Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primeval horror, a pulse pounding shocker, premiering Oct 2025 on leading streamers

This hair-raising paranormal fright fest from narrative craftsman / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an long-buried malevolence when unknowns become puppets in a satanic trial. Available on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving account of survival and old world terror that will reshape fear-driven cinema this cool-weather season. Realized by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and tone-heavy cinema piece follows five unacquainted souls who suddenly rise caught in a cut-off dwelling under the hostile will of Kyra, a female lead overtaken by a prehistoric Old Testament spirit. Be prepared to be gripped by a big screen outing that blends instinctive fear with arcane tradition, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a historical theme in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is radically shifted when the demons no longer emerge externally, but rather inside them. This depicts the darkest facet of the group. The result is a psychologically brutal internal warfare where the drama becomes a unforgiving tug-of-war between right and wrong.


In a forsaken wild, five adults find themselves stuck under the fiendish control and curse of a elusive figure. As the cast becomes submissive to break her curse, severed and hunted by evils unnamable, they are obligated to encounter their greatest panics while the countdown without pause moves toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust rises and bonds dissolve, prompting each survivor to question their self and the philosophy of independent thought itself. The threat accelerate with every second, delivering a terror ride that fuses otherworldly panic with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to channel basic terror, an presence older than civilization itself, working through emotional fractures, and dealing with a spirit that questions who we are when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra involved tapping into something deeper than fear. She is blind until the invasion happens, and that shift is terrifying because it is so private.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for public screening beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing subscribers anywhere can survive this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its first preview, which has racked up over 100,000 views.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, taking the terror to horror fans worldwide.


Do not miss this haunted path of possession. Join *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to survive these fearful discoveries about the psyche.


For exclusive trailers, behind-the-scenes content, and insider scoops from the cast and crew, follow @YACFilm across entertainment pages and visit our spooky domain.





Today’s horror Turning Point: the year 2025 U.S. release slate Mixes archetypal-possession themes, art-house nightmares, alongside series shake-ups

Spanning pressure-cooker survival tales steeped in biblical myth through to series comebacks paired with surgical indie voices, 2025 is emerging as the most complex paired with deliberate year in years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. Top studios plant stakes across the year with known properties, while digital services crowd the fall with first-wave breakthroughs in concert with ancient terrors. On another front, the artisan tier is catching the echoes of a banner 2024 fest year. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The fall stretch is the proving field, but this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are intentional, and 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige fear returns

The top end is active. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s schedule kicks off the frame with a big gambit: a modernized Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, in an immediate now. Guided by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. landing in mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Guided by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early reactions hint at fangs.

As summer wanes, Warner’s pipeline bows the concluding entry within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Although the framework is familiar, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re boards, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: nostalgic menace, trauma explicitly handled, and eerie supernatural logic. The stakes escalate here, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The return delves further into myth, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, reaching teens and game grownups. It drops in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Platform Plays: No Budget, No Problem

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a body horror duet fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by 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.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is an astute call. No puffed out backstory. No continuity burden. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born, 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 this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Brands: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, 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. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Dials to Watch

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror comes roaring back
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Big screen is a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Forward View: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The next fright calendar year ahead: follow-ups, non-franchise titles, alongside A Crowded Calendar geared toward jolts

Dek: The incoming genre year loads up front with a January bottleneck, and then flows through summer corridors, and deep into the holiday frame, blending brand heft, inventive spins, and calculated offsets. Studios and platforms are relying on efficient budgets, big-screen-first runs, and viral-minded pushes that transform these releases into mainstream chatter.

Horror momentum into 2026

Horror filmmaking has solidified as the dependable swing in release strategies, a corner that can break out when it hits and still safeguard the exposure when it stumbles. After 2023 signaled to leaders that low-to-mid budget pictures can own social chatter, 2024 carried the beat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and slow-burn breakouts. The head of steam translated to the 2025 frame, where revivals and arthouse crossovers made clear there is a market for a variety of tones, from continued chapters to fresh IP that travel well. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a slate that appears tightly organized across studios, with planned clusters, a spread of brand names and new pitches, and a tightened stance on release windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium on-demand and digital services.

Schedulers say the genre now slots in as a fill-in ace on the programming map. The genre can premiere on a wide range of weekends, supply a simple premise for promo reels and vertical videos, and exceed norms with moviegoers that respond on previews Thursday and stick through the next pass if the release works. On the heels of a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 cadence underscores faith in that approach. The year gets underway with a weighty January run, then targets spring into early summer for alternate plays, while clearing room for a fall run that carries into spooky season and past Halloween. The arrangement also illustrates the ongoing integration of indie arms and SVOD players that can platform and widen, grow buzz, and widen at the sweet spot.

An added macro current is series management across linked properties and long-running brands. Studios are not just rolling another follow-up. They are setting up brand continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a typeface approach that telegraphs a reframed mood or a casting choice that threads a fresh chapter to a first wave. At the same time, the creative teams behind the most anticipated originals are doubling down on material texture, special makeup and place-driven backdrops. That convergence hands 2026 a lively combination of home base and invention, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount fires first with two marquee plays that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the spine, signaling it as both a cross-generational handoff and a origin-leaning character-forward chapter. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the artistic posture points to a classic-referencing strategy without looping the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. A campaign is expected leaning on brand visuals, first images of characters, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm landing toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical through 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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will play up. As a summer alternative, this one will hunt wide appeal through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format supporting quick turns to whatever tops horror talk that spring.

Universal has three unique projects. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is straightforward, heartbroken, and logline-clear: a grieving man installs an intelligent companion that unfolds into a dangerous lover. The date places it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s campaign likely to replay uncanny live moments and bite-size content that interweaves love and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a official title to become an earned moment closer to the first look. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele titles are presented as creative events, with a minimalist tease and a later creative that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The late-month date allows Universal to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a flesh-and-blood, makeup-driven method can feel elevated on a efficient spend. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror surge that leans into international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio sets two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, maintaining a bankable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony 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 charge to serve both core fans and casuals. The fall slot provides the studio time to build promo materials around canon, and creature builds, elements that can stoke premium booking interest and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror centered on textural authenticity and dialect, this time steeped in lycan lore. The distributor has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is robust.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal titles flow to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a ordering that enhances both week-one demand and viewer acquisition in the later phase. Prime Video combines outside acquisitions with cross-border buys and brief theater runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in deep cuts, using editorial spots, October hubs, and handpicked rows to lengthen the tail on aggregate take. Netflix remains opportunistic about original films and festival deals, scheduling horror entries on shorter runways and turning into events rollouts with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a one-two of focused cinema runs and rapid platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a selective basis. The platform has been willing to take on select projects with top-tier auteurs or star-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for monthly engagement when the genre conversation builds.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is putting together this website a 2026 corridor with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is simple: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, upgraded for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a cinema-first plan for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the October weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday frame to expand. That positioning has paid off for prestige horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception supports. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using limited runs to jump-start evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Brands and originals

By tilt, 2026 leans toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on cultural cachet. The challenge, as ever, is overexposure. The practical approach is to present each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is leading with relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a European tilt from a ascendant talent. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and talent-first projects keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the deal build is steady enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Recent comps clarify the method. In 2023, a exclusive window model that honored streaming windows did not hamper a hybrid test from paying off when the brand was powerful. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror over-performed in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they reorient and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters filmed consecutively, permits marketing to tie installments through personae and themes and to hold creative in the market without doldrums.

Production craft signals

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the upcoming entries hint at a continued lean toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that leans on creep and texture rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in trade spotlights and guild coverage before rolling out a mood teaser that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for red-band excess, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and produces shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta-horror reset that centers its original star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature craft and set design, which favor expo activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel key. Look for trailers that foreground disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that shine in top rooms.

How the year maps out

January is busy. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid heavier IP. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the variety of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth endures.

Winter into spring tee up summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy re-centers 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 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can succeed 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 shuffled through big rooms.

Back half into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a pre-October slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a opaque tease strategy and limited plot reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card redemption.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces 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 widowed man’s AI companion escalates into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: aura-driven 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 uninhabited island as the control dynamic turns and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to fear, built on Cronin’s material craft and accumulating 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 intimate haunting chiller that pipes the unease through a youngster’s shifting perspective. Rating: rating pending. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-grade and headline-actor led eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A genre lampoon that lampoons modern genre fads and true crime preoccupations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites breaks out, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new clan linked to ancient dread. Rating: pending. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on pure survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: forthcoming. Production: moving forward. 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-specific language and bone-deep menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. 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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the moment is 2026

Three hands-on forces drive this lineup. First, production that eased or re-sequenced in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and pared-down 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 overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify turnkey scare beats from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can lead a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will stack across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where modest-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first quiet 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. 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.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, aural design, and picture 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 Strong 2026 Horizon

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is recognizable IP where it plays, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.