Antediluvian Evil Rises in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nightmare fueled supernatural thriller, bowing October 2025 across leading streamers

This unnerving mystic scare-fest from storyteller / director Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an prehistoric fear when drifters become subjects in a dark ordeal. Debuting this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing saga of perseverance and mythic evil that will redefine horror this autumn. Directed by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and shadowy feature follows five characters who wake up stuck in a secluded wooden structure under the unfriendly control of Kyra, a young woman claimed by a prehistoric religious nightmare. Get ready to be enthralled by a screen-based display that merges bone-deep fear with folklore, unleashing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a classic narrative in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is reimagined when the forces no longer develop outside their bodies, but rather from deep inside. This illustrates the deepest corner of all involved. The result is a riveting spiritual tug-of-war where the story becomes a unyielding conflict between heaven and hell.


In a unforgiving landscape, five friends find themselves stuck under the sinister aura and control of a obscure female presence. As the ensemble becomes powerless to combat her grasp, exiled and hunted by evils impossible to understand, they are confronted to face their inner horrors while the countdown mercilessly pushes forward toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion amplifies and bonds fracture, coercing each survivor to doubt their self and the concept of personal agency itself. The tension grow with every second, delivering a terror ride that intertwines otherworldly suspense with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to channel pure dread, an threat beyond time, emerging via psychological breaks, and wrestling with a will that peels away humanity when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra asked for exploring something rooted in terror. She is unaware until the evil takes hold, and that change is emotionally raw because it is so intimate.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for public screening beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—so that households around the globe can watch this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its release of trailer #1, which has earned over strong viewer count.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, extending the thrill to a global viewership.


Witness this cinematic descent into hell. Experience *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to survive these fearful discoveries about mankind.


For bonus footage, set experiences, and updates directly from production, follow @YACMovie across media channels and visit the movie’s homepage.





Current horror’s inflection point: the 2025 cycle domestic schedule blends myth-forward possession, independent shockers, set against franchise surges

Across last-stand terror infused with primordial scripture and including returning series and incisive indie visions, 2025 is lining up as the most dimensioned paired with tactically planned year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. Top studios hold down the year with franchise anchors, concurrently subscription platforms crowd the fall with debut heat plus scriptural shivers. In parallel, independent banners is riding the backdraft of 2024’s record festival wave. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the other windows are mapped with care. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, notably this year, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are intentional, accordingly 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s slate opens the year with a marquee bet: a refreshed Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, instead in a current-day frame. Steered by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. dated for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Eli Craig directs including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

By late summer, Warner’s pipeline unveils the final movement from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Granted the structure is classic, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re engages, and those signature textures resurface: retrograde shiver, trauma explicitly handled, with ghostly inner logic. This time, the stakes are raised, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, speaking to teens and older millennials. It books December, locking down the winter tail.

Platform Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a close quarters body horror study pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. 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 platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It reads as sharp positioning. No heavy handed lore. No continuity burden. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, guided by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

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.

Trends Worth Watching

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror swings back
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Outlook: Fall stack and winter swing card

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The approaching chiller slate: Sequels, standalone ideas, paired with A loaded Calendar optimized for jolts

Dek: The brand-new genre slate packs early with a January bottleneck, before it stretches through the warm months, and carrying into the festive period, combining name recognition, creative pitches, and shrewd release strategy. The big buyers and platforms are relying on lean spends, theatrical leads, and viral-minded pushes that shape these releases into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror sector has established itself as the sturdy counterweight in studio lineups, a pillar that can surge when it catches and still buffer the exposure when it does not. After the 2023 year demonstrated to decision-makers that responsibly budgeted scare machines can own the discourse, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with visionary-driven titles and unexpected risers. The head of steam pushed into 2025, where re-entries and awards-minded projects confirmed there is a market for diverse approaches, from brand follow-ups to fresh IP that export nicely. The takeaway for 2026 is a grid that looks unusually coordinated across studios, with purposeful groupings, a pairing of household franchises and fresh ideas, and a tightened strategy on release windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium digital rental and home streaming.

Executives say the space now slots in as a versatile piece on the schedule. Horror can open on many corridors, provide a quick sell for trailers and short-form placements, and over-index with demo groups that appear on Thursday nights and continue through the follow-up frame if the film fires. Coming out of a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 configuration exhibits assurance in that engine. The year starts with a loaded January stretch, then taps spring and early summer for audience offsets, while saving space for a September to October window that stretches into the fright window and into November. The program also features the deeper integration of indie arms and streaming partners that can grow from platform, generate chatter, and roll out at the timely point.

A parallel macro theme is IP cultivation across brand ecosystems and legacy franchises. The companies are not just pushing another sequel. They are seeking to position threaded continuity with a specialness, whether that is a title presentation that announces a recalibrated tone or a casting move that anchors a incoming chapter to a initial period. At the same time, the creative leads behind the most buzzed-about originals are leaning into hands-on technique, physical gags and distinct locales. That blend affords 2026 a healthy mix of home base and unexpected turns, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount fires first with two headline moves that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the spine, setting it up as both a cross-generational handoff and a classic-mode character-driven entry. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the story approach suggests a memory-charged angle without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Plan for a rollout rooted in legacy iconography, intro reveals, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

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 reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will play up. As a summer counter-slot, this one will chase general-audience talk through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick redirects to whatever shapes the social talk that spring.

Universal has three unique pushes. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is clean, heartbroken, and easily pitched: a grieving man sets up an intelligent companion that grows into a harmful mate. The date sets it at the front of a front-loaded month, with the marketing arm likely to revisit viral uncanny stunts and short-cut promos that fuses love and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a proper title to become an PR pop 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 takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. The filmmaker’s films are branded as marquee events, with a concept-forward tease and a next wave of trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The late-month date affords Universal to dominate 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, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has consistently shown that a flesh-and-blood, physical-effects centered strategy can feel elevated on a tight budget. Expect a red-band summer horror jolt that leans hard into international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio mounts two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, continuing a bankable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts 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 diehards and new audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build assets around universe detail, and creature builds, elements that can lift PLF interest and fan events.

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 Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in obsessive craft and dialect, this time engaging werewolf myth. Focus Features has already set the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform tactics for 2026 run on familiar rails. The studio’s horror films window into copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a tiered path that elevates both premiere heat and sign-up momentum in the after-window. Prime Video combines outside acquisitions with cross-border buys and brief theater runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library curation, using curated hubs, genre hubs, and handpicked rows to maximize the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix stays nimble about own-slate titles and festival grabs, finalizing horror entries on shorter runways and framing as events launches with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a staged of limited theatrical footprints and quick platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to invest in select projects with acclaimed directors or marquee packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation surges.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 slate with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is clean: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, reimagined for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the September weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday corridor to go wider. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-driven genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception encourages. Look for 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 jointly, using boutique theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their user base.

Balance of brands and originals

By proportion, 2026 tips toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness fan equity. The potential drawback, as ever, is overexposure. The pragmatic answer is to brand each entry as a new angle. Paramount is spotlighting character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a Francophone tone from a new voice. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and director-driven titles add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the deal build is grounded enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Rolling three-year comps help explain the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that kept streaming intact did not preclude a day-date move from working when the brand was potent. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror hit big in PLF. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel new when they shift POV and grow scope. 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 back-to-back plan, with chapters shot consecutively, enables marketing to connect the chapters through personae and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without long breaks.

Behind-the-camera trends

The craft rooms behind these films indicate a continued bias toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that foregrounds creep and texture rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in long-lead press and artisan spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and drives shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a self-aware reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature craft and set design, which lend themselves to convention floor stunts and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel essential. Look for trailers that elevate precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that land in big rooms.

Release calendar overview

January is stacked. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid macro-brand pushes. 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 formidable, but the palette of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth persists.

Late winter and spring prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The 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 spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Late-season stretch leans brand. 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 bridge slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited advance reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

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

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s machine mate shifts into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. 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 abrasive boss fight to survive on a remote island as the power dynamic upends and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

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 renewed vision that returns the monster to chill, rooted in Cronin’s practical craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting setup that manipulates the chill of a child’s uncertain perspective. Rating: forthcoming. Production: completed. 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 re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that needles in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime obsessions. Rating: TBD. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites spreads, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new household lashed to old terrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on pure survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: to be announced. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: undetermined. Production: proceeding. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and elemental menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026 and why now

Three execution-level forces define this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or reshuffled in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming landings. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, clearing runway for genre entries that can control a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will jostle 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 benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where lower and mid-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to use those gaps. 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. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a check my blog willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run 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 icy, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, sonics, and framing that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand equity where it matters, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, keep the secrets, and let the shocks sell the seats.