Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed reignites age-old dread, a fear soaked shocker, premiering Oct 2025 across leading streamers

A spine-tingling paranormal terror film from storyteller / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an primordial dread when unfamiliar people become vehicles in a diabolical ritual. Debuting this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing story of survival and archaic horror that will revolutionize terror storytelling this spooky time. Created by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and moody tale follows five strangers who suddenly rise locked in a secluded hideaway under the dark control of Kyra, a central character overtaken by a biblical-era ancient fiend. Ready yourself to be seized by a immersive experience that blends instinctive fear with ancestral stories, dropping on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a recurring element in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is flipped when the demons no longer come from an outside force, but rather within themselves. This symbolizes the malevolent shade of all involved. The result is a bone-chilling mind game where the tension becomes a merciless clash between divinity and wickedness.


In a haunting natural abyss, five figures find themselves isolated under the ominous effect and infestation of a unknown person. As the group becomes vulnerable to break her will, left alone and hunted by beings mind-shattering, they are forced to battle their emotional phantoms while the deathwatch relentlessly runs out toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust builds and relationships break, requiring each member to challenge their character and the philosophy of decision-making itself. The threat escalate with every fleeting time, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that integrates otherworldly suspense with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to awaken raw dread, an evil born of forgotten ages, influencing fragile psyche, and challenging a being that forces self-examination when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra involved tapping into something beneath mortal despair. She is insensitive until the control shifts, and that conversion is deeply unsettling because it is so emotional.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—giving households worldwide can be part of this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its first preview, which has earned over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, making the film to global fright lovers.


Make sure to see this unforgettable descent into darkness. Confront *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to see these nightmarish insights about the human condition.


For sneak peeks, special features, and announcements straight from the filmmakers, follow @YACFilm across your favorite networks and visit the official website.





The horror genre’s major pivot: calendar year 2025 American release plan Mixes primeval-possession lore, independent shockers, together with tentpole growls

Spanning endurance-driven terror drawn from near-Eastern lore as well as returning series in concert with surgical indie voices, 2025 is shaping up as the most complex in tandem with strategic year for the modern era.

Call it full, but it is also focused. top-tier distributors plant stakes across the year by way of signature titles, even as subscription platforms front-load the fall with debut heat plus scriptural shivers. On the independent axis, festival-forward creators is carried on the afterglow of a record-setting 2024 festival season. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, yet in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are exacting, which means 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Premium dread reemerges

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 set the base, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal Pictures lights the fuse with a headline swing: a modernized Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, within a sleek contemporary canvas. From director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. timed for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Guided by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer wanes, the Warner lot drops the final chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. While the template is known, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson re engages, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: period tinged dread, trauma centered writing, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This pass pushes higher, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, bridging teens and legacy players. It posts in December, securing the winter cap.

Platform Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a sealed box body horror arc fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Then there is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, 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. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped 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 canny scheduling. No puffed out backstory. No sequel clutter. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Trends to Watch

Old myth goes broad
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror resurges
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Projection: Autumn density and winter pivot

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The oncoming spook release year: next chapters, fresh concepts, plus A Crowded Calendar calibrated for chills

Dek The upcoming horror cycle loads at the outset with a January logjam, and then extends through the warm months, and pushing into the year-end corridor, balancing legacy muscle, original angles, and calculated counterweight. Studio marketers and platforms are leaning into mid-range economics, theatrical leads, and short-form initiatives that position these releases into culture-wide discussion.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

Horror filmmaking has turned into the bankable swing in annual schedules, a corner that can surge when it hits and still cushion the risk when it fails to connect. After 2023 re-taught strategy teams that modestly budgeted genre plays can shape social chatter, the following year kept the drumbeat going with signature-voice projects and word-of-mouth wins. The energy extended into 2025, where legacy revivals and premium-leaning entries signaled there is demand for multiple flavors, from franchise continuations to one-and-done originals that travel well. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a schedule that appears tightly organized across distributors, with clear date clusters, a mix of familiar brands and untested plays, and a tightened strategy on release windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium rental and digital services.

Studio leaders note the category now slots in as a flex slot on the release plan. The genre can bow on a wide range of weekends, provide a quick sell for creative and TikTok spots, and exceed norms with moviegoers that turn out on Thursday nights and maintain momentum through the week two if the film connects. Emerging from a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 mapping signals confidence in that logic. The year launches with a busy January run, then taps spring and early summer for audience offsets, while holding room for a fall run that reaches into spooky season and into the next week. The program also spotlights the deeper integration of specialized labels and platforms that can launch in limited release, create conversation, and move wide at the sweet spot.

A companion trend is legacy care across shared IP webs and veteran brands. Distribution groups are not just rolling another sequel. They are working to present threaded continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a graphic identity that indicates a fresh attitude or a cast configuration that reconnects a fresh chapter to a classic era. At the parallel to that, the directors behind the most anticipated originals are celebrating physical effects work, on-set effects and concrete locations. That blend delivers the 2026 slate a vital pairing of recognition and novelty, which is how the films export.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount opens strong with two prominent pushes that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the center, signaling it as both a passing of the torch and a origin-leaning character study. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance announces a roots-evoking treatment without rehashing the last two entries’ sibling arc. Count on a promo wave leaning on recognizable motifs, character previews, and a trailer cadence aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

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 reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will play up. As a summer alternative, this one will pursue broad awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format fitting quick switches to whatever leads pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three unique entries. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is tidy, sorrow-tinged, and commercial: a grieving man brings home an synthetic partner that evolves into a murderous partner. The date slots it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s team likely to recreate uncanny-valley stunts and short reels that hybridizes companionship and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a public title to become an fan moment closer to the teaser. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele’s work are framed as signature events, with a concept-forward tease and a later creative that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The late-month date lets the studio to saturate 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, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has demonstrated that a flesh-and-blood, hands-on effects execution can feel deluxe on a lean spend. Look for a red-band summer horror surge that emphasizes global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio lines up two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, maintaining a trusty supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is calling a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both players and new audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build artifacts around world-building, and monster aesthetics, elements that can increase IMAX and PLF uptake and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by minute detail and period speech, this time circling werewolf lore. The imprint has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is favorable.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform windowing in 2026 run on proven patterns. The studio’s horror films head to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a structure that elevates both premiere heat and platform bumps in the after-window. Prime Video blends catalogue additions with world buys and limited cinema engagements when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu work their edges in deep cuts, using seasonal hubs, fright rows, and curated strips to lengthen the tail on overall cume. Netflix keeps options open about original films and festival snaps, finalizing horror entries with shorter lead times and staging as events premieres with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a two-step of precision theatrical plays and swift platform pivots that turns chatter to conversion. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown a willingness to Check This Out buy select projects with top-tier auteurs or name-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation swells.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 arc with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is direct: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, elevated for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has indicated a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late-season weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the Christmas corridor to broaden. That positioning has helped for filmmaker-driven genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception prompts. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using precision theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their audience.

Legacy titles versus originals

By proportion, 2026 bends toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness franchise value. The potential drawback, as ever, is staleness. The practical approach is to package each entry as a new angle. Paramount is elevating core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a European tilt from a ascendant talent. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the assembly is anchored enough to accelerate early sales and preview-night crowds.

Recent comps frame the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that respected streaming windows did not deter a day-and-date experiment from thriving when the brand was sticky. In 2024, art-forward horror popped in premium large format. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they reorient and stretch the story. 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 paired-chapter approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, allows marketing to bridge entries through character and theme and to keep assets in-market without pause points.

Production craft signals

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind this slate forecast a continued lean toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that highlights unease and texture rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft coverage before rolling out a initial teaser that withholds plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and generates shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta-horror reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster realization and design, which fit with con floor moments and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel primary. Look for trailers that highlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that work in PLF.

Annual flow

January is jammed. 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 Get More Info atmospheric change-up amid heftier brand moves. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the tone spread affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth carries.

Late Q1 and spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The 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 heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

August into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 More about the author gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder season window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited previews that put concept first.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can play the holidays when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift card usage.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s AI companion turns into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete 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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively 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 returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 abrasive boss claw to survive on a desolate island as the power dynamic turns and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to menace, founded on Cronin’s on-set craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 chiller that teases the horror of a child’s inconsistent read. Rating: pending. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-financed and headline-actor led occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A parody reboot that pokes at modern genre fads and true crime fixations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites spreads, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a another family snared by older hauntings. Rating: TBA. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A restart designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival-first horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: proceeding. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and elemental dread. Rating: awaiting classification. 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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three hands-on forces define this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or reshuffled in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on shareable moments from test screenings, metered scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Calendar math also matters. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four different 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 capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

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

The stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where value-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 use those gaps. 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 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a smorgasbord, 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 gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, 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 trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, soundscape, and camera work 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

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is name recognition where it counts, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the gasps sell the seats.