Antediluvian Horror emerges: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding chiller, rolling out October 2025 on major streaming services

One hair-raising otherworldly suspense film from screenwriter / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an ancient terror when passersby become vehicles in a demonic ceremony. Dropping this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish saga of struggle and archaic horror that will redefine fear-driven cinema this cool-weather season. Created by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and cinematic tale follows five figures who wake up ensnared in a unreachable lodge under the malevolent command of Kyra, a young woman consumed by a antiquated Old Testament spirit. Ready yourself to be immersed by a theatrical event that harmonizes instinctive fear with biblical origins, coming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a classic narrative in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is radically shifted when the demons no longer develop from external sources, but rather inside them. This symbolizes the most hidden version of each of them. The result is a enthralling mind game where the drama becomes a merciless face-off between good and evil.


In a desolate outland, five campers find themselves contained under the ominous presence and control of a uncanny person. As the cast becomes powerless to evade her dominion, isolated and tormented by entities beyond reason, they are confronted to confront their worst nightmares while the hours relentlessly ticks toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia swells and links collapse, driving each figure to reconsider their self and the idea of self-determination itself. The danger accelerate with every tick, delivering a cinematic nightmare that combines paranormal dread with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to explore primitive panic, an spirit rooted in antiquity, manifesting in our weaknesses, and questioning a darkness that erodes the self when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra needed manifesting something outside normal anguish. She is oblivious until the evil takes hold, and that metamorphosis is gut-wrenching because it is so raw.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for streaming beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—allowing viewers internationally can dive into this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its intro video, which has attracted over 100K plays.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, delivering the story to lovers of terror across nations.


Witness this cinematic spiral into evil. Explore *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to uncover these unholy truths about the psyche.


For previews, on-set glimpses, and updates from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across media channels and visit the movie’s homepage.





The horror genre’s inflection point: 2025 U.S. Slate Mixes ancient-possession motifs, independent shockers, set against returning-series thunder

Moving from survival horror grounded in ancient scripture all the way to series comebacks in concert with acutely observed indies, 2025 is coalescing into the richest along with carefully orchestrated year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. studio powerhouses hold down the year with established lines, at the same time OTT services load up the fall with emerging auteurs in concert with legend-coded dread. Meanwhile, the independent cohort is drafting behind the uplift from a record 2024 festival run. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, though in this cycle, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are disciplined, as a result 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: High-craft horror returns

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s schedule begins the calendar with an audacious swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in a modern-day environment. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. set for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Led by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

When summer fades, the Warner lot delivers the closing chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Though the formula is familiar, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Scott Derrickson returns, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: old school creep, trauma as narrative engine, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This run ups the stakes, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, grows the animatronic horror lineup, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It books December, holding the cold season’s end.

Digital Originals: No Budget, No Problem

While theaters bet on familiarity, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a body horror chamber piece pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Also notable is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga featuring Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is canny scheduling. No heavy handed lore. No brand fatigue. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They are more runway than museum.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

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

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, steered 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.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

What to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Badges become bargaining chips
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Big screen is a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Forward View: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

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 battle for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The 2026 Horror season: continuations, original films, alongside A jammed Calendar aimed at goosebumps

Dek: The current terror slate stacks from day one with a January traffic jam, and then carries through June and July, and continuing into the holiday frame, balancing brand equity, fresh ideas, and shrewd counterprogramming. Studios with streamers are embracing smart costs, exclusive theatrical windows first, and influencer-ready assets that frame horror entries into all-audience topics.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The genre has become the predictable counterweight in programming grids, a corner that can accelerate when it lands and still insulate the drawdown when it fails to connect. After 2023 reminded top brass that mid-range horror vehicles can galvanize pop culture, 2024 extended the rally with visionary-driven titles and word-of-mouth wins. The run moved into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and premium-leaning entries showed there is a lane for multiple flavors, from continued chapters to filmmaker-driven originals that resonate abroad. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a calendar that looks unusually coordinated across the industry, with strategic blocks, a combination of brand names and fresh ideas, and a recommitted emphasis on cinema windows that power the aftermarket on PVOD and streaming.

Distribution heads claim the genre now serves as a swing piece on the calendar. The genre can debut on virtually any date, provide a sharp concept for creative and social clips, and over-index with fans that turn out on Thursday nights and continue through the next weekend if the feature hits. Coming out of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 cadence shows belief in that setup. The year kicks off with a crowded January block, then targets spring into early summer for counterprogramming, while carving room for a fall run that runs into spooky season and past Halloween. The arrangement also shows the deeper integration of boutique distributors and subscription services that can develop over weeks, fuel WOM, and roll out at the proper time.

An added macro current is legacy care across shared IP webs and storied titles. Big banners are not just producing another follow-up. They are trying to present lore continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a title design that flags a reframed mood or a casting pivot that reconnects a new installment to a classic era. At the concurrently, the directors behind the high-profile originals are doubling down on real-world builds, makeup and prosthetics and concrete locations. That blend offers 2026 a confident blend of comfort and discovery, which is why the genre exports well.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount marks the early tempo with two spotlight 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 seat and Neve Campbell back at the front, positioning the film as both a passing of the torch and a return-to-roots character-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the directional approach telegraphs a fan-service aware framework without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Expect a marketing push driven by iconic art, early character teases, and a rollout cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical through 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 back together, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will foreground. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will pursue four-quadrant chatter through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format enabling quick switches to whatever owns the social talk that spring.

Universal has three specific bets. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is efficient, soulful, and commercial: a grieving man activates an machine companion that shifts into a perilous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a thick month, with Universal’s marketing likely to echo viral uncanny stunts and snackable content that threads longing and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a branding reveal to become an PR pop closer to the initial promo. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s pictures are set up as event films, with a opaque teaser and a later creative that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The pre-Halloween slot affords Universal to take 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, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has proven that a blood-soaked, on-set effects led strategy can feel prestige on a disciplined budget. Position this as a gore-forward summer horror blast that leans into global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror horror bench is loaded. The studio deploys two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, maintaining a reliable supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is positioning as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both loyalists and casuals. The fall slot allows Sony to build campaign creative around canon, and creature work, elements that can lift IMAX and PLF uptake and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on meticulous craft and language, this time driven by werewolf stories. Focus Features has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is positive.

How the platforms plan to play it

Digital strategies for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s releases shift to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a tiered path that fortifies both launch urgency and sign-up momentum in the post-theatrical. Prime Video stitches together licensed titles with cross-border buys and select theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library engagement, using curated hubs, seasonal hubs, and featured rows to keep attention on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps optionality about Netflix films and festival deals, timing horror entries toward the drop and coalescing around releases with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a paired of targeted cinema placements and prompt platform moves that turns chatter to conversion. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has been willing to acquire select projects with prestige directors or star-driven packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for platform stickiness when the genre conversation intensifies.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 corridor with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is clear: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, updated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the fall weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, stewarding the film through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then working the year-end corridor to expand. That positioning has been successful for filmmaker-first horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception drives. Keep an eye on 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 together, using limited runs to stir evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Series vs standalone

By volume, 2026 skews toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use franchise value. The caveat, as ever, is overexposure. The go-to fix is to package each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is bringing forward core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a European tilt from a rising filmmaker. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles add 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, casts Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the configuration is assuring enough to build pre-sales and early previews.

Comparable trends from recent years illuminate the plan. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that honored streaming windows did not foreclose this page a hybrid test from winning when the brand was compelling. In 2024, art-forward horror popped Source in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they change 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 two-step approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, provides the means for marketing to tie installments through character arcs and themes and to leave creative active without doldrums.

Creative tendencies and craft

The director conversations behind 2026 horror forecast a continued bias toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that elevates mood and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in long-lead features and department features before rolling out a tone piece that elevates tone over story, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and produces shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta refresh that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster work and world-building, which work nicely for fan-con activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel necessary. Look for trailers that spotlight hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that shine in top rooms.

Calendar cadence

January is stacked. 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 somber counterpoint amid heftier brand moves. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the palette of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth holds.

Q1 into Q2 seed summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil follows September 18, a pre-October slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a opaque tease strategy and limited plot reveals that elevate concept over story.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can win the holiday when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card use.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys 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 loss-struck man’s synthetic partner escalates into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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

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 run into a shimmering 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 difficult boss fight to survive on a lonely island as the power balance turns and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to horror, shaped by Cronin’s hands-on craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting narrative that twists the horror of a child’s mercurial impressions. Rating: rating pending. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-financed and marquee-led paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A spoof revival that needles contemporary horror memes and true crime fixations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. 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 breaks out, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a unlucky family caught in lingering terrors. Rating: pending. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A fresh restart designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-driven horror over action fireworks. Rating: forthcoming. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: undetermined. Production: in progress. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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 antique diction and elemental dread. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. 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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three practical forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or recalendared in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and shorter 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 surpassed straight-to-streaming releases. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, curated scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

The slot calculus is real. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, making room for genre entries that can lead a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will share space across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where lower and mid-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, sound field, and image-making 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, Lined Up To Scare

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is franchise muscle where it helps, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, hold the mystery, and let the shocks sell the seats.