Primordial Dread Stirs in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding thriller, landing October 2025 across top streamers

A spine-tingling occult nightmare movie from narrative craftsman / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an timeless nightmare when unrelated individuals become victims in a diabolical contest. Dropping this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching journey of perseverance and timeless dread that will revamp terror storytelling this autumn. Visualized by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and immersive screenplay follows five individuals who suddenly rise imprisoned in a secluded wooden structure under the malignant manipulation of Kyra, a young woman overtaken by a ancient religious nightmare. Arm yourself to be shaken by a audio-visual presentation that weaves together bodily fright with ancestral stories, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a classic pillar in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is challenged when the forces no longer manifest from an outside force, but rather inside their minds. This embodies the grimmest shade of every character. The result is a psychologically brutal mind game where the emotions becomes a unforgiving fight between virtue and vice.


In a unforgiving woodland, five adults find themselves marooned under the ghastly control and inhabitation of a secretive woman. As the ensemble becomes vulnerable to deny her manipulation, stranded and attacked by terrors unnamable, they are forced to face their core terrors while the countdown unceasingly moves toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust deepens and teams dissolve, forcing each participant to scrutinize their being and the structure of liberty itself. The threat climb with every minute, delivering a terror ride that marries otherworldly panic with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to uncover core terror, an power beyond recorded history, manipulating psychological breaks, and questioning a being that erodes the self when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra called for internalizing something deeper than fear. She is in denial until the demon emerges, and that conversion is deeply unsettling because it is so visceral.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for public screening beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—providing households worldwide can engage with this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its release of trailer #1, which has earned over notable views.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, offering the tale to horror fans worldwide.


Do not miss this gripping journey into fear. Enter *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to see these evil-rooted truths about our species.


For previews, production news, and promotions from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across entertainment pages and visit the official website.





U.S. horror’s tipping point: calendar year 2025 U.S. Slate interlaces biblical-possession ideas, independent shockers, paired with brand-name tremors

Across fight-to-live nightmare stories steeped in primordial scripture as well as brand-name continuations together with sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is coalescing into the most complex and carefully orchestrated year since the mid-2010s.

Call it full, but it is also focused. studio majors set cornerstones by way of signature titles, at the same time digital services load up the fall with new voices set against scriptural shivers. On the festival side, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is propelled by the momentum from a record 2024 festival run. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The fall stretch is the proving field, and now, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are disciplined, accordingly 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: The Return of Prestige Fear

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s slate leads off the quarter with a statement play: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, inside today’s landscape. Led by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. set for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. From director Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

When summer tapers, Warner’s schedule launches the swan song of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

After that, The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re teams, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: retro dread, trauma as text, and eerie supernatural logic. This run ups the stakes, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The continuation widens the legend, thickens the animatronic pantheon, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It drops in December, securing the winter cap.

Digital Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a body horror chamber piece starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is destined for a fall landing.

Next comes Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. That is a savvy move. No overweight mythology. No continuity burden. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Series Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, from Francis Lawrence, 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.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

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

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theaters are a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

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 like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The approaching chiller season: next chapters, Originals, plus A packed Calendar Built For nightmares

Dek: The current genre slate crowds from the jump with a January logjam, following that carries through the summer months, and pushing into the festive period, fusing legacy muscle, new concepts, and calculated alternatives. Distributors with platforms are committing to responsible budgets, theater-first strategies, and influencer-ready assets that turn genre releases into water-cooler talk.

Horror’s status entering 2026

Horror filmmaking has proven to be the sturdy counterweight in release strategies, a pillar that can grow when it resonates and still limit the liability when it under-delivers. After 2023 proved to studio brass that disciplined-budget genre plays can shape social chatter, the following year kept energy high with auteur-driven buzzy films and word-of-mouth wins. The energy extended into 2025, where returns and arthouse crossovers underscored there is appetite for different modes, from brand follow-ups to standalone ideas that travel well. The end result for 2026 is a lineup that appears tightly organized across companies, with planned clusters, a pairing of familiar brands and new pitches, and a re-energized emphasis on theatrical windows that power the aftermarket on premium digital rental and streaming.

Marketers add the space now acts as a schedule utility on the grid. Horror can premiere on nearly any frame, supply a sharp concept for previews and shorts, and outstrip with audiences that turn out on advance nights and continue through the sophomore frame if the feature works. Following a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 plan demonstrates comfort in that setup. The calendar commences with a weighty January schedule, then primes spring and early summer for audience offsets, while keeping space for a fall cadence that flows toward spooky season and into post-Halloween. The schedule also underscores the greater integration of arthouse labels and platforms that can grow from platform, create conversation, and expand at the proper time.

A further high-level trend is brand management across ongoing universes and heritage properties. Big banners are not just making another chapter. They are setting up lineage with a occasion, whether that is a title treatment that suggests a refreshed voice or a talent selection that ties a next film to a foundational era. At the alongside this, the auteurs behind the eagerly awaited originals are returning to on-set craft, makeup and prosthetics and specific settings. That mix hands the 2026 slate a smart balance of known notes and newness, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount establishes early momentum with two front-of-slate titles that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the focus, steering it as both a relay and a origin-leaning character-focused installment. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the authorial approach points to a classic-referencing treatment without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run stacked with iconic art, character previews, and a tiered teaser plan landing toward late fall. Distribution is cinema-first 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 back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will spotlight. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will hunt mass reach through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick turns to whatever tops trend lines that spring.

Universal has three differentiated projects. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is simple, sorrow-tinged, and logline-clear: a grieving man sets up an digital partner that turns into a deadly partner. The date puts it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s marketing likely to mirror creepy live activations and micro spots that blurs intimacy and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under working 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 leaves room for a title drop to become an event moment closer to the first look. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. His entries are sold as auteur events, with a opaque teaser and a later trailer push that shape mood without giving away the concept. The late-October frame opens a lane to take 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, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has demonstrated that a in-your-face, in-camera leaning treatment can feel premium on a tight budget. Expect a splatter summer horror blast that spotlights foreign 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 opens August 21, 2026, continuing a consistent supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has reslotted 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 marketing units around narrative world, and creature effects, elements that can drive premium screens and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by minute detail and historical speech, this time focused on werewolf legend. Focus’s team has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is glowing.

Platform lanes and windowing

Windowing plans in 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s genre slate transition to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a sequence that boosts both launch urgency and subscription bumps in the post-theatrical. Prime Video balances licensed titles with global acquisitions and select theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library curation, using seasonal hubs, genre hubs, and editorial rows to extend momentum on overall cume. Netflix keeps flexible about Netflix films and festival wins, timing horror entries toward the drop and making event-like premieres with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a one-two of selective theatrical runs and speedy platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a selective basis. The platform has indicated interest to buy select projects with recognized filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for retention when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 runway 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 setup is simple: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, refined for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn stretch.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the Christmas corridor to widen. That positioning has proved effective for arthouse horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception merits. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using boutique theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Brands and originals

By volume, the 2026 slate leans toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap cultural cachet. The watch-out, as ever, is audience fatigue. The preferred tactic is to package each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is bringing forward character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a continental coloration from a ascendant talent. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a marooned survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf my review here leans on period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the cast-creatives package is comforting enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday previews.

Recent-year comps announce the model. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that maintained windows did not stop a day-date move from delivering when the brand was powerful. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror popped in premium large format. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they change perspective and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters shot in tandem, builds a path for marketing to connect the chapters through personae and themes and to leave creative active without long gaps.

How the films are being made

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind these films telegraph a continued move toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that elevates unease and texture rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and technical spotlights before rolling out a first look that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and produces shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta recalibration that centers its original star. Resident Evil will live or die on monster work and world-building, which are ideal for fan-con activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel key. Look for trailers that emphasize pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that benefit on big speakers.

Release calendar overview

January is loaded. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid macro-brand pushes. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the range of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Post-January through spring load in summer. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now backs 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 clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

August into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited disclosures that favor idea over plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can play the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then leaning on critics’ check over here lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and card redemption.

One-sentence dossiers

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s machine mate grows into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem 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 journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her demanding boss struggle to survive on a uninhabited island as the pecking order flips and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to fear, driven by Cronin’s on-set craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting piece that teases the dread of a child’s tricky perspective. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed and headline-actor led paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A satirical comeback that satirizes modern genre fads and true-crime buzz. Rating: TBD. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further reopens, with a fresh family tethered to old terrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival-core horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: TBD. 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: TBD. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: forthcoming. Production: underway. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on time-true diction and bone-deep menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the moment is 2026

Three workable forces define this lineup. First, production that slowed or migrated in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify clippable moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Calendar math also matters. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will stack across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 dark-horse 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 leverage those opportunities. 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. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run 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 cold, 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 ratchet upward, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, audio design, and imagery 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, Ready To Roar

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand equity where it matters, new vision where it lands, 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, protect the mystery, and let the chills sell the seats.