Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primeval horror, a pulse pounding shocker, debuting Oct 2025 on top streamers

An bone-chilling supernatural fright fest from writer / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an long-buried entity when foreigners become tools in a demonic maze. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful account of perseverance and old world terror that will transform the fear genre this Halloween season. Produced by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and eerie story follows five unacquainted souls who are stirred sealed in a wilderness-bound dwelling under the hostile manipulation of Kyra, a possessed female occupied by a ancient Old Testament spirit. Arm yourself to be shaken by a cinematic event that melds raw fear with arcane tradition, arriving on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a historical pillar in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is redefined when the malevolences no longer appear externally, but rather deep within. This illustrates the most sinister version of the players. The result is a gripping emotional conflict where the conflict becomes a constant push-pull between moral forces.


In a wilderness-stricken woodland, five characters find themselves trapped under the sinister effect and curse of a elusive woman. As the companions becomes submissive to deny her influence, cut off and attacked by forces unfathomable, they are driven to confront their greatest panics while the timeline unforgivingly ticks onward toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread escalates and teams disintegrate, pushing each survivor to reconsider their character and the structure of personal agency itself. The hazard magnify with every second, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that intertwines mystical fear with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to uncover deep fear, an curse beyond recorded history, channeling itself through inner turmoil, and exposing a presence that strips down our being when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra was about accessing something far beyond human desperation. She is blind until the possession kicks in, and that evolution is soul-crushing because it is so raw.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for public screening beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—making sure customers across the world can watch this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its intro video, which has attracted over 100K plays.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, extending the thrill to lovers of terror across nations.


Join this haunted journey into fear. Experience *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to uncover these chilling revelations about inner darkness.


For featurettes, filmmaker commentary, and announcements directly from production, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across online outlets and visit the official digital haunt.





The horror genre’s tipping point: the year 2025 stateside slate Mixes biblical-possession ideas, Indie Shockers, together with tentpole growls

Ranging from fight-to-live nightmare stories infused with old testament echoes all the way to canon extensions together with acutely observed indies, 2025 stands to become the most variegated together with blueprinted year of the last decade.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. Top studios set cornerstones with known properties, as streaming platforms saturate the fall with unboxed visions set against old-world menace. In parallel, horror’s indie wing is fueled by the momentum from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. As Halloween stays the prime week, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, however this time, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are calculated, hence 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 presses the advantage.

the Universal camp leads off the quarter with a bold swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, in a clear present-tense world. From director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. set for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Helmed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

Toward summer’s end, Warner Bros. unveils the final movement from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Though the outline is tried, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Scott Derrickson returns, and the memorable motifs return: nostalgic menace, trauma foregrounded, plus otherworld rules that chill. This time, the stakes are raised, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, reaching teens and game grownups. It lands in December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Firsts: Economy, maximum dread

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a close quarters body horror study with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is destined for a fall landing.

On the docket is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, 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.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing 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. It is canny scheduling. No overinflated mythology. No brand fatigue. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Heritage Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

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

Dials to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror resurges
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Outlook: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The next terror Year Ahead: brand plays, universe starters, as well as A busy Calendar designed for jolts

Dek The upcoming scare year clusters up front with a January wave, before it flows through June and July, and far into the December corridor, blending legacy muscle, new voices, and shrewd counterweight. Studios and platforms are betting on right-sized spends, theatrical exclusivity first, and buzz-forward plans that turn these films into mainstream chatter.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The horror marketplace has established itself as the sturdy counterweight in programming grids, a corner that can surge when it breaks through and still mitigate the risk when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year demonstrated to strategy teams that mid-range entries can shape mainstream conversation, 2024 kept energy high with signature-voice projects and quiet over-performers. The trend flowed into 2025, where revived properties and elevated films made clear there is capacity for many shades, from brand follow-ups to original features that scale internationally. The upshot for 2026 is a lineup that is strikingly coherent across the market, with defined corridors, a pairing of recognizable IP and new packages, and a sharpened stance on exhibition windows that drive downstream revenue on premium video on demand and platforms.

Executives say the category now works like a wildcard on the programming map. Horror can premiere on many corridors, deliver a clean hook for ad units and shorts, and outperform with ticket buyers that line up on Thursday nights and return through the follow-up frame if the entry pays off. On the heels of a production delay era, the 2026 cadence telegraphs belief in that approach. The calendar opens with a front-loaded January stretch, then targets spring into early summer for counterweight, while leaving room for a fall cadence that extends to the Halloween frame and into the next week. The grid also underscores the greater integration of specialized imprints and OTT outlets that can grow from platform, generate chatter, and scale up at the inflection point.

A second macro trend is IP stewardship across linked properties and veteran brands. Studio teams are not just releasing another continuation. They are setting up lore continuity with a occasion, whether that is a title presentation that announces a fresh attitude or a casting move that threads a new installment to a foundational era. At the in tandem, the directors behind the most buzzed-about originals are celebrating tactile craft, in-camera effects and distinct locales. That combination affords the 2026 slate a healthy mix of recognition and newness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount leads early with two prominent plays that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the core, presenting it as both a handoff and a back-to-basics character study. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the artistic posture signals a classic-referencing strategy without recycling the last two entries’ sisters storyline. The studio is likely to mount a drive rooted in classic imagery, character spotlights, and a tease cadence aimed at 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 reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will spotlight. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will hunt mainstream recognition through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format inviting quick reframes to whatever shapes the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three differentiated pushes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is efficient, tragic, and easily pitched: a grieving man installs an digital partner that turns into a killer companion. The date sets it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s promo team likely to replay uncanny-valley stunts and bite-size content that fuses devotion and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a title drop to become an earned moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s work are presented as auteur events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a second wave of trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The spooky-season slot opens a lane to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has consistently shown that a blood-soaked, physical-effects centered strategy can feel cinematic on a mid-range budget. Position this as a blood-and-grime summer horror blast that leans hard into global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio books two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, preserving a consistent supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what Sony is marketing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both devotees and novices. The fall slot allows Sony to build assets around narrative world, and creature builds, elements that can boost format premiums and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in rigorous craft and linguistic texture, this time driven by werewolf stories. Focus’s team has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is glowing.

Digital platform strategies

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s horror titles head to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a ordering that fortifies both first-week urgency and sign-up momentum in the post-theatrical. Prime Video balances catalogue additions with global pickups and small theatrical windows when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in catalog engagement, using featured rows, holiday hubs, and collection rows to maximize the tail on lifetime take. Netflix remains opportunistic about internal projects and festival additions, scheduling horror entries closer to drop and positioning as event drops arrivals with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a dual-phase of tailored theatrical exposure and quick platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a curated basis. The platform has signaled readiness to invest in select projects with established auteurs or name-led packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 lane with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is clean: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, modernized for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has signaled a big-screen first plan for the title, an promising marker for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the autumn weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through select festivals if the cut is ready, then working the useful reference holiday frame to expand. That positioning has worked well for filmmaker-first horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception justifies. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using select theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Legacy titles versus originals

By proportion, 2026 tilts in favor of the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness name recognition. The question, as ever, is fatigue. The near-term solution is to pitch each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is emphasizing character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French sensibility from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and director-driven titles supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the team and cast is assuring enough to build pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Recent-year comps outline the logic. In 2023, a theater-first model that kept clean windows did not preclude a dual release from delivering when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror punched above its weight in premium large format. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they alter lens and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, enables marketing to bridge entries through personae and themes and to keep assets in-market without pause points.

Technique and craft currents

The craft conversations behind these films suggest a continued shift toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that elevates mood and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft coverage before rolling out a tone piece that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and sparks shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta inflection that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature execution and sets, which work nicely for convention activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel primary. Look for trailers that accent fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that shine in top rooms.

Month-by-month map

January is heavy. 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 atmospheric change-up amid heftier brand moves. The month wraps 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 serious, but the variety of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Q1 into Q2 this page set up the summer. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into 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 lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late summer into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a transitional slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited information drops that trade in concept over detail.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card burn.

Title briefs within the narrative

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 meet a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: get redirected here Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s synthetic partner mutates into something dangerously intimate. 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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

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 collide with a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: atmospheric 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 prickly boss work to survive on a cut-off island as the power balance reverses and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to menace, rooted in Cronin’s practical effects and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting setup that routes the horror through a kid’s uncertain subjective lens. Rating: TBA. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed and A-list fronted eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A parody reboot that targets contemporary horror memes and true crime preoccupations. Rating: pending. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. 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 multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new clan anchored to returning horrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-first horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: closely held. Rating: pending. Production: continuing. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and elemental menace. Rating: TBA. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three execution-level forces structure this lineup. First, production that paused or recalendared in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and pared-down timelines. 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 beaten straight-to-streaming drops. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on turnkey scare beats from test screenings, controlled scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

A fourth factor is programming math. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will stack across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the efficient band. 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 midrange-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 work those windows. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, 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 reliable Thursday lifts, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, sound, and image-making 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.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is franchise muscle where it helps, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, hold the mystery, and let the scares sell the seats.