creative leads behind the top original plays are leaning into material texture, in-camera effects and grounded locations. That convergence delivers the 2026 slate a confident blend of familiarity and unexpected turns, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount marks the early tempo with two headline entries that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the spine, positioning the film as both a relay and a origin-leaning character study. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the story approach conveys a throwback-friendly approach without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run driven by iconic art, early character teases, and a staggered trailer plan landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will foreground. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will chase mainstream recognition through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick shifts to whatever rules horror talk that spring.

Universal has three clear bets. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is tight, melancholic, and high-concept: a grieving man activates an digital partner that turns into a dangerous lover. The date lines it up at the front of a competition-heavy month, with the marketing arm likely to renew viral uncanny stunts and short-form creative that interweaves love and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a final title to become an teaser payoff closer to the first look. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. The filmmaker’s films are presented as must-see filmmaker statements, with a minimalist tease and a second wave of trailers that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The late-month date gives Universal room to command 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, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has demonstrated that a flesh-and-blood, makeup-driven style can feel cinematic on a lean spend. Position this as a red-band summer horror shot that leans into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio launches two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, maintaining a dependable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is presenting as 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 devotees and first-timers. The fall slot lets Sony to build artifacts around mythos, and monster aesthetics, elements that can amplify premium format interest and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in immersive craft and historical speech, this time steeped in lycan lore. The specialty arm has already set the date for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is supportive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform strategies for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s slate head to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a ordering that maximizes both debut momentum and subscription bumps in the back half. Prime Video interleaves catalogue additions with global originals and targeted theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in catalog engagement, using well-timed internal promotions, October hubs, and featured rows to maximize the tail on aggregate take. Netflix retains agility about own-slate titles and festival buys, securing horror entries closer to launch and staging as events rollouts with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a laddered of focused cinema runs and rapid platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a per-project basis. The platform has been willing to invest in select projects with award winners or name-led packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for retention when the genre conversation intensifies.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 track with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is uncomplicated: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, updated for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has suggested a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an good sign for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the autumn stretch.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then leveraging the year-end corridor to widen. That positioning has delivered for prestige horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception warrants. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using select theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their audience.

Brands and originals

By count, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap franchise value. The caveat, as ever, is overexposure. The go-to fix is to present each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is bringing forward character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-tinted vision from a ascendant talent. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and director-first projects keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the packaging is assuring enough to drive advance ticketing and advance-audience nights.

Comps from the last three years clarify the approach. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that observed windows did not deter a parallel release from performing when the brand was compelling. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror rose in premium screens. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they rotate perspective and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to connect the chapters through personae and themes and to keep materials circulating without hiatuses.

Technique and craft currents

The craft conversations behind this year’s genre telegraph a continued emphasis on in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that foregrounds mood and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and era-true language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in craft journalism and artisan spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and spurs shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a self-aware reset that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature design and production design, which align with expo activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel irresistible. Look for trailers that elevate hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that work in PLF.

Annual flow

January is busy. 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 marquee brands. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the tonal variety makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth sustains.

Early-year through spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

End of summer through fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a late-September window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a minimalist tease strategy and limited information drops that lean on concept not plot.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and card redemption.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, imp source January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s virtual companion unfolds into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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

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 confront a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. 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 difficult boss fight to survive on a far-flung island as the control dynamic reverses and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to dread, rooted in Cronin’s hands-on craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting chiller that explores the unease of a child’s unreliable impressions. Rating: rating pending. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A parody reboot that satirizes in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime crazes. Rating: pending. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites surges, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new family entangled with ancient dread. Rating: TBA. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward true survival horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: forthcoming. Production: ongoing. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and ancient menace. Rating: awaiting classification. 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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the moment is 2026

Three workable forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that eased or migrated in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine turnkey scare beats from test screenings, managed scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

The slot calculus is real. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can capture a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will compete across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

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

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

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, aural design, 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.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand power where it counts, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, guard the secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.