Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes antediluvian malevolence, a chilling horror thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on top streamers

This blood-curdling occult horror tale from literary architect / director Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an archaic horror when passersby become tools in a devilish maze. Hitting screens on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking portrayal of struggle and primeval wickedness that will resculpt terror storytelling this season. Created by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and moody motion picture follows five characters who regain consciousness trapped in a cut-off cottage under the oppressive control of Kyra, a young woman inhabited by a ancient biblical demon. Arm yourself to be immersed by a filmic adventure that integrates raw fear with biblical origins, dropping on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a time-honored narrative in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is subverted when the presences no longer form from elsewhere, but rather from deep inside. This represents the most hidden part of the cast. The result is a psychologically brutal mental war where the plotline becomes a relentless struggle between heaven and hell.


In a isolated wilderness, five adults find themselves stuck under the ominous presence and overtake of a uncanny being. As the ensemble becomes paralyzed to oppose her influence, isolated and tormented by presences beyond comprehension, they are cornered to confront their core terrors while the timeline mercilessly runs out toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear swells and partnerships erode, pushing each member to rethink their self and the principle of freedom of choice itself. The hazard surge with every fleeting time, delivering a fear-soaked story that blends unearthly horror with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to uncover deep fear, an power that predates humanity, influencing our fears, and highlighting a curse that strips down our being when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra required summoning something outside normal anguish. She is insensitive until the takeover begins, and that shift is deeply unsettling because it is so personal.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for on-demand beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring viewers worldwide can survive this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its original clip, which has gathered over massive response.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, offering the tale to horror fans worldwide.


Avoid skipping this life-altering spiral into evil. Experience *Young & Cursed* this launch day to explore these unholy truths about the soul.


For exclusive trailers, director cuts, and announcements straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across platforms and visit our film’s homepage.





Current horror’s sea change: 2025 across markets U.S. lineup fuses Mythic Possession, indie terrors, paired with Franchise Rumbles

Ranging from fight-to-live nightmare stories drawn from legendary theology to returning series plus keen independent perspectives, 2025 appears poised to be the richest along with blueprinted year in a decade.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio majors bookend the months via recognizable brands, concurrently SVOD players load up the fall with fresh voices set against old-world menace. In parallel, the independent cohort is drafting behind the backdraft of a banner 2024 fest year. Since Halloween is the prized date, the other windows are mapped with care. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, and in 2025, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are calculated, as a result 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige fear returns

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s pipeline begins the calendar with a bold swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, but a sharp contemporary setting. Guided by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. timed for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Guided by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

When summer fades, the Warner lot bows the concluding entry within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Next is The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson resumes command, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: old school creep, trauma as theme, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The stakes escalate here, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, builds out the animatronic fear crew, speaking to teens and older millennials. It posts in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Platform Plays: No Budget, No Problem

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a forensic chill anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the quieter side is Together, a body horror chamber piece starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Then there is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. From writer director 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. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. 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.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is a clever angle. No overweight mythology. No IP hangover. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They are more runway than museum.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy IP: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, with Francis Lawrence directing, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

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.

Signals and Trends

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror swings back
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

The big screen is a trust exercise
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The oncoming fright cycle: entries, Originals, in tandem with A busy Calendar designed for frights

Dek The current horror season lines up at the outset with a January logjam, following that carries through the summer months, and running into the festive period, balancing series momentum, new concepts, and data-minded counterplay. Distributors with platforms are relying on efficient budgets, theatrical-first rollouts, and social-driven marketing that convert horror entries into water-cooler talk.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This category has solidified as the dependable lever in studio slates, a pillar that can spike when it lands and still limit the losses when it falls short. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for leaders that lean-budget genre plays can galvanize pop culture, the following year held pace with buzzy auteur projects and unexpected risers. The head of steam extended into 2025, where revived properties and elevated films confirmed there is space for different modes, from brand follow-ups to standalone ideas that scale internationally. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a slate that looks unusually coordinated across the field, with obvious clusters, a combination of legacy names and original hooks, and a renewed priority on cinema windows that power the aftermarket on premium rental and home platforms.

Executives say the space now behaves like a versatile piece on the slate. The genre can debut on nearly any frame, generate a grabby hook for trailers and vertical videos, and punch above weight with demo groups that line up on Thursday nights and stick through the second frame if the title fires. Following a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 layout exhibits certainty in that playbook. The year kicks off with a busy January stretch, then exploits spring through early summer for counterprogramming, while making space for a October build that flows toward the Halloween corridor and into November. The arrangement also illustrates the continuing integration of specialty distributors and streamers that can platform a title, ignite recommendations, and go nationwide at the precise moment.

A companion trend is franchise tending across connected story worlds and legacy franchises. Big banners are not just greenlighting another continuation. They are looking to package connection with a heightened moment, whether that is a graphic identity that broadcasts a refreshed voice or a star attachment that threads a upcoming film to a first wave. At the alongside this, the creative teams behind the headline-grabbing originals are prioritizing hands-on technique, in-camera effects and specific settings. That convergence delivers the 2026 slate a solid mix of assurance and invention, which is how the films export.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount establishes early momentum with two headline moves that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the focus, angling it as both a legacy handover and a DNA-forward character study. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance hints at a classic-referencing treatment without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign anchored in iconic art, character spotlights, and a staggered trailer plan hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also revives 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 partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will lean on. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will seek wide appeal through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format permitting quick pivots to whatever owns horror talk that spring.

Universal has three distinct projects. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is tidy, melancholic, and big-hook: a grieving man activates an synthetic partner that mutates into a deadly partner. The date positions it at the front of a thick month, with the studio’s marketing likely to recreate creepy live activations and quick hits that interweaves companionship and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a public title to become an attention spike closer to the initial tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. His projects are presented as auteur events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a second beat that signal tone without plot the concept. The pre-Halloween slot opens a lane to own 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, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has demonstrated that a flesh-and-blood, makeup-driven style can feel top-tier on a tight budget. Expect a viscera-heavy summer horror shock that maximizes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio sets two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, carrying a proven supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is marketing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both loyalists and first-timers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build materials around world-building, and creature design, elements that can amplify IMAX and PLF uptake and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by minute detail and dialect, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is robust.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform strategies for 2026 run on predictable routes. The Universal horror run head to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a ordering that enhances both premiere heat and subscription bumps in the later window. Prime Video interleaves catalogue additions with global pickups and targeted theatrical runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in back-catalog play, using seasonal hubs, Halloween hubs, and collection rows to maximize the tail on overall cume. Netflix keeps options open about own-slate titles and festival snaps, locking in horror entries tight to release and framing as events rollouts with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a paired of focused cinema runs and speedy platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to buy select projects with acclaimed directors or marquee packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for platform stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 lane with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is clean: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, refined for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a big-screen first plan for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the back half.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then leveraging the Christmas window to broaden. That positioning has paid off for director-led genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen 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 in parallel, using limited runs to jump-start evangelism that fuels their subs.

Balance of brands and originals

By weight, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage fan equity. The concern, as ever, is viewer burnout. The workable fix is to present each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is centering core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a continental coloration from a buzzed-about director. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the assembly is comforting enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Recent comps contextualize the plan. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that held distribution windows did not obstruct a parallel release from performing when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror popped in premium large format. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they change perspective and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters shot consecutively, gives leeway to marketing to cross-link entries through character and theme and to keep materials circulating without extended gaps.

Technique and craft currents

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind these films indicate a continued tilt toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that leans on aura and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and era-true language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft spotlights before rolling out a tease that elevates tone over story, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and spurs shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta recalibration that centers an original star. Resident Evil will live or die on monster work and world-building, which lend themselves to fan-con activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel necessary. Look for trailers that elevate precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that land in big rooms.

The schedule at a glance

January is crowded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns click to read more a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid big-brand pushes. The month concludes 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 stiff, but the mix of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Late winter and spring prime the summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges 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 lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Late summer into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a slow-reveal plan and limited disclosures that elevate concept over story.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card spend.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s synthetic partner turns into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back 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 travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: tone-first 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 scramble to survive on a rugged island as the control balance upends and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to terror, shaped by Cronin’s on-set craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting piece that mediates the fear via a minor’s unreliable subjective view. Rating: to be announced. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-scale and name-above-title supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A parody reboot that pokes at current genre trends and true-crime obsessions. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a fresh family snared by lingering terrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A new start designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward true survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: moving forward. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 language and raw menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a cinema-first path before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why 2026, why now

Three workable forces frame this lineup. First, production that paused or reshuffled in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and accelerated 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 outpaced straight-to-streaming releases. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work repeatable beats from test screenings, controlled scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can command a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will cluster across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, 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 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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, 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 keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, tight deployments, 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 visual texture, sonics, and visual design that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Shapes Up Strong

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is franchise muscle where it helps, creative ambition where it counts, 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-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, keep the secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.