Antediluvian Terror rises: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling horror feature, bowing Oct 2025 on major streaming services

This chilling unearthly terror film from narrative craftsman / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an archaic evil when unknowns become instruments in a hellish conflict. Premiering on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking journey of resistance and primeval wickedness that will reshape the fear genre this harvest season. Realized by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and emotionally thick feature follows five lost souls who find themselves stranded in a wooded wooden structure under the dark manipulation of Kyra, a possessed female inhabited by a prehistoric holy text monster. Ready yourself to be hooked by a filmic presentation that merges bone-deep fear with ancestral stories, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a historical element in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is radically shifted when the malevolences no longer develop outside the characters, but rather from deep inside. This illustrates the haunting layer of the group. The result is a bone-chilling internal warfare where the tension becomes a relentless struggle between light and darkness.


In a forsaken wilderness, five campers find themselves contained under the ghastly sway and infestation of a haunted character. As the cast becomes helpless to evade her power, left alone and chased by presences unnamable, they are compelled to wrestle with their greatest panics while the deathwatch ruthlessly moves toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear escalates and ties crack, urging each member to contemplate their existence and the notion of freedom of choice itself. The consequences amplify with every second, delivering a terror ride that connects occult fear with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to tap into elemental fright, an darkness older than civilization itself, embedding itself in mental cracks, and questioning a curse that questions who we are when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra needed manifesting something deeper than fear. She is ignorant until the invasion happens, and that turn is bone-chilling because it is so personal.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for horror fans beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring fans internationally can be part of this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its release of trailer #1, which has been viewed over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, extending the thrill to scare fans abroad.


Join this unforgettable journey into fear. Enter *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to survive these evil-rooted truths about the psyche.


For cast commentary, set experiences, and alerts from the cast and crew, follow @YACFilm across entertainment pages and visit the official digital haunt.





Horror’s watershed moment: the 2025 season domestic schedule fuses old-world possession, signature indie scares, plus franchise surges

From pressure-cooker survival tales rooted in primordial scripture and stretching into series comebacks as well as surgical indie voices, 2025 appears poised to be the most complex along with carefully orchestrated year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. leading studios plant stakes across the year with known properties, concurrently premium streamers saturate the fall with fresh voices as well as archetypal fear. At the same time, the art-house flank is propelled by the momentum of a peak 2024 circuit. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, though in this cycle, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are calculated, which means 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige fear returns

The top end is active. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal Pictures kicks off the frame with a statement play: a contemporary Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, but a crisp modern milieu. Led by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. arriving 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 translation rendered as pared-down fear. Helmed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

When summer fades, the WB camp bows the concluding entry inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson returns, and the tone that worked before is intact: retro dread, trauma as text, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This time, the stakes are raised, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, stretches the animatronic parade, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It arrives in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streamer Exclusives: Slim budgets, major punch

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a tight space body horror vignette led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is virtually assured for fall.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly 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 engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped 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. That is a savvy move. No swollen lore. No brand fatigue. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Long Running Lines: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, steered by 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.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Key Trends

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror swings back
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Laurels convert to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Season Ahead: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The forthcoming 2026 scare calendar year ahead: installments, standalone ideas, plus A Crowded Calendar aimed at chills

Dek The brand-new genre slate crowds from the jump with a January cluster, then runs through June and July, and well into the late-year period, balancing franchise firepower, untold stories, and savvy release strategy. The major players are doubling down on smart costs, theatrical exclusivity first, and influencer-ready assets that turn these pictures into mainstream chatter.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The horror marketplace has become the consistent option in release strategies, a pillar that can break out when it breaks through and still safeguard the drawdown when it falls short. After 2023 proved to decision-makers that cost-conscious pictures can dominate cultural conversation, the following year extended the rally with visionary-driven titles and under-the-radar smashes. The energy flowed into 2025, where legacy revivals and premium-leaning entries made clear there is demand for several lanes, from continued chapters to non-IP projects that export nicely. The end result for 2026 is a programming that presents tight coordination across distributors, with defined corridors, a pairing of familiar brands and new pitches, and a renewed focus on box-office windows that fuel later windows on PVOD and subscription services.

Executives say the genre now serves as a versatile piece on the schedule. The genre can open on nearly any frame, offer a simple premise for previews and social clips, and overperform with viewers that lean in on Thursday previews and keep coming through the subsequent weekend if the film connects. Exiting a production delay era, the 2026 pattern shows faith in that playbook. The calendar opens with a weighty January block, then primes spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while saving space for a fall corridor that pushes into the fright window and into the next week. The calendar also illustrates the expanded integration of arthouse labels and SVOD players that can platform a title, create conversation, and widen at the precise moment.

A companion trend is brand curation across ongoing universes and established properties. The players are not just rolling another follow-up. They are trying to present threaded continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a brandmark that broadcasts a new vibe or a casting choice that ties a latest entry to a heyday. At the parallel to that, the directors behind the eagerly awaited originals are favoring in-camera technique, practical gags and site-specific worlds. That mix produces 2026 a confident blend of assurance and newness, which is what works overseas.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount opens strong with two prominent pushes that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the center, marketing it as both a cross-generational handoff and a classic-mode relationship-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture indicates a roots-evoking framework without replaying the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Look for a marketing run built on recognizable motifs, intro reveals, and a tiered teaser plan hitting 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 reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will stress. As a counterweight in summer, this one will go after general-audience talk through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format inviting quick reframes to whatever owns the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three specific pushes. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is elegant, grief-rooted, and concept-forward: a grieving man brings home an algorithmic mate that turns into a fatal companion. The date positions it at the front of a front-loaded month, with marketing at Universal likely to renew odd public stunts and short-cut promos that threads longing and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title reveal to become an attention spike closer to the first look. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s Young & Cursed untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele projects are marketed as signature events, with a opaque teaser and a later trailer push that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date opens a lane to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage 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 directs, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a blood-soaked, in-camera leaning treatment can feel big on a efficient spend. Look for a splatter summer horror shock that emphasizes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio sets two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, extending a proven supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is billing as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both longtime followers and newcomers. The fall slot lets Sony to build artifacts around narrative world, and monster aesthetics, elements that can stoke PLF interest and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in rigorous craft and language, this time set against lycan legends. The label has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is positive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform strategies for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s slate window into copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a tiered path that elevates both opening-weekend urgency and sign-up spikes in the back half. Prime Video blends catalogue additions with worldwide buys and limited cinema engagements when the data points to it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in catalog discovery, using in-app campaigns, genre hubs, and collection rows to keep attention on lifetime take. Netflix stays opportunistic about originals and festival grabs, finalizing horror entries near their drops and making event-like premieres with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a staged of targeted cinema placements and swift platform pivots that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a per-project basis. The platform has indicated interest to buy select projects with recognized filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation heats up.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 sequence with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is tight: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, elevated for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a cinema-first plan for the title, an good sign for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the September weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through select festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the year-end corridor to move out. That positioning has delivered for filmmaker-first horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception allows. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using limited runs to kindle evangelism that fuels their membership.

Series vs standalone

By tilt, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit franchise value. The question, as ever, is staleness. The preferred tactic is to package each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is leading with character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is floating a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-tinted vision from a rising filmmaker. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and auteur plays provide the air. 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, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the assembly is steady enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Comps from the last three years illuminate the logic. In 2023, a exclusive window model that respected streaming windows did not block a day-date try from winning when the brand was compelling. In 2024, auteur craft horror exceeded expectations in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they alter lens and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances 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 lensed back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to bridge entries through character arcs and themes and to leave creative active without doldrums.

Creative tendencies and craft

The craft rooms behind the upcoming entries signal a continued shift toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that leans on aura and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in long-lead press and artisan spotlights before rolling out a first look that elevates tone over story, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at red-band excess, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and sparks shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a self-referential reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature execution and sets, which match well with booth activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel must-have. Look for trailers that foreground precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that land in premium houses.

Release calendar overview

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. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid bigger brand plays. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the tone spread opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

Early-year through spring build the summer base. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can thrive 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 rolled through premiums.

End of summer through fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a shoulder season window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited plot reveals that favor idea over plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can play the holidays when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and holiday gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s digital partner evolves into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human 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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 struggle to survive on a desolate island as the chain of command shifts and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to menace, based on Cronin’s practical effects and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting setup that frames the panic through a minor’s uneven personal vantage. Rating: TBD. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A satirical comeback that pokes at present-day genre chatter and true-crime obsessions. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites flares, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further extends again, with a another family bound to older hauntings. Rating: not yet rated. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: pending. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival-driven horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: TBD. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: moving forward. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 time-true diction and primordial menace. Rating: pending. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026, why now

Three workable forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that eased or recalendared in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often are set in this page fewer locales, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine social-ready stingers from test screenings, managed scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will jostle across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where disciplined-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 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.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two 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 bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, 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 Is Well Positioned

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. 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 late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, keep secrets, and let the frights sell the seats.