Ancient Evil rises: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling supernatural thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on top streaming platforms

An terrifying metaphysical suspense story from author / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an mythic malevolence when outsiders become vehicles in a devilish contest. Streaming October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish portrayal of resistance and timeless dread that will alter terror storytelling this scare season. Guided by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and claustrophobic screenplay follows five young adults who snap to ensnared in a isolated cabin under the malignant command of Kyra, a mysterious girl possessed by a timeless Old Testament spirit. Ready yourself to be enthralled by a audio-visual outing that melds raw fear with spiritual backstory, coming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a legendary concept in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is subverted when the fiends no longer manifest from an outside force, but rather from deep inside. This represents the haunting corner of these individuals. The result is a edge-of-seat emotional conflict where the narrative becomes a soul-crushing struggle between light and darkness.


In a isolated backcountry, five youths find themselves trapped under the sinister influence and possession of a uncanny being. As the team becomes unable to withstand her control, disconnected and preyed upon by entities unfathomable, they are forced to stand before their core terrors while the deathwatch relentlessly pushes forward toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread builds and friendships erode, pushing each protagonist to doubt their character and the structure of independent thought itself. The cost mount with every second, delivering a chilling narrative that marries unearthly horror with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to uncover elemental fright, an force that existed before mankind, feeding on emotional fractures, and highlighting a evil that dismantles free will when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra demanded embodying something past sanity. She is insensitive until the haunting manifests, and that change is terrifying because it is so personal.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be available for public screening beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—making sure customers worldwide can get immersed in this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its first trailer, which has been viewed over strong viewer count.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, making the film to horror fans worldwide.


Make sure to see this gripping descent into darkness. Join *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to see these evil-rooted truths about our species.


For sneak peeks, production news, and alerts from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursed across media channels and visit our film’s homepage.





Contemporary horror’s pivotal crossroads: the year 2025 U.S. lineup Mixes old-world possession, signature indie scares, alongside brand-name tremors

Spanning fight-to-live nightmare stories suffused with primordial scripture and including installment follow-ups alongside cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is emerging as horror’s most layered paired with strategic year in years.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. top-tier distributors hold down the year with known properties, in tandem platform operators front-load the fall with new voices and mythic dread. In parallel, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is catching the carry of a peak 2024 circuit. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The fall stretch is the proving field, notably this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are disciplined, therefore 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: High-craft horror returns

The top end is active. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s slate opens the year with a headline swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, inside today’s landscape. Steered by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Slated for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. From director Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

When summer fades, the WB camp unveils the final movement from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: retrograde shiver, trauma explicitly handled, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This run ups the stakes, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It books December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Offerings: Modest spend, serious shock

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a sealed box body horror arc with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Also notable is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Written and helmed 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 nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. That is a savvy move. No overstuffed canon. No canon weight. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. 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. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy IP: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, with Francis Lawrence directing, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

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

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror comes roaring back
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Big screen is a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Season Ahead: Fall crush plus winter X factor

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The 2026 Horror lineup: returning titles, universe starters, as well as A packed Calendar tailored for nightmares

Dek: The new terror calendar builds early with a January cluster, and then unfolds through summer, and pushing into the holiday stretch, combining marquee clout, novel approaches, and shrewd offsets. Studios with streamers are betting on smart costs, big-screen-first runs, and buzz-forward plans that elevate horror entries into broad-appeal conversations.

How the genre looks for 2026

Horror has proven to be the predictable tool in release strategies, a segment that can grow when it lands and still protect the drawdown when it doesn’t. After 2023 signaled to strategy teams that cost-conscious pictures can steer the discourse, the following year extended the rally with buzzy auteur projects and slow-burn breakouts. The trend translated to 2025, where revivals and prestige plays highlighted there is an opening for different modes, from sequel tracks to non-IP projects that travel well. The sum for the 2026 slate is a calendar that feels more orchestrated than usual across the major shops, with strategic blocks, a pairing of brand names and new packages, and a recommitted commitment on big-screen windows that power the aftermarket on premium video on demand and SVOD.

Schedulers say the category now behaves like a wildcard on the rollout map. The genre can premiere on almost any weekend, furnish a sharp concept for ad units and TikTok spots, and punch above weight with moviegoers that respond on Thursday nights and hold through the next weekend if the offering hits. Following a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 layout underscores trust in that engine. The slate rolls out with a busy January block, then primes spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while reserving space for a autumn push that stretches into All Hallows period and beyond. The grid also highlights the stronger partnership of arthouse labels and subscription services that can launch in limited release, ignite recommendations, and widen at the optimal moment.

A parallel macro theme is series management across brand ecosystems and legacy IP. The companies are not just producing another next film. They are moving to present lore continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a typeface approach that indicates a fresh attitude or a cast configuration that links a incoming chapter to a vintage era. At the same time, the auteurs behind the eagerly awaited originals are doubling down on on-set craft, practical effects and concrete locations. That alloy affords the 2026 slate a smart balance of comfort and newness, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount leads early with two front-of-slate plays that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the core, angling it as both a handoff and a back-to-basics character piece. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the creative posture hints at a nostalgia-forward mode without replaying the last two entries’ sisters thread. The studio is likely to mount a drive rooted in franchise iconography, early character teases, and a trailer cadence landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will play up. As a summer counter-slot, this one will generate large awareness through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format enabling quick adjustments to whatever owns the social talk that spring.

Universal has three differentiated entries. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is clean, loss-driven, and premise-first: a grieving man implements an algorithmic mate that grows into a perilous partner. The date puts it at the front of a thick month, with marketing at Universal likely to reprise off-kilter promo beats and short-form creative that fuses attachment and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a name unveil to become an PR pop closer to the first look. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele projects are presented as auteur events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second wave of trailers that signal tone without plot the concept. The spooky-season slot affords Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has consistently shown that a tactile, physical-effects centered method can feel big on a moderate cost. Position this horror as a splatter summer horror rush that spotlights offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio mounts two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, keeping a evergreen supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is selling as a clean-slate approach 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 diehards and newcomers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign creative around setting detail, and monster aesthetics, elements that can amplify premium screens and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward the filmmaker’s run of period horror grounded in historical precision and dialect, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus Features has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is warm.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Digital strategies for 2026 run on established tracks. The Universal horror run head to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a ordering that fortifies both first-week urgency and subscription bumps in the later phase. Prime Video stitches together licensed titles with world buys and short theatrical plays when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library pulls, using editorial spots, seasonal hubs, and staff picks to extend momentum on the annual genre haul. Netflix retains agility about internal projects and festival acquisitions, securing horror entries tight to release and framing as events arrivals with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a dual-phase of precision releases and short jumps to platform that translates talk to trials. That will be meaningful 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+ keeps selective horror on a per-project basis. The platform has proven amenable to take on select projects with top-tier auteurs or star-driven packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for monthly activity when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is curating 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 sell is tight: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, updated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a big-screen first plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the autumn weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, piloting the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then leveraging the year-end corridor to widen. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-first horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception drives. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using select theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Franchise entries versus originals

By number, 2026 is weighted toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on name recognition. The concern, as ever, is overexposure. The operating solution is to brand each entry as a new angle. Paramount is leading with character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-inflected take from a new voice. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and talent-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the bundle is known enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and preview-night turnout.

The last three-year set frame the logic. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that observed windows did not hamper a dual release from delivering when the brand was compelling. In 2024, director-craft horror surged in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they alter lens and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward 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 sequentially, permits marketing to interlace chapters through protagonists and motifs and to leave creative active without dead zones.

Technique and craft currents

The filmmaking conversations behind these films forecast a continued lean toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that elevates unease and texture rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in craft journalism and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that leans on mood over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and gathers shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a self-aware reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster aesthetics and world-building, which play well in fan-con activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel compelling. Look for trailers that highlight razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that explode in larger rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is busy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid heavier IP. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the tonal variety makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth endures.

Q1 into Q2 set up the summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

End of summer through fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a bridge slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited disclosures that lean on concept not plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and holiday gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s machine mate becomes something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss fight to survive on a isolated island as the power balance inverts 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 kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to terror, driven by Cronin’s tactile craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting story that mediates the fear via a youngster’s unreliable inner lens. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-scale and A-list fronted supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that lampoons hot-button genre motifs and true-crime crazes. Rating: to be announced. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites breaks out, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a young family bound to past horrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A restart designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward true survival horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: pending. Production: in progress. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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 era-faithful speech and ancient menace. Rating: to be announced. 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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three grounded forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that paused or migrated in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming releases. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, metered scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can seize a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will stack across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 lean-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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate 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 grain, acoustics, 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.

2026 Shapes Up Strong

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand gravity where needed, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 useful reference will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the chills sell the seats.