Primeval Evil returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising horror feature, landing Oct 2025 on top streaming platforms

One hair-raising mystic shockfest from screenwriter / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an timeless curse when strangers become conduits in a satanic ordeal. Debuting October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing chronicle of continuance and age-old darkness that will reshape the horror genre this Halloween season. Visualized by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and gothic thriller follows five unacquainted souls who come to trapped in a cut-off lodge under the malignant will of Kyra, a haunted figure claimed by a timeless ancient fiend. Brace yourself to be seized by a cinematic venture that integrates primitive horror with ancestral stories, releasing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a legendary narrative in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is reversed when the dark entities no longer arise from elsewhere, but rather from their core. This suggests the deepest part of the victims. The result is a gripping mind game where the intensity becomes a unforgiving fight between right and wrong.


In a barren natural abyss, five figures find themselves caught under the possessive rule and infestation of a haunted person. As the characters becomes powerless to break her power, detached and tracked by evils beyond comprehension, they are compelled to confront their core terrors while the timeline coldly ticks toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension escalates and bonds collapse, demanding each soul to scrutinize their essence and the principle of liberty itself. The intensity grow with every short lapse, delivering a nightmarish journey that marries mystical fear with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to tap into primitive panic, an malevolence from ancient eras, feeding on our weaknesses, and exposing a spirit that dismantles free will when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra called for internalizing something more primal than sorrow. She is insensitive until the haunting manifests, and that metamorphosis is bone-chilling because it is so unshielded.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for audiences beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—giving users worldwide can face this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its original promo, which has racked up over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, exporting the fear to a global viewership.


Tune in for this life-altering descent into hell. Explore *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to explore these fearful discoveries about inner darkness.


For previews, director cuts, and promotions via the production team, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across entertainment pages and visit our spooky domain.





American horror’s decisive shift: the 2025 season American release plan Mixes biblical-possession ideas, microbudget gut-punches, set against IP aftershocks

Spanning life-or-death fear steeped in biblical myth all the way to installment follow-ups as well as pointed art-house angles, 2025 appears poised to be the most textured plus intentionally scheduled year in the past ten years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. Top studios bookend the months via recognizable brands, simultaneously platform operators flood the fall with new voices and primordial unease. On another front, festival-forward creators is riding the backdraft from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, yet in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are targeted, hence 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The majors are assertive. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal camp fires the first shot with an audacious swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, but a crisp modern milieu. With Leigh Whannell at the helm anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. set for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Guided by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer winds down, the Warner Bros. banner bows the concluding entry from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Though the formula is familiar, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson re teams, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: retrograde shiver, trauma driven plotting, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The stakes escalate here, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, broadens the animatronic terror cast, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It lands in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Firsts: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a close quarters body horror study starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, 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. Before a platform date is locked, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. 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 looks like sharp programming. No overinflated mythology. No canon weight. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy Lines: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, under 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.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Emerging Currents

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror comes roaring back
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. 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. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Near Term Outlook: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The coming 2026 Horror year to come: brand plays, standalone ideas, together with A Crowded Calendar calibrated for nightmares

Dek The brand-new horror cycle packs in short order with a January traffic jam, from there spreads through peak season, and straight through the winter holidays, weaving franchise firepower, original angles, and strategic counterweight. Studios and platforms are embracing tight budgets, theatrical leads, and buzz-forward plans that shape these offerings into culture-wide discussion.

How the genre looks for 2026

Horror has shown itself to be the sturdy play in release plans, a pillar that can lift when it lands and still protect the liability when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year showed top brass that mid-range entries can command cultural conversation, 2024 extended the rally with festival-darling auteurs and surprise hits. The energy fed into 2025, where revived properties and awards-minded projects highlighted there is capacity for varied styles, from brand follow-ups to original features that translate worldwide. The end result for the 2026 slate is a programming that reads highly synchronized across the major shops, with strategic blocks, a equilibrium of established brands and first-time concepts, and a sharpened commitment on theatrical windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium on-demand and subscription services.

Executives say the category now operates like a wildcard on the programming map. Horror can premiere on a wide range of weekends, offer a clean hook for previews and vertical videos, and over-index with viewers that turn out on Thursday nights and stay strong through the next pass if the offering fires. Post a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 cadence underscores conviction in that equation. The slate kicks off with a thick January corridor, then leans on spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while clearing room for a fall corridor that carries into All Hallows period and past Halloween. The grid also shows the deeper integration of boutique distributors and OTT outlets that can stage a platform run, generate chatter, and expand at the right moment.

A second macro trend is IP stewardship across connected story worlds and legacy franchises. Distribution groups are not just producing another entry. They are moving to present threaded continuity with a occasion, whether that is a art treatment that conveys a reframed mood or a lead change that bridges a fresh chapter to a classic era. At the meanwhile, the writer-directors behind the eagerly awaited originals are prioritizing physical effects work, practical effects and specific settings. That mix hands 2026 a robust balance of home base and surprise, which is how the films export.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount leads early with two front-of-slate releases that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, presenting it as both a cross-generational handoff and a classic-mode relationship-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the story approach suggests a nostalgia-forward framework without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push driven by classic imagery, intro reveals, and a tease cadence landing toward late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will spotlight. As a summer contrast play, this one will pursue large awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format inviting quick reframes to whatever drives genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three specific pushes. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is clean, soulful, and easily pitched: a grieving man brings home an digital partner that grows into a perilous partner. The date positions it at the front of a crowded corridor, with marketing at Universal likely to revisit off-kilter promo beats and short reels that interlaces affection and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a official title to become an PR pop closer to the early tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele titles are sold as filmmaker events, with a opaque teaser and a second beat that define feel without revealing the concept. The prime October weekend creates space for Universal to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has proven that a visceral, on-set effects led treatment can feel deluxe on a disciplined budget. Frame it as a grime-caked summer horror jolt that emphasizes global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio books two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, carrying a steady supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is positioning as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both core fans and new audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign pieces around universe detail, and monster design, elements that can accelerate deluxe auditorium demand and community activity.

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 follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by minute detail and archaic language, this time steeped in lycan lore. Focus Features has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is robust.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform tactics for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s releases land on copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a pacing that elevates both initial urgency and sign-up spikes in the tail. Prime Video stitches together third-party pickups with global acquisitions and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data signals it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in library curation, using prominent placements, October hubs, and handpicked rows to stretch the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix retains agility about Netflix originals and festival snaps, dating horror entries closer to drop and coalescing around go-lives with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a paired of tailored theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that turns chatter to conversion. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has proven amenable to buy select projects with prestige directors or star-driven packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for sustained usage when the genre conversation heats up.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 track with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is uncomplicated: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, modernized for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the autumn weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then pressing the December frame to increase reach. That positioning has proved effective for elevated genre with mainstream crossovers. 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 reasonable expectation is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception prompts. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using limited theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Known brands versus new stories

By count, the 2026 slate tips toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on fan equity. The watch-out, as ever, is staleness. The preferred tactic is to present each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is underscoring character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-inflected take from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a island survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the this page title is not based on existing IP, the deal build is comforting enough to generate pre-sales and early previews.

Comps from the last three years announce the method. In 2023, a theater-first model that honored streaming windows did not stop a day-and-date experiment from paying off when the brand was trusted. In 2024, director-craft horror hit big in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they shift POV and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, lets marketing to connect the chapters through character web and themes and to sustain campaign assets without dead zones.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The shop talk behind 2026 horror forecast a continued bias toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that centers atmosphere and fear rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in long-lead press and guild coverage before rolling out a tease that withholds plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and produces shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta pivot that centers an original star. Resident Evil will live or die on monster aesthetics and world-building, which fit with convention activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel essential. Look for trailers that center fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that shine in top rooms.

The schedule at a glance

January is full. 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 brooding contrast amid marquee brands. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the variety of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Pre-summer months prepare summer. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

End of summer through fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil follows September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a minimalist tease strategy and limited plot reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s algorithmic partner grows into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively 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 journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. 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 prickly boss push to survive on a far-flung island as the power balance of power upends and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

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 reconception that returns the monster to dread, based on Cronin’s on-set craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting narrative that frames the panic through a preteen’s volatile inner lens. Rating: to be announced. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-grade and marquee-led supernatural 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 send-up revival that satirizes of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime obsessions. Rating: to be announced. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites ignites, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new clan caught in old terrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survivalist horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: TBD. Production: advancing. 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 period-precise speech and raw menace. Rating: TBA. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a cinema-first path before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026 and why now

Three practical forces organize this lineup. First, production that downshifted or rearranged in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and compressed 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 exceeded straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on social-ready stingers from test screenings, curated scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, freeing space for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will cluster across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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 search for sleepers 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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, sound, and camera work that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Promising 2026

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand gravity where needed, inventive vision where it helps, 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 late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, keep secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.