Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens primeval malevolence, a spine tingling feature, launching October 2025 across top streaming platforms

A hair-raising spectral fright fest from scriptwriter / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an forgotten horror when passersby become victims in a dark contest. Premiering this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing episode of staying alive and ancient evil that will alter horror this fall. Visualized by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and gothic story follows five individuals who snap to trapped in a wooded wooden structure under the dark rule of Kyra, a possessed female controlled by a time-worn scriptural evil. Prepare to be ensnared by a theatrical adventure that combines gut-punch terror with mythic lore, coming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a long-standing theme in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is twisted when the presences no longer form from elsewhere, but rather from their core. This depicts the most terrifying shade of the group. The result is a bone-chilling moral showdown where the conflict becomes a ongoing tug-of-war between virtue and vice.


In a remote wilderness, five figures find themselves isolated under the unholy force and grasp of a obscure female presence. As the youths becomes incapacitated to oppose her command, stranded and tormented by evils inconceivable, they are compelled to deal with their inner demons while the moments unforgivingly runs out toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia mounts and links disintegrate, forcing each cast member to question their essence and the integrity of liberty itself. The hazard magnify with every tick, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that merges supernatural terror with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to channel pure dread, an malevolence that predates humanity, embedding itself in emotional fractures, and confronting a spirit that threatens selfhood when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra was about accessing something outside normal anguish. She is unaware until the evil takes hold, and that change is haunting because it is so emotional.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for streaming beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring watchers internationally can get immersed in this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its release of trailer #1, which has earned over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, making the film to scare fans abroad.


Witness this bone-rattling trip into the unknown. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to acknowledge these spiritual awakenings about our species.


For director insights, director cuts, and updates via the production team, follow @YACMovie across media channels and visit the film’s website.





Horror’s watershed moment: 2025 in focus American release plan interlaces primeval-possession lore, art-house nightmares, together with brand-name tremors

Running from survivor-centric dread grounded in mythic scripture as well as series comebacks in concert with incisive indie visions, 2025 stands to become the richest as well as strategic year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. leading studios lock in tentpoles by way of signature titles, concurrently subscription platforms load up the fall with emerging auteurs and ancestral chills. On another front, festival-forward creators is fueled by the afterglow from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, though in this cycle, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are intentional, which means 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige fear returns

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 set the base, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal camp kicks off the frame with an audacious swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, but a crisp modern milieu. From director Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Booked into mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Led by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Early reactions hint at fangs.

At summer’s close, the Warner Bros. banner bows the concluding entry from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. While the template is known, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson is back, and those signature textures resurface: period tinged dread, trauma as theme, and a cold supernatural calculus. The stakes escalate here, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, reaching teens and game grownups. It opens in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Platform Originals: Economy, maximum dread

While the big screen favors titles you know, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a close quarters body horror study pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through 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 From Within: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Penned and steered by 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. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is an astute call. No bloated mythology. No franchise baggage. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Brands: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, under 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.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Trend Lines

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror ascends again
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

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

Outlook: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The oncoming terror slate: continuations, new stories, as well as A loaded Calendar designed for nightmares

Dek The current terror calendar clusters from the jump with a January traffic jam, subsequently rolls through peak season, and continuing into the winter holidays, combining legacy muscle, new voices, and strategic offsets. Studio marketers and platforms are doubling down on responsible budgets, theatrical leads, and platform-native promos that position these offerings into national conversation.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

Horror filmmaking has become the bankable release in release plans, a category that can spike when it connects and still safeguard the exposure when it under-delivers. After 2023 reassured decision-makers that modestly budgeted chillers can command cultural conversation, 2024 carried the beat with signature-voice projects and under-the-radar smashes. The energy carried into 2025, where resurrections and prestige plays showed there is capacity for many shades, from continued chapters to director-led originals that export nicely. The net effect for 2026 is a slate that seems notably aligned across the industry, with obvious clusters, a balance of established brands and untested plays, and a refocused attention on exhibition windows that power the aftermarket on premium digital rental and SVOD.

Planners observe the genre now performs as a wildcard on the grid. Horror can kick off on open real estate, create a simple premise for ad units and reels, and punch above weight with demo groups that appear on opening previews and continue through the sophomore frame if the film connects. On the heels of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 setup indicates certainty in that equation. The calendar launches with a crowded January run, then leans on spring and early summer for counterweight, while carving room for a fall cadence that carries into the fright window and into post-Halloween. The grid also underscores the increasing integration of boutique distributors and streamers that can develop over weeks, stoke social talk, and expand at the proper time.

A parallel macro theme is legacy care across connected story worlds and storied titles. The studios are not just producing another return. They are working to present ongoing narrative with a premium feel, whether that is a brandmark that suggests a new vibe or a star attachment that links a next entry to a classic era. At the alongside this, the writer-directors behind the top original plays are celebrating tactile craft, on-set effects and site-specific worlds. That mix hands the 2026 slate a lively combination of comfort and newness, which is why the genre exports well.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount plants an early flag with two high-profile projects that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the center, angling it as both a relay and a back-to-basics character-forward chapter. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture announces a fan-service aware bent without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Watch for a push fueled by franchise iconography, first-look character reveals, and a two-beat trailer plan hitting late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off 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 as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will emphasize. As a summer relief option, this one will seek four-quadrant chatter through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format permitting quick switches to whatever defines the discourse that spring.

Universal has three separate lanes. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is tidy, somber, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man brings home an AI companion that unfolds into a deadly partner. The date puts it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s team likely to mirror uncanny-valley stunts and brief clips that interweaves companionship and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a public title to become an PR pop closer to the first trailer. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. His entries are positioned as filmmaker events, with a minimalist tease and a second trailer wave that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The pre-Halloween slot opens a lane to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on 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 is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a visceral, physical-effects centered mix can feel cinematic on a moderate cost. Expect a red-band summer horror blast that spotlights international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. this content and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio books two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, holding a reliable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is calling a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both franchise faithful and newcomers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build assets around setting detail, and monster design, elements that can fuel PLF interest and cosplayer momentum.

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 continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror grounded in meticulous craft and linguistic texture, this time circling werewolf lore. The label has already locked the day for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform tactics for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal titles move to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a ordering that maximizes both initial urgency and subscription bumps in the later window. Prime Video balances licensed titles with global pickups and select theatrical runs when the data supports it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in catalog discovery, using curated hubs, horror hubs, and editorial rows to lengthen the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix plays opportunist about internal projects and festival acquisitions, securing horror entries on shorter runways and eventizing go-lives with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a tiered of focused cinema runs and accelerated platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a situational basis. The platform has shown appetite to buy select projects with prestige directors or headline-cast packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for platform stickiness when the genre conversation builds.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 corridor with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is direct: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, reimagined for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the autumn weeks.

Focus his comment is here will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, curating the rollout through select festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the year-end corridor to open out. That positioning has been successful for auteur horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception encourages. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using limited theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their community.

Franchise entries versus originals

By count, 2026 tips toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on household recognition. The caveat, as ever, is fatigue. The practical approach is to present each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is underscoring core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is floating a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-tinted vision from a emerging director. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries bring the oxygen. Jordan check over here Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the deal build is familiar enough to build pre-sales and Thursday previews.

The last three-year set outline the method. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that respected streaming windows did not obstruct a dual release from thriving when the brand was powerful. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror over-performed in premium large format. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they alter lens and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, creates space for marketing to thread films through protagonists and motifs and to maintain a flow of assets without long gaps.

Craft and creative trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind this slate forecast a continued emphasis on tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that foregrounds atmosphere and fear rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and medieval diction, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in trade spotlights and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a preview that keeps plot minimal, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and sparks shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a self-referential reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster work and world-building, which lend themselves to booth activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel key. Look for trailers that underscore razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that land in premium houses.

Annual flow

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 foggy reset amid heavier IP. The month closes 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 credible, but the tone spread creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth sustains.

Pre-summer months stage summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls 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 delivers gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Shoulder season into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a shoulder season window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited teasers that stress concept over spoilers.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card redemption.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s virtual companion shifts into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: gothic-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 struggle to survive on a desolate island as the power balance of power turns and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to dread, shaped by Cronin’s in-camera craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting story that filters its scares through a young child’s unreliable personal vantage. Rating: rating pending. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed and headline-actor led haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that needles of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime crazes. Rating: undetermined. Production: fall 2025 production window. 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 erupts, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a new household caught in older hauntings. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. 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 recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward true survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: to be announced. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: TBA. Production: in progress. 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 period-precise speech and ancient menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the moment is 2026

Three grounded forces drive this lineup. First, production that slowed or shifted in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work bite-size scare clips from test screenings, curated scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

The slot calculus is real. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will coexist across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The sleeper chase continues in Q1, where disciplined-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 press those advantages. 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, 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 tempo and variety. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, sound, and framing 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 Shapes Up Strong

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand heft 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 late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, guard the secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.