Age-old Evil emerges: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding shocker, streaming October 2025 across top digital platforms

A haunting spectral shockfest from writer / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an primordial curse when unfamiliar people become subjects in a dark ordeal. Streaming this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful saga of living through and primeval wickedness that will redefine fear-driven cinema this scare season. Realized by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and moody fearfest follows five young adults who are stirred isolated in a hidden lodge under the ominous command of Kyra, a mysterious girl controlled by a two-thousand-year-old biblical force. Be prepared to be gripped by a big screen experience that weaves together gut-punch terror with mystical narratives, streaming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a classic narrative in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is reimagined when the forces no longer develop outside their bodies, but rather inside them. This symbolizes the most sinister element of these individuals. The result is a enthralling spiritual tug-of-war where the suspense becomes a ongoing clash between virtue and vice.


In a isolated wild, five campers find themselves stuck under the malevolent effect and infestation of a shadowy woman. As the youths becomes defenseless to evade her dominion, disconnected and stalked by evils unimaginable, they are cornered to battle their greatest panics while the hours harrowingly winds toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease swells and bonds implode, compelling each member to question their values and the principle of independent thought itself. The risk surge with every beat, delivering a terror ride that integrates ghostly evil with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to awaken primitive panic, an malevolence from prehistory, manifesting in inner turmoil, and exposing a darkness that threatens selfhood when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra meant channeling something outside normal anguish. She is uninformed until the haunting manifests, and that change is soul-crushing because it is so internal.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for on-demand beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing watchers in all regions can be part of this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its original promo, which has seen over a viral response.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, extending the thrill to international horror buffs.


Make sure to see this haunted voyage through terror. Experience *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to confront these ghostly lessons about inner darkness.


For film updates, special features, and press updates from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across fan hubs and visit our film’s homepage.





American horror’s tipping point: 2025 in focus domestic schedule braids together primeval-possession lore, art-house nightmares, plus Franchise Rumbles

Across life-or-death fear infused with mythic scripture and onward to canon extensions and acutely observed indies, 2025 appears poised to be the genre’s most multifaceted combined with deliberate year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. studio powerhouses set cornerstones with familiar IP, even as premium streamers flood the fall with debut heat as well as archetypal fear. In the indie lane, the artisan tier is drafting behind the tailwinds from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, and now, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are disciplined, and 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige fear returns

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s schedule opens the year with a confident swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, inside today’s landscape. From director Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. dated for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Under Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s pipeline releases the last chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. While the template is known, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

The Black Phone 2 follows. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson re boards, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: vintage toned fear, trauma as text, plus otherworld rules that chill. The stakes escalate here, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The new chapter enriches the lore, thickens the animatronic pantheon, bridging teens and legacy players. It posts in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Digital Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While theaters lean on names and sequels, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a body horror duet with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Written and directed 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. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is a clever angle. No overinflated mythology. No continuity burden. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

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

Series Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, with Francis Lawrence directing, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Emerging Currents

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror resurges
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
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

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 including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

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 mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The new fear Year Ahead: entries, filmmaker-first projects, paired with A jammed Calendar designed for chills

Dek The fresh genre calendar stacks at the outset with a January pile-up, after that flows through the summer months, and continuing into the late-year period, mixing IP strength, creative pitches, and data-minded alternatives. Studio marketers and platforms are prioritizing right-sized spends, theater-first strategies, and viral-minded pushes that elevate these pictures into national conversation.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The horror marketplace has proven to be the consistent lever in studio lineups, a vertical that can accelerate when it connects and still mitigate the exposure when it stumbles. After 2023 signaled to leaders that low-to-mid budget pictures can lead mainstream conversation, 2024 carried the beat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and under-the-radar smashes. The tailwind extended into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and arthouse crossovers made clear there is a market for a variety of tones, from legacy continuations to filmmaker-driven originals that export nicely. The takeaway for 2026 is a calendar that seems notably aligned across the industry, with strategic blocks, a equilibrium of household franchises and new packages, and a sharpened commitment on release windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium on-demand and OTT platforms.

Executives say the genre now operates like a swing piece on the schedule. Horror can launch on most weekends, deliver a grabby hook for trailers and UGC-friendly snippets, and outstrip with audiences that arrive on advance nights and keep coming through the next pass if the movie satisfies. In the wake of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 mapping reflects faith in that setup. The calendar kicks off with a stacked January lineup, then taps spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while clearing room for a fall corridor that connects to All Hallows period and into the next week. The grid also illustrates the ongoing integration of indie arms and digital platforms that can build gradually, create conversation, and move wide at the strategic time.

A further high-level trend is franchise tending across shared universes and legacy franchises. The players are not just greenlighting another continuation. They are moving to present lineage with a headline quality, whether that is a art treatment that telegraphs a reframed mood or a casting choice that threads a fresh chapter to a heyday. At the same time, the helmers behind the most anticipated originals are prioritizing real-world builds, in-camera effects and grounded locations. That convergence produces 2026 a solid mix of comfort and freshness, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount plants an early flag with two centerpiece pushes that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the focus, signaling it as both a lineage transfer and a rootsy character piece. Production is active in Atlanta, and the directional approach telegraphs a legacy-leaning approach without going over the last two entries’ family thread. Watch for a push leaning on classic imagery, first-look character reveals, and a tiered teaser plan hitting late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will play up. As a summer contrast play, this one will drive wide appeal through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format making room for quick adjustments to whatever owns the social talk that spring.

Universal has three specific lanes. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is elegant, heartbroken, and big-hook: a grieving man onboards an virtual partner that mutates into a perilous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a thick month, with Universal’s team likely to iterate on strange in-person beats and quick hits that hybridizes longing and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be 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 permits a name unveil to become an teaser payoff closer to the initial tease. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. His entries are set up as must-see filmmaker statements, with a hinting teaser and a second wave of trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The late-month date gives Universal room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has made clear that a tactile, physical-effects centered mix can feel prestige on a tight budget. Expect a red-band summer horror blast that leans hard into overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio places two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, extending a trusty supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is framing as a from-the-ground-up reboot 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 players and curious audiences. The fall slot allows Sony to build artifacts around setting detail, and creature effects, elements that can boost premium booking interest and convention buzz.

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 builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by minute detail and textual fidelity, this time set against lycan legends. The company has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is glowing.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform plans for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre slate head to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a sequence that optimizes both first-week urgency and trial spikes in the back half. Prime Video continues to mix licensed titles with international acquisitions and limited cinema engagements when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in catalog discovery, using well-timed internal promotions, horror hubs, and curated strips to maximize the tail on aggregate take. Netflix stays opportunistic about first-party entries and festival acquisitions, scheduling horror entries closer to launch and staging as events arrivals with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a laddered of targeted theatrical exposure and swift platform pivots that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a discrete basis. The platform has been willing to take on select projects with name filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for retention when the genre conversation surges.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 arc 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 direct: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, upgraded for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the late stretch.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday slot to open out. That positioning has been successful for arthouse horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception warrants. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using limited runs to jump-start evangelism that fuels their subs.

Franchises versus originals

By proportion, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on name recognition. The potential drawback, as ever, is audience fatigue. The operating solution is to market each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is emphasizing character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a European tilt from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the cast-creatives package is familiar enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday previews.

Rolling three-year comps help explain the plan. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that observed windows did not stop a day-date move from delivering when the brand was sticky. In 2024, precision craft horror over-performed in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they reorient and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends 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 back-to-back, lets marketing to cross-link entries through protagonists and motifs and to hold creative in the market without dead zones.

How the films are being made

The director conversations behind these films telegraph a continued move toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that spotlights aura and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design 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 preview 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 designed for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and generates shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta pivot that weblink returns to the core star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature work and production design, which fit with convention floor stunts and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel necessary. Look for trailers that underscore surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that sing on PLF.

How the year maps out

January is busy. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid heavier IP. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the tonal variety lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth holds.

Q1 into Q2 seed summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Late-season stretch leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a transitional slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited plot reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift-card spend.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s virtual companion mutates into something seductively lethal. 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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively 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 travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: tone-first game 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 work to survive on a far-flung island as the pecking order inverts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: marquee survival piece 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 modern reimagining that returns the monster to chill, built on Cronin’s practical craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting piece that frames the panic through a youth’s flickering perspective. Rating: rating pending. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A parody reboot that lampoons in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fascinations. Rating: awaiting classification. 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 erupts, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new household linked to old terrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for true survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: forthcoming. Production: moving forward. 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 period language and raw menace. Rating: TBA. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three operational forces structure this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or shuffled in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming landings. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate shareable moments from test screenings, managed scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can capture a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will line up across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 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 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 pace and range. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, audio design, and cinematography 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, Lined Up To Scare

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is IP strength where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of 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-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, lock the reveals, and let the shudders sell the seats.