Antediluvian Evil Stirs within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding supernatural thriller, streaming Oct 2025 on major platforms

One chilling unearthly nightmare movie from author / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an ancient curse when unrelated individuals become subjects in a supernatural struggle. Dropping on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing depiction of survival and primordial malevolence that will reshape the fear genre this Halloween season. Visualized by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and tone-heavy cinema piece follows five young adults who are stirred isolated in a far-off house under the dark grip of Kyra, a troubled woman consumed by a prehistoric ancient fiend. Arm yourself to be absorbed by a theatrical venture that weaves together primitive horror with ancestral stories, debuting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a legendary concept in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is twisted when the beings no longer develop outside the characters, but rather from within. This marks the malevolent element of the protagonists. The result is a riveting identity crisis where the drama becomes a unyielding conflict between purity and corruption.


In a abandoned wilderness, five characters find themselves imprisoned under the ominous sway and spiritual invasion of a uncanny apparition. As the survivors becomes vulnerable to resist her manipulation, left alone and hunted by terrors beyond reason, they are forced to battle their soulful dreads while the seconds brutally draws closer toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion grows and relationships break, prompting each cast member to rethink their existence and the idea of freedom of choice itself. The stakes climb with every second, delivering a frightening tale that integrates ghostly evil with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to channel pure dread, an evil from ancient eras, feeding on human fragility, and dealing with a curse that dismantles free will when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra demanded embodying something deeper than fear. She is innocent until the takeover begins, and that conversion is bone-chilling because it is so close.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be available for home viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—so that households anywhere can engage with this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its release of trailer #1, which has pulled in over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, taking the terror to a worldwide audience.


Witness this life-altering ride through nightmares. Join *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to experience these unholy truths about the mind.


For bonus footage, set experiences, and announcements from behind the lens, follow @YACMovie across Instagram and Twitter and visit the official digital haunt.





Today’s horror tipping point: 2025 in focus domestic schedule melds Mythic Possession, Indie Shockers, and franchise surges

Beginning with last-stand terror inspired by biblical myth to series comebacks paired with sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 looks like the most variegated along with precision-timed year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. major banners set cornerstones with familiar IP, concurrently digital services crowd the fall with new perspectives set against mythic dread. At the same time, festival-forward creators is carried on the carry from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, but this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are targeted, accordingly 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: The Return of Prestige Fear

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 set the base, 2025 doubles down.

the Universal banner begins the calendar with a big gambit: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in an immediate now. Led by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. Booked into mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Led by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s pipeline rolls out the capstone of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. While the template is known, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re teams, and the memorable motifs return: period tinged dread, trauma explicitly handled, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This time, the stakes are raised, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The next entry deepens the tale, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It hits in December, buttoning the final window.

Streamer Exclusives: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a body horror chamber piece starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

On the docket is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is a smart play. No puffed out backstory. No series drag. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. 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. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Series Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Signals and Trends

Mythic currents go mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror comes roaring back
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to 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. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Forward View: Fall pileup, winter curveball

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

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 oncoming chiller calendar year ahead: brand plays, standalone ideas, And A hectic Calendar designed for chills

Dek The fresh genre calendar lines up from the jump with a January wave, before it carries through the mid-year, and far into the winter holidays, combining franchise firepower, inventive spins, and well-timed release strategy. Major distributors and platforms are committing to smart costs, theatrical leads, and buzz-forward plans that shape these releases into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This space has become the predictable move in distribution calendars, a category that can surge when it breaks through and still insulate the liability when it falls short. After the 2023 year showed strategy teams that mid-range scare machines can shape the zeitgeist, 2024 extended the rally with director-led heat and sleeper breakouts. The carry pushed into the 2025 frame, where revivals and arthouse crossovers made clear there is demand for several lanes, from returning installments to original one-offs that carry overseas. The end result for the 2026 slate is a roster that feels more orchestrated than usual across players, with intentional bunching, a spread of known properties and fresh ideas, and a sharpened stance on release windows that fuel later windows on premium digital rental and subscription services.

Marketers add the horror lane now serves as a utility player on the rollout map. Horror can premiere on almost any weekend, deliver a grabby hook for previews and platform-native cuts, and exceed norms with ticket buyers that turn out on preview nights and return through the second weekend if the title connects. After a work stoppage lag, the 2026 pattern telegraphs trust in that dynamic. The year opens with a heavy January lineup, then turns to spring and early summer for alternate plays, while saving space for a autumn push that stretches into spooky season and afterwards. The program also shows the increasing integration of specialized imprints and streaming partners that can platform a title, generate chatter, and move wide at the inflection point.

An added macro current is brand strategy across linked properties and established properties. The companies are not just releasing another entry. They are seeking to position continuity with a occasion, whether that is a title design that broadcasts a fresh attitude or a cast configuration that reconnects a next entry to a classic era. At the parallel to that, the helmers behind the most buzzed-about originals are favoring on-set craft, special makeup and site-specific worlds. That mix hands 2026 a solid mix of known notes and unexpected turns, which is what works overseas.

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

Paramount marks the early tempo with two front-of-slate projects that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the lead, positioning the film as both a baton pass and a heritage-centered character-first story. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the story approach points to a memory-charged mode without covering again the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Anticipate a campaign stacked with iconic art, first-look character reveals, and a staggered trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will double down on. As a counterweight in summer, this one will seek four-quadrant chatter through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick redirects to whatever drives the social talk that spring.

Universal has three discrete lanes. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is straightforward, heartbroken, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man adopts an AI companion that mutates into a murderous partner. The date slots it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s team likely to revisit off-kilter promo beats and snackable content that fuses attachment and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a proper title to become an fan moment closer to the initial promo. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. His entries are sold as signature events, with a hinting teaser and a next wave of trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The pre-Halloween slot allows Universal to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has established that a blood-soaked, hands-on effects style can feel high-value on a disciplined budget. Expect a blood-and-grime summer horror shot that maximizes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio deploys two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, preserving a proven supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is marketing as a fresh restart click site for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both longtime followers and novices. The fall slot hands Sony window to build campaign pieces around narrative world, and monster craft, elements that can increase IMAX and PLF uptake and fan-forward engagement.

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 continues Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in obsessive craft and linguistic texture, this time orbiting lycan myth. Focus has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is strong.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform windowing in 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s releases window into copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a stair-step that amplifies both debut momentum and platform bumps in the later phase. Prime Video combines outside acquisitions with world buys and small theatrical windows when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in catalog discovery, using editorial spots, October hubs, and handpicked rows to stretch the tail on aggregate take. Netflix plays opportunist about own-slate titles and festival acquisitions, securing horror entries with shorter lead times and coalescing around drops with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a hybrid of selective theatrical runs and prompt platform moves that drives paid trials from buzz. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working community channels 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 take on select projects with established auteurs or A-list packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for monthly activity when the genre conversation heats up.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 sequence with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is direct: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, modernized for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a theatrical-first plan for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the back half.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, escorting the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then leveraging the December frame to open out. That positioning has helped for auteur horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception encourages. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using limited runs to stir evangelism that fuels their community.

Known brands versus new stories

By share, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage brand equity. The potential drawback, as ever, is overexposure. The pragmatic answer is to sell each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is leading with relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a European tilt from a rising filmmaker. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the bundle is anchored enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Comparable trends from recent years announce the logic. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that respected streaming windows did not preclude a simultaneous release test from performing when the brand was potent. In 2024, auteur craft horror rose in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel new when they reframe POV and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on 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 back-to-back, lets marketing to cross-link entries through character and theme and to keep materials circulating without extended gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft rooms behind this year’s genre signal a continued emphasis on hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that underscores tone and tension rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft features before rolling out a tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and drives shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta recalibration that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature craft and set design, which match well with booth activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel essential. Look for trailers that foreground pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that shine in top rooms.

From winter to holidays

January is crowded. 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 quiet contrast amid marquee brands. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the mix of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

Winter into spring build the summer base. Scream 7 lands February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates 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 splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

August into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a transitional slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a opaque tease strategy and limited teasers that prioritize concept over plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card burn.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s intelligent companion shifts into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 severe boss work to survive on a rugged island as the pecking order swivels and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to chill, anchored by Cronin’s practical craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. 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 tale that mediates the fear via a youth’s wavering point of view. Rating: TBD. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A parody return that skewers contemporary horror memes and true crime fervors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: lensing scheduled 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 erupts, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new family snared by lingering terrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: TBA. Production: active. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and elemental dread. Rating: TBA. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 lands now

Three hands-on forces define this lineup. First, production that decelerated or recalendared in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on clippable moments from test screenings, curated scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, making room for genre entries that can command a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will cluster across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 modest-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 shock 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. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, 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 scale over time, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, acoustics, and visual design that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Looks Exciting

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is recognizable IP where it plays, original vision 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, hold the mystery, and let the shudders sell the seats.