Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens primeval malevolence, a spine tingling horror feature, rolling out October 2025 across major platforms

This terrifying otherworldly horror tale from author / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an archaic horror when guests become pawns in a malevolent ordeal. Streaming October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping account of overcoming and archaic horror that will resculpt genre cinema this scare season. Produced by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and shadowy motion picture follows five unknowns who come to trapped in a cut-off hideaway under the malevolent grip of Kyra, a tormented girl possessed by a legendary Old Testament spirit. Get ready to be captivated by a screen-based display that fuses intense horror with ancestral stories, debuting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a well-established trope in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is challenged when the fiends no longer manifest beyond the self, but rather through their own souls. This portrays the deepest element of all involved. The result is a psychologically brutal internal warfare where the drama becomes a brutal fight between good and evil.


In a isolated woodland, five young people find themselves trapped under the possessive effect and spiritual invasion of a secretive figure. As the cast becomes powerless to break her dominion, disconnected and targeted by spirits unimaginable, they are obligated to face their soulful dreads while the hours without pause draws closer toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear mounts and relationships fracture, requiring each protagonist to scrutinize their being and the idea of self-determination itself. The cost mount with every passing moment, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that intertwines otherworldly suspense with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to tap into pure dread, an curse that existed before mankind, manifesting in fragile psyche, and exposing a curse that forces self-examination when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra was about accessing something unfamiliar to reason. She is in denial until the takeover begins, and that turn is deeply unsettling because it is so raw.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for streaming beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—offering horror lovers everywhere can witness this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its first trailer, which has received over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, spreading the horror to viewers around the world.


Make sure to see this unforgettable path of possession. Join *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to survive these fearful discoveries about the soul.


For sneak peeks, on-set glimpses, and press updates from the creators, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across social media and visit our spooky domain.





Today’s horror decisive shift: 2025 for genre fans U.S. Slate integrates ancient-possession motifs, independent shockers, set against brand-name tremors

Spanning last-stand terror inspired by biblical myth to franchise returns and sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is shaping up as the most textured in tandem with precision-timed year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. the big studios bookend the months with established lines, as platform operators crowd the fall with new perspectives and ancient terrors. In parallel, indie storytellers is buoyed by the afterglow from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, distinctly in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are disciplined, hence 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Premium genre swings back

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 set the base, 2025 doubles down.

the Universal banner begins the calendar with a risk-forward move: a refreshed Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, inside today’s landscape. Directed by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. timed for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Eli Craig directs starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

At summer’s close, Warner Bros. Pictures launches the swan song from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re teams, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: vintage toned fear, trauma foregrounded, with ghostly inner logic. Here the stakes rise, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, builds out the animatronic fear crew, reaching teens and game grownups. It opens in December, holding the cold season’s end.

SVOD Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a body horror chamber piece with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is destined for a fall landing.

Next comes Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable led by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held 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 threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. That is a savvy move. No bloated mythology. No continuity burden. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Franchise Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops 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.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, from Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Key Trends

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

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

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Cinemas are a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

The Road Ahead: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

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 hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The next fear Year Ahead: entries, filmmaker-first projects, And A jammed Calendar designed for nightmares

Dek The emerging scare slate packs immediately with a January traffic jam, following that extends through peak season, and deep into the winter holidays, combining brand equity, novel approaches, and calculated counterprogramming. The big buyers and platforms are relying on right-sized spends, theatrical exclusivity first, and viral-minded pushes that elevate these pictures into national conversation.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The horror sector has established itself as the surest play in release plans, a genre that can surge when it catches and still hedge the drag when it under-delivers. After 2023 reassured greenlighters that low-to-mid budget pictures can lead mainstream conversation, 2024 extended the rally with festival-darling auteurs and sleeper breakouts. The carry pushed into the 2025 frame, where returns and filmmaker-prestige bets showed there is appetite for many shades, from series extensions to original one-offs that perform internationally. The net effect for 2026 is a calendar that is strikingly coherent across distributors, with intentional bunching, a balance of household franchises and new concepts, and a renewed attention on release windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium home window and OTT platforms.

Planners observe the category now operates like a swing piece on the calendar. The genre can roll out on most weekends, offer a quick sell for marketing and social clips, and lead with demo groups that line up on advance nights and stay strong through the follow-up frame if the feature satisfies. Following a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 configuration underscores assurance in that logic. The slate opens with a weighty January stretch, then primes spring and early summer for balance, while leaving room for a October build that connects to holiday-adjacent weekends and past Halloween. The arrangement also shows the ongoing integration of indie arms and digital platforms that can stage a platform run, generate chatter, and broaden at the timely point.

Another broad trend is IP stewardship across shared universes and veteran brands. The players are not just turning out another continuation. They are moving to present story carry-over with a sense of event, whether that is a typeface approach that telegraphs a new vibe or a casting pivot that binds a next film to a initial period. At the parallel to that, the auteurs behind the most buzzed-about originals are championing tactile craft, physical gags and vivid settings. That combination hands 2026 a lively combination of home base and unexpected turns, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

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

Paramount opens strong with two prominent plays that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the heart, marketing it as both a succession moment and a rootsy character study. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the tonal posture suggests a heritage-honoring strategy without recycling the last two entries’ sisters storyline. The studio is likely to mount a drive driven by iconic art, initial cast looks, and a trailer cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will stress. As a counterweight in summer, this one will build wide appeal through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format making room for quick turns to whatever rules the social talk that spring.

Universal has three defined entries. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is clean, melancholic, and logline-clear: a grieving man brings home an algorithmic mate that unfolds into a harmful mate. The date nudges it to the front of a thick month, with Universal’s marketing likely to iterate on strange in-person beats and quick hits that hybridizes longing and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a official title to become an PR pop closer to the teaser. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s releases are sold as signature events, with a minimalist tease and a later creative that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The prime October weekend affords Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has proven that a tactile, prosthetic-heavy aesthetic can feel deluxe on a controlled budget. Expect a viscera-heavy summer horror rush that pushes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio lines up two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, sustaining a consistent supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is calling a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both devotees and new audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build assets around lore, and monster design, elements that can accelerate premium screens and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes 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 rooted in immersive craft and historical speech, this time driven by werewolf stories. The imprint has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is glowing.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform strategies for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal titles land on copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a pacing that boosts both initial urgency and sub growth in the after-window. Prime Video blends outside acquisitions with global acquisitions and targeted theatrical runs when the data supports it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in archive usage, using timely promos, holiday hubs, and curated strips to lengthen the tail on lifetime take. Netflix stays nimble about originals and festival additions, securing horror entries with shorter lead times and positioning as event drops debuts with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a paired of tailored theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a curated basis. The platform has indicated interest to secure select projects with top-tier auteurs or name-led packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for sustained usage when the genre conversation intensifies.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is curating 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 setup is no-nonsense: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, refined for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an good sign for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late-season weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, piloting the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then turning to the year-end corridor to open out. That positioning has shown results for arthouse horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception merits. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using select theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their paid base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By share, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage cultural cachet. The potential drawback, as ever, is brand wear. The near-term solution is to frame each entry as a new angle. Paramount is bringing forward relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a European tilt from a hot helmer. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the team and cast is recognizable enough to accelerate early sales and early previews.

Three-year comps help explain the strategy. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that honored streaming windows did not deter a dual release from working when the brand was trusted. In 2024, auteur craft horror surged in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they reorient 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 back-to-back plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, creates space for marketing to relate entries through cast and motif and to sustain campaign assets without doldrums.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The creative meetings behind this year’s genre foreshadow a continued preference for real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that underscores grain and menace rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in feature stories and craft features before rolling out a preview that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has delivered 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 connects worldwide in red-band trailers and drives shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta recalibration that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature work and production design, which match well with expo activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel definitive. Look for trailers that underscore hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that land in premium houses.

Release calendar overview

January is crowded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid headline IP. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the range of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth persists.

Late Q1 and spring stage summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

End of summer through fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a early fall window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a peekaboo tease plan and limited information drops that trade in concept over detail.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and holiday gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s AI companion becomes something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. 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 hard-edged boss try to survive on a uninhabited island as the power balance of power turns and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to fear, founded on Cronin’s practical effects and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting premise that manipulates the unease of a child’s uncertain POV. Rating: rating pending. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-grade and A-list fronted supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that pokes at present-day genre chatter and true crime preoccupations. Rating: undetermined. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 ignites, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new family entangled with lingering terrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A clean reboot designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-first horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: TBA. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: TBD. Production: ongoing. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and elemental dread. Rating: TBA. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. 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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 lands now

Three execution-level forces structure this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or shuffled in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage meme-ready beats from test screenings, select scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, providing runway for genre entries that can seize a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will jostle across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 cost-efficient genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to work those windows. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving imp source 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 smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, efficient screen counts, 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 visual texture, 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 Robust 2026 On Deck

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand power where it counts, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite 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 late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, hold the mystery, and let the gasps sell the seats.