Ancient Darkness returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising horror feature, landing Oct 2025 on top streaming platforms

An unnerving mystic nightmare movie from cinematographer / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an long-buried evil when newcomers become tools in a dark trial. Releasing on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish journey of living through and archaic horror that will transform fear-driven cinema this Halloween season. Created by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and tone-heavy tale follows five strangers who emerge caught in a far-off shelter under the sinister manipulation of Kyra, a cursed figure consumed by a timeless Old Testament spirit. Arm yourself to be immersed by a theatrical spectacle that merges bodily fright with timeless legends, landing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a historical element in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is inverted when the spirits no longer arise outside the characters, but rather within themselves. This illustrates the grimmest corner of each of them. The result is a riveting inner struggle where the story becomes a unforgiving tug-of-war between light and darkness.


In a desolate landscape, five individuals find themselves sealed under the dark sway and domination of a enigmatic apparition. As the youths becomes defenseless to evade her dominion, disconnected and stalked by unknowns unimaginable, they are cornered to battle their raw vulnerabilities while the moments without pity counts down toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread intensifies and ties dissolve, prompting each individual to examine their existence and the principle of decision-making itself. The intensity escalate with every second, delivering a frightening tale that fuses spiritual fright with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to dive into raw dread, an spirit beyond recorded history, operating within emotional vulnerability, and confronting a spirit that threatens selfhood when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra required summoning something past sanity. She is in denial until the takeover begins, and that transition is harrowing because it is so intimate.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for digital release beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—offering customers around the globe can engage with this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its original clip, which has gathered over strong viewer count.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, offering the tale to a worldwide audience.


Witness this bone-rattling descent into darkness. Explore *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to witness these evil-rooted truths about free will.


For bonus footage, set experiences, and promotions from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YACMovie across your socials and visit youngandcursed.com.





Contemporary horror’s inflection point: the 2025 cycle domestic schedule interlaces legend-infused possession, Indie Shockers, set against Franchise Rumbles

Moving from survivor-centric dread inspired by biblical myth all the way to legacy revivals as well as focused festival visions, 2025 stands to become the most dimensioned combined with tactically planned year for the modern era.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. major banners lay down anchors through proven series, simultaneously streamers crowd the fall with new perspectives and primordial unease. In the indie lane, the artisan tier is riding the momentum from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the other windows are mapped with care. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, and in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are targeted, as a result 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The majors are assertive. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s pipeline sets the tone with a statement play: a reimagined Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, but a sharp contemporary setting. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. Slated for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Directed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

Toward summer’s end, Warner Bros. launches the swan song of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson returns, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: nostalgic menace, trauma as text, paired with unsettling supernatural order. Here the stakes rise, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The follow up digs further into canon, builds out the animatronic fear crew, courting teens and the thirty something base. It hits in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Offerings: Slim budgets, major punch

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a body horror chamber piece fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Also rising is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga starring Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

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. Authored and directed 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. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It reads as sharp positioning. No overweight mythology. No brand fatigue. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near 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. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Series Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

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. 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 first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, steered by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Dials to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

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

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

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 Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Forecast: Autumn density and winter pivot

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The 2026 spook slate: continuations, non-franchise titles, alongside A packed Calendar optimized for shocks

Dek: The current horror season lines up from the jump with a January wave, before it runs through the summer months, and continuing into the late-year period, mixing name recognition, untold stories, and savvy counterweight. Major distributors and platforms are embracing mid-range economics, box-office-first windows, and social-driven marketing that convert horror entries into all-audience topics.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The horror sector has established itself as the bankable tool in studio slates, a pillar that can lift when it breaks through and still insulate the liability when it misses. After the 2023 year demonstrated to studio brass that low-to-mid budget horror vehicles can dominate mainstream conversation, 2024 extended the rally with festival-darling auteurs and word-of-mouth wins. The trend extended into 2025, where resurrections and filmmaker-prestige bets showed there is demand for a spectrum, from brand follow-ups to non-IP projects that scale internationally. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a slate that reads highly synchronized across players, with mapped-out bands, a balance of familiar brands and original hooks, and a recommitted priority on big-screen windows that power the aftermarket on premium video on demand and streaming.

Marketers add the horror lane now operates like a plug-and-play option on the slate. Horror can kick off on a wide range of weekends, deliver a quick sell for creative and social clips, and lead with crowds that arrive on Thursday nights and stick through the week two if the entry works. In the wake of a production delay era, the 2026 rhythm signals belief in that equation. The slate opens with a front-loaded January band, then plants flags in spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while reserving space for a September to October window that pushes into the fright window and into November. The calendar also shows the ongoing integration of indie arms and SVOD players that can platform and widen, spark evangelism, and expand at the right moment.

A second macro trend is brand strategy across interlocking continuities and established properties. The companies are not just producing another installment. They are aiming to frame ongoing narrative with a marquee sheen, whether that is a logo package that conveys a recalibrated tone or a cast configuration that connects a incoming chapter to a foundational era. At the alongside this, the visionaries behind the eagerly awaited originals are celebrating physical effects work, real effects and distinct locales. That pairing delivers 2026 a lively combination of known notes and unexpected turns, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount opens strong with two centerpiece entries that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the heart, setting it up as both a handoff and a return-to-roots relationship-driven entry. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the creative posture announces a legacy-leaning mode without repeating the last two entries’ sibling arc. Watch for a push built on legacy iconography, character spotlights, and a tease cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will double down on. As a summer alternative, this one will pursue mainstream recognition through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format permitting quick reframes to whatever owns horror talk that spring.

Universal has three distinct lanes. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is efficient, loss-driven, and big-hook: a grieving man sets up an artificial companion that evolves into a perilous partner. The date positions it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the studio’s marketing likely to revisit off-kilter promo beats and short-form creative that melds companionship and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a public title to become an teaser payoff closer to the first trailer. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele’s work are branded as event films, with a teaser that holds back and a follow-up trailer set that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The spooky-season slot allows Universal to dominate 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, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, navigate to this website with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has shown that a tactile, physical-effects centered approach can feel deluxe on a mid-range budget. Frame it as a red-band summer horror hit that centers overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio books two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, extending a proven supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is calling a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both longtime followers and fresh viewers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build marketing units around universe detail, and monster aesthetics, elements that can stoke deluxe auditorium demand and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror built on careful craft and language, this time exploring werewolf lore. The specialty arm has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a bold stance in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is robust.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform tactics for 2026 run on stable tracks. The Universal horror run feed copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a cadence that expands both premiere heat and sign-up momentum in the late-window. Prime Video stitches together licensed films with worldwide entries and limited runs in theaters when the data supports it. Max and Hulu work their edges in archive usage, using seasonal hubs, spooky hubs, and curated rows to stretch the tail on aggregate take. Netflix remains opportunistic about Netflix films and festival additions, dating horror entries closer to drop and making event-like debuts with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a one-two of targeted theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that translates talk to trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a curated basis. The platform has shown a willingness to acquire select projects with award winners or A-list packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for monthly activity when the genre conversation surges.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 slate with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is tight: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, reimagined for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late-season weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through select festivals if the cut is ready, then leveraging the December frame to scale. That positioning has been successful for craft-driven horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception drives. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using select theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their subs.

Brands and originals

By volume, 2026 leans toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness household recognition. The concern, as ever, is staleness. The go-to fix is to market each entry as a new angle. Paramount is foregrounding core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a Francophone tone from a buzzed-about director. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and visionary-led titles keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the bundle is anchored enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday previews.

Comps from the last three years contextualize the plan. In 2023, a cinema-first model that observed windows did not stop a day-date move from winning when the brand was big. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror surged in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they reframe POV and raise the stakes. 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 two-film strategy, with chapters shot in tandem, builds a path for marketing to link the films through character arcs and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without extended gaps.

Technique and craft currents

The production chatter behind the upcoming entries hint at a continued turn toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that highlights mood and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and medieval diction, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in long-lead press and technical spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at practical nastiness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and gathers shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta-horror reset that centers its original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster aesthetics and world-building, which are ideal for convention activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel irresistible. Look for trailers that foreground razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that land in big rooms.

Release calendar overview

January is stacked. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a brooding contrast amid heftier brand moves. The month caps 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 meaningful, but the tonal variety creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth carries.

Winter into spring load in summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now nurtures 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 divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Back half into fall leans series. 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 bridge slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited information drops that put concept first.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then working 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 building on holiday impulse and holiday gift-card burn.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s digital partner evolves into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. 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 severe boss scramble to survive on a uninhabited island as the chain of command reverses and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. 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 under wraps in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to horror, grounded in Cronin’s material craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting tale that twists the fright of a child’s shaky perspective. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-supported and headline-actor led supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A parody return that skewers modern genre fads and true-crime crazes. Rating: pending. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites spreads, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further reopens, with a unlucky family snared by residual nightmares. Rating: TBA. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A reboot designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-core horror over action fireworks. Rating: pending. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: forthcoming. Production: ongoing. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 elemental dread. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the moment is 2026

Three grounded forces shape this lineup. First, production that decelerated or rearranged in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify clippable moments from test screenings, select scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

The slot calculus is real. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can capture a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will line up across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 sleeper overperformer 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, 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 pattern and spread. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, aural design, 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, Ready To Roar

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is IP strength where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, guard the secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.