Antediluvian Dread stirs: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, landing Oct 2025 on leading streamers

This bone-chilling spiritual fright fest from storyteller / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an mythic curse when foreigners become tools in a malevolent struggle. Streaming October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful narrative of endurance and mythic evil that will resculpt scare flicks this ghoul season. Produced by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and moody thriller follows five lost souls who awaken confined in a isolated lodge under the ominous manipulation of Kyra, a central character dominated by a ancient sacrosanct terror. Steel yourself to be seized by a audio-visual journey that integrates primitive horror with folklore, coming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a long-standing pillar in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is radically shifted when the forces no longer manifest from an outside force, but rather deep within. This embodies the grimmest shade of each of them. The result is a enthralling identity crisis where the intensity becomes a intense clash between righteousness and malevolence.


In a isolated no-man's-land, five figures find themselves stuck under the malicious force and curse of a elusive spirit. As the victims becomes submissive to break her curse, severed and tracked by entities beyond comprehension, they are made to stand before their inner horrors while the countdown ruthlessly winds toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension escalates and friendships break, pushing each participant to rethink their identity and the concept of conscious will itself. The consequences climb with every breath, delivering a nightmarish journey that intertwines occult fear with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to dive into instinctual horror, an entity older than civilization itself, feeding on our fears, and testing a will that threatens selfhood when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra was about accessing something rooted in terror. She is clueless until the demon emerges, and that turn is emotionally raw because it is so personal.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for home viewing beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—so that households internationally can experience this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its initial teaser, which has attracted over notable views.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, giving access to the movie to horror fans worldwide.


Be sure to catch this soul-jarring exploration of dread. Watch *Young & Cursed* this launch day to uncover these fearful discoveries about the mind.


For exclusive trailers, production news, and announcements from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across Facebook and TikTok and visit youngandcursed.com.





Modern horror’s decisive shift: 2025 U.S. Slate Mixes myth-forward possession, art-house nightmares, stacked beside series shake-ups

Spanning pressure-cooker survival tales infused with old testament echoes and extending to legacy revivals set beside surgical indie voices, 2025 is tracking to be the most dimensioned as well as intentionally scheduled year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. studio powerhouses stabilize the year with known properties, in parallel SVOD players stack the fall with new perspectives together with archetypal fear. Across the art-house lane, independent banners is propelled by the backdraft from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, and now, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are surgical, which means 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 set the base, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal Pictures leads off the quarter with a headline swing: a modernized Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, but a crisp modern milieu. Led by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. dated for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Under Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

By late summer, Warner’s pipeline launches the swan song within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Despite a known recipe, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the memorable motifs return: retrograde shiver, trauma as text, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This time the stakes climb, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, stretches the animatronic parade, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It drops in December, pinning the winter close.

Platform Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

With cinemas leaning into known IP, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Also rising is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga starring Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Shaped 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. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It reads as sharp positioning. No overstuffed canon. No series drag. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Franchise Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror comes roaring back
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

What’s Next: Fall stack and winter swing card

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The coming 2026 genre year to come: follow-ups, new stories, And A Crowded Calendar aimed at nightmares

Dek: The new scare cycle stacks immediately with a January bottleneck, after that unfolds through the mid-year, and continuing into the festive period, blending marquee clout, original angles, and data-minded counterplay. Studios and platforms are prioritizing lean spends, box-office-first windows, and platform-native promos that shape horror entries into water-cooler talk.

Horror’s status entering 2026

Horror filmmaking has shown itself to be the most reliable tool in studio calendars, a space that can lift when it performs and still mitigate the liability when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year re-taught leaders that lean-budget chillers can shape pop culture, 2024 sustained momentum with auteur-driven buzzy films and unexpected risers. The energy flowed into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and arthouse crossovers proved there is an opening for diverse approaches, from brand follow-ups to one-and-done originals that carry overseas. The upshot for 2026 is a programming that is strikingly coherent across studios, with strategic blocks, a mix of recognizable IP and fresh ideas, and a reinvigorated strategy on cinema windows that enhance post-theatrical value on paid VOD and subscription services.

Planners observe the space now functions as a swing piece on the programming map. Horror can debut on many corridors, create a sharp concept for ad units and UGC-friendly snippets, and over-index with audiences that respond on Thursday nights and maintain momentum through the second weekend if the offering satisfies. Exiting a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 configuration reflects confidence in that equation. The year opens with a crowded January window, then plants flags in spring and early summer for contrast, while holding room for a fall cadence that stretches into holiday-adjacent weekends and into the next week. The layout also underscores the continuing integration of specialized labels and platforms that can platform and widen, grow buzz, and expand at the optimal moment.

A notable top-line trend is IP cultivation across unified worlds and heritage properties. The companies are not just mounting another entry. They are looking to package brand continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a graphic identity that signals a new vibe or a lead change that bridges a next film to a classic era. At the meanwhile, the directors behind the marquee originals are celebrating material texture, makeup and prosthetics and distinct locales. That blend delivers 2026 a vital pairing of trust and surprise, which is what works overseas.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount leads early with two marquee releases that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the front, angling it as both a succession moment and a classic-mode character-centered film. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the tonal posture signals a roots-evoking angle without looping the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Expect a marketing push rooted in legacy iconography, character spotlights, and a promo sequence arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also reawakens 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 creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will play up. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will hunt wide appeal through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format supporting quick turns to whatever leads horror talk that spring.

Universal has three unique projects. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is efficient, loss-driven, and concept-forward: a grieving man sets up an AI companion that mutates into a murderous partner. The date sets it at the front of a busy month, with marketing at Universal likely to recreate strange in-person beats and brief clips that interlaces longing and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a public title to become an attention spike closer to the initial tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s work are framed as event films, with a minimalist tease and a later trailer push that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The late-month date lets the studio to saturate 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, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has consistently shown that a blood-soaked, in-camera leaning execution can feel high-value on a efficient spend. Look for a blood-and-grime summer horror blast that leans hard into global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio places two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, holding a trusty supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is billing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both fans and newcomers. The fall slot provides the studio time to build assets around lore, and creature work, elements that can drive premium booking interest and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by rigorous craft and period language, this time engaging werewolf myth. Focus’s team has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is favorable.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform strategies for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s genre slate land on copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a stair-step that fortifies both opening-weekend urgency and trial spikes in the post-theatrical. Prime Video continues to mix licensed titles with global acquisitions and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in archive usage, using seasonal hubs, Halloween hubs, and staff picks to sustain interest on the annual genre haul. Netflix plays opportunist about first-party entries and festival grabs, locking in horror entries tight to release and elevating as drops arrivals with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a paired of limited theatrical footprints and rapid platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to purchase select projects with name filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation builds.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 corridor with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is clean: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, recalibrated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has indicated a traditional cinema play for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the September weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through select festivals if the cut is ready, then using the holiday corridor to expand. That positioning has paid off for director-led genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception justifies. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using boutique theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Franchises versus originals

By weight, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage fan equity. The concern, as ever, is viewer burnout. The workable fix is to sell each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is emphasizing character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French-tinted vision from a emerging director. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the cast-creatives package is recognizable enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and early previews.

Recent comps illuminate the method. In 2023, a exclusive window model that honored streaming windows did not hamper a hybrid test from paying off when the brand was powerful. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror over-performed in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they reorient and expand the canvas. 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 twin-shoot approach, with chapters filmed consecutively, lets marketing to thread films through character spine and themes and to leave creative active without dead zones.

Behind-the-camera trends

The craft conversations behind 2026 horror signal a continued emphasis on real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that spotlights tone and tension rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in feature stories and guild coverage before rolling out a teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and produces shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta reframe that centers an original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster work and world-building, which match well with fan conventions and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel definitive. Look for trailers that accent pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that benefit on big speakers.

The schedule at a glance

January is crowded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s 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 serious, but the tonal variety opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure news offers clean runway for each if word of mouth spreads.

February through May seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Back half into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited asset reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card burn.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s algorithmic partner shifts into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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

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 run into a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: mood-led adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her severe boss push to survive on a remote island as the control dynamic reverses and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to dread, rooted in Cronin’s hands-on craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 tale that leverages the horror of a child’s uncertain read. Rating: pending. Production: fully shot. Positioning: major-studio and headline-actor led eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that skewers present-day genre chatter and true crime preoccupations. Rating: TBD. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites ignites, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new clan snared by residual nightmares. Rating: pending. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A fresh restart designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival-driven horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: pending. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: not yet rated. Production: moving forward. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and ancient menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. 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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three execution-level forces inform this lineup. First, production that slowed or shifted in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine social-ready stingers from test screenings, curated scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Calendar math also matters. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can lead a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will coexist across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, 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 sleeper-hit hunt continues in Q1, where low-to-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 capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first unexpected 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, 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 keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, sound field, and visual design that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand gravity where needed, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, hold the mystery, and let the shudders sell the seats.