Primordial Dread emerges: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding chiller, rolling out October 2025 on top streamers

This blood-curdling paranormal horror tale from screenwriter / director Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an forgotten horror when guests become tools in a dark ordeal. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving journey of continuance and primeval wickedness that will alter horror this ghoul season. Brought to life by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and gothic story follows five people who arise imprisoned in a hidden wooden structure under the malevolent power of Kyra, a central character claimed by a prehistoric biblical force. Steel yourself to be seized by a visual event that weaves together raw fear with spiritual backstory, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a mainstay narrative in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is reversed when the dark entities no longer descend beyond the self, but rather from within. This represents the deepest facet of each of them. The result is a psychologically brutal inner struggle where the plotline becomes a constant fight between purity and corruption.


In a desolate wild, five figures find themselves contained under the possessive sway and spiritual invasion of a enigmatic figure. As the ensemble becomes paralyzed to withstand her rule, isolated and followed by terrors mind-shattering, they are made to endure their deepest fears while the clock without pause draws closer toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear escalates and teams collapse, driving each individual to reconsider their character and the notion of freedom of choice itself. The stakes accelerate with every heartbeat, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that intertwines paranormal dread with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to awaken raw dread, an presence that existed before mankind, influencing mental cracks, and testing a curse that erodes the self when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra meant channeling something more primal than sorrow. She is blind until the takeover begins, and that change is shocking because it is so emotional.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for on-demand beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—delivering households across the world can face this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its original clip, which has pulled in over strong viewer count.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, extending the thrill to global fright lovers.


Be sure to catch this soul-jarring exploration of dread. Enter *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to experience these ghostly lessons about human nature.


For behind-the-scenes access, production news, and announcements directly from production, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across fan hubs and visit the movie’s homepage.





Current horror’s inflection point: 2025 in focus U.S. lineup interlaces biblical-possession ideas, signature indie scares, together with tentpole growls

Spanning grit-forward survival fare steeped in near-Eastern lore and onward to franchise returns alongside pointed art-house angles, 2025 looks like the genre’s most multifaceted plus intentionally scheduled year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. leading studios stabilize the year with known properties, as OTT services front-load the fall with new perspectives in concert with old-world menace. In parallel, the art-house flank is riding the kinetic energy from a record 2024 festival run. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, though in this cycle, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are precise, therefore 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige terror resurfaces

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s distribution arm leads off the quarter with a big gambit: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, in an immediate now. With Leigh Whannell at the helm with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. dated for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Helmed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer eases, the WB camp bows the concluding entry of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: old school creep, trauma foregrounded, plus otherworld rules that chill. Here the stakes rise, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The next entry deepens the tale, stretches the animatronic parade, reaching teens and game grownups. It arrives in December, locking down the winter tail.

Platform Plays: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend led by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Written and directed by 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. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is an astute call. No puffed out backstory. No legacy baggage. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. 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. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Heritage Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, with Francis Lawrence directing, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Dials to Watch

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror comes roaring back
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Forecast: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

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.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The 2026 genre calendar year ahead: continuations, fresh concepts, plus A Crowded Calendar aimed at nightmares

Dek: The new scare year lines up from day one with a January crush, before it spreads through peak season, and straight through the holidays, weaving name recognition, new voices, and strategic counterprogramming. Studios with streamers are committing to responsible budgets, exclusive theatrical windows first, and buzz-forward plans that position the slate’s entries into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror sector has turned into the dependable play in distribution calendars, a vertical that can grow when it lands and still buffer the liability when it stumbles. After the 2023 year reminded studio brass that mid-range fright engines can drive mainstream conversation, the following year extended the rally with buzzy auteur projects and quiet over-performers. The head of steam rolled into the 2025 frame, where revived properties and filmmaker-prestige bets signaled there is demand for several lanes, from ongoing IP entries to standalone ideas that travel well. The end result for 2026 is a programming that shows rare alignment across the industry, with purposeful groupings, a balance of recognizable IP and new packages, and a revived commitment on exclusive windows that feed downstream value on premium home window and streaming.

Marketers add the space now serves as a versatile piece on the distribution slate. The genre can launch on a wide range of weekends, generate a simple premise for teasers and platform-native cuts, and lead with moviegoers that turn out on opening previews and continue through the subsequent weekend if the offering pays off. Post a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 pattern shows confidence in that dynamic. The slate launches with a weighty January block, then targets spring into early summer for off-slot scheduling, while holding room for a September to October window that carries into Halloween and past Halloween. The gridline also reflects the expanded integration of boutique distributors and SVOD players that can grow from platform, create conversation, and widen at the inflection point.

Another broad trend is series management across unified worlds and veteran brands. The studios are not just producing another return. They are moving to present lore continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a graphic identity that indicates a reframed mood or a casting move that links a next film to a early run. At the alongside this, the auteurs behind the marquee originals are celebrating tactile craft, practical effects and distinct locales. That interplay provides 2026 a smart balance of recognition and freshness, which is what works overseas.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount establishes early momentum with two headline entries that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the focus, signaling it as both a succession moment and a DNA-forward relationship-driven entry. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the authorial approach indicates a throwback-friendly angle without retreading the last two entries’ sibling arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive leaning on legacy iconography, intro reveals, and a two-beat trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

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 set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will feature. As a summer counter-slot, this one will drive wide appeal through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick redirects to whatever defines genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three defined lanes. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is tight, somber, and big-hook: a grieving man implements an algorithmic mate that becomes a dangerous lover. The date sets it at the front of a stacked January, with the studio’s marketing likely to recreate strange in-person beats and short-form creative that fuses affection and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a title drop to become an headline beat closer to the initial tease. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. His entries are sold as director events, with a hinting teaser and a second wave of trailers that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween runway affords Universal to lead 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, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a gnarly, makeup-driven aesthetic can feel high-value on a mid-range budget. Position this as a hard-R summer horror shock that embraces worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio lines up two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, sustaining a steady supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is calling a fresh restart 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 well-defined brief to serve both loyalists and fresh viewers. The fall slot provides the studio time to build promo materials around universe detail, and creature builds, elements that can lift PLF interest and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror driven by rigorous craft and textual fidelity, this time focused on werewolf legend. The label has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is glowing.

Platform lanes and windowing

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal titles transition to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a stair-step that boosts both FOMO and subscription bumps in the late-window. Prime Video blends licensed content with cross-border buys and brief theater runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in back-catalog play, using timely promos, genre hubs, and programmed rows to prolong the run on the 2026 genre total. Netflix stays opportunistic about own-slate titles and festival additions, dating horror entries near their drops and turning into events releases with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a dual-phase of tailored theatrical exposure and fast windowing that monetizes buzz via trials. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters great post to read January 23, 2026, before leaning on horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a curated basis. The platform has shown appetite to buy select projects with acclaimed directors or marquee packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for platform stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 lane with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is no-nonsense: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, retooled for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the fall weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday dates to expand. That positioning has paid off for prestige horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception drives. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using limited theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their user base.

Series vs standalone

By weight, the 2026 slate bends toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on franchise value. The risk, as ever, is brand erosion. The practical approach is to pitch each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is elevating core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-inflected take from a ascendant talent. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the team and cast is comforting enough to drive advance ticketing and first-night audiences.

Recent-year comps help explain the method. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that held distribution windows did not stop a day-and-date experiment from performing when the brand was powerful. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror hit big in PLF. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they pivot perspective and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters lensed back-to-back, enables marketing to tie installments through character spine and themes and to keep assets alive without extended gaps.

Technique and craft currents

The creative meetings behind this year’s genre signal a continued tilt toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that centers mood and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and earns shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a self-aware reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature execution and sets, which work nicely for fan conventions and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel essential. Look for trailers that emphasize disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that work in PLF.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is packed. 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 foggy reset amid heftier brand moves. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the tonal variety opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

Winter into spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Back half into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a shoulder season window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a minimalist tease strategy and limited plot reveals that favor idea over plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and holiday gift-card burn.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s intelligent companion evolves into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot 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 finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: aura-driven 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 demanding boss scramble to survive on a far-flung island as the power dynamic turns and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. 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 kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to dread, anchored by Cronin’s tactile craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting piece that teases the dread of a child’s tricky perspective. Rating: TBA. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that teases contemporary horror memes and true crime preoccupations. Rating: to be announced. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a young family entangled with residual nightmares. Rating: to be announced. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA horror publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for classic survival-horror tone over action fireworks. Rating: undetermined. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: undetermined. Production: ongoing. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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 ancient menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three hands-on forces frame this lineup. First, production that eased or rearranged in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming releases. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine shareable moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Calendar math also matters. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can own a weekend outright 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 satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on 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 sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The underdog chase continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 capitalize on those pockets. 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. 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 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 maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, disciplined footprints, 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 materiality, audio design, and picture that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Looks Exciting

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is IP strength where it matters, original vision where it matters, 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-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the shocks sell the seats.