Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primordial evil, a nerve shredding chiller, premiering Oct 2025 on major streaming services

A chilling spectral horror tale from scriptwriter / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an forgotten terror when unrelated individuals become conduits in a fiendish conflict. Streaming October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching tale of resilience and mythic evil that will resculpt genre cinema this harvest season. Crafted by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and claustrophobic film follows five strangers who find themselves locked in a hidden shack under the menacing rule of Kyra, a haunted figure claimed by a 2,000-year-old sacred-era entity. Anticipate to be absorbed by a visual display that intertwines intense horror with ancestral stories, releasing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a enduring tradition in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is redefined when the malevolences no longer emerge from elsewhere, but rather inside their minds. This represents the deepest corner of the group. The result is a enthralling moral showdown where the emotions becomes a merciless battle between heaven and hell.


In a haunting no-man's-land, five youths find themselves cornered under the malicious control and spiritual invasion of a secretive entity. As the companions becomes unable to oppose her manipulation, detached and followed by entities impossible to understand, they are compelled to reckon with their inner demons while the timeline without pity counts down toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety intensifies and partnerships collapse, demanding each character to doubt their being and the notion of personal agency itself. The pressure magnify with every breath, delivering a horror experience that blends unearthly horror with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to extract deep fear, an entity rooted in antiquity, embedding itself in fragile psyche, and examining a force that dismantles free will when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra was about accessing something beneath mortal despair. She is uninformed until the haunting manifests, and that metamorphosis is shocking because it is so intimate.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for streaming beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—making sure users internationally can watch this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its first preview, which has racked up over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, offering the tale to fans of fear everywhere.


Join this unforgettable voyage through terror. Face *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to survive these haunting secrets about existence.


For featurettes, behind-the-scenes content, and social posts directly from production, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across entertainment pages and visit the official movie site.





Current horror’s major pivot: 2025 across markets American release plan interlaces old-world possession, underground frights, paired with IP aftershocks

Spanning pressure-cooker survival tales inspired by scriptural legend and including returning series together with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is emerging as the most variegated along with blueprinted year in the past ten years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. Major studios stabilize the year using marquee IP, concurrently OTT services flood the fall with new voices as well as ancient terrors. In parallel, festival-forward creators is propelled by the backdraft of a peak 2024 circuit. As Halloween stays the prime week, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, but this year, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are precise, as a result 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s slate sets the tone with a marquee bet: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, inside today’s landscape. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. targeting mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Helmed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer wanes, the Warner lot unveils the final movement from its bankable horror series: 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. Though the formula is familiar, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson returns, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: throwback unease, trauma as text, and eerie supernatural logic. This time, the stakes are raised, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The continuation widens the legend, grows the animatronic horror lineup, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It drops in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Originals: No Budget, No Problem

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Steered 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 quieter side is Together, a body horror chamber piece starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, 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. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting 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.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Authored and directed 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. 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. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of 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 bloated mythology. No brand fatigue. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. In 2025, they behave 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, 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. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, steered by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Trends Worth Watching

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps 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 encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Outlook: Fall saturation and a winter joker

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

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

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The 2026 terror release year: Sequels, original films, together with A brimming Calendar engineered for Scares

Dek: The current terror calendar lines up from the jump with a January glut, after that carries through summer corridors, and far into the winter holidays, marrying IP strength, new voices, and calculated counterweight. Studios and platforms are betting on responsible budgets, box-office-first windows, and shareable marketing that position genre releases into all-audience topics.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The horror marketplace has established itself as the surest option in distribution calendars, a category that can surge when it catches and still insulate the drag when it fails to connect. After 2023 reminded executives that disciplined-budget fright engines can dominate social chatter, the following year continued the surge with high-profile filmmaker pieces and sleeper breakouts. The energy fed into 2025, where reboots and festival-grade titles demonstrated there is demand for varied styles, from ongoing IP entries to fresh IP that scale internationally. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a slate that reads highly synchronized across the industry, with strategic blocks, a equilibrium of established brands and first-time concepts, and a tightened strategy on exhibition windows that feed downstream value on PVOD and streaming.

Planners observe the horror lane now operates like a utility player on the rollout map. Horror can roll out on numerous frames, supply a clean hook for ad units and reels, and over-index with fans that arrive on Thursday previews and sustain through the sophomore frame if the release pays off. Following a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 layout signals certainty in that equation. The year opens with a crowded January schedule, then taps spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while carving room for a autumn stretch that connects to All Hallows period and into early November. The layout also includes the stronger partnership of boutique distributors and streamers that can build gradually, build word of mouth, and scale up at the proper time.

Another broad trend is IP cultivation across brand ecosystems and heritage properties. Major shops are not just pushing another return. They are setting up connection with a must-see charge, whether that is a graphic identity that announces a refreshed voice or a lead change that anchors a next entry 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 distinct locales. That convergence offers the 2026 slate a vital pairing of recognition and surprise, which is why the genre exports well.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount marks the early tempo with two marquee projects that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, signaling it as both a lineage transfer and a rootsy character study. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the creative posture conveys a memory-charged approach without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected rooted in classic imagery, character spotlights, and a two-beat trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will emphasize. As a summer relief option, this one will drive broad awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format inviting quick adjustments to whatever tops the discourse that spring.

Universal has three defined lanes. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is elegant, soulful, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man sets up an artificial companion that evolves into a perilous partner. The date nudges it to the front of a heavy month, with the marketing arm likely to reprise uncanny live moments and bite-size content that interweaves devotion and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a title reveal to become an PR pop closer to the early tease. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. His entries are framed as signature events, with a hinting teaser and a next wave of trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween runway offers Universal room to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has made clear that a gritty, on-set effects led method can feel cinematic on a tight budget. Look for a blood-soaked summer horror rush that embraces international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio deploys two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, sustaining a dependable supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is presenting as a from-the-ground-up reboot 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 well-defined brief to serve both devotees and general audiences. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build materials around canon, and monster craft, elements that can drive deluxe auditorium demand and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues Eggers’ run of period horror defined by immersive craft and dialect, this time exploring werewolf lore. The specialty arm has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is robust.

Digital platform strategies

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on tested paths. Universal titles head to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a ordering that amplifies both first-week urgency and sign-up spikes in the later window. Prime Video pairs third-party pickups with worldwide buys and limited runs in theaters when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in library curation, using featured rows, spooky hubs, and featured rows to prolong the run on aggregate take. Netflix keeps flexible about Netflix originals and festival pickups, securing horror entries closer to launch and turning into events arrivals with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a laddered of limited theatrical footprints and swift platform pivots that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown a willingness to acquire select projects with recognized filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for platform stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 track with two brand extensions. 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 mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, elevated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the fall weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday frame to expand. That positioning has proved effective for prestige horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception drives. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using select theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Franchises versus originals

By tilt, 2026 bends toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage cultural cachet. The caveat, as ever, is fatigue. The operating solution is to position each entry as a new angle. Paramount is foregrounding relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-flavored turn from a hot helmer. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries provide the air. 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, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the packaging is known enough to generate pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Three-year comps make sense of the logic. In 2023, a theater-first model that held distribution windows did not stop a parallel release from working when the brand was robust. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror popped in premium large format. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they pivot perspective and grow scope. 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 two-step approach, with chapters shot consecutively, lets marketing to thread films through character spine and themes and to leave creative active without dead zones.

Craft and creative trends

The filmmaking conversations behind 2026 horror foreshadow a continued preference for tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that foregrounds aura and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in feature stories and guild coverage before rolling out a mood teaser that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and generates shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta reframe that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster aesthetics and world-building, which play well in fan-con activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel necessary. Look for trailers that emphasize pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that sing on PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is packed. 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 macro-brand pushes. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the menu of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth carries.

Early-year through spring tee up summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Back half into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a pre-October slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited previews that stress concept over spoilers.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and card redemption.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s essence. 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 intelligent companion turns into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: mood-led adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her severe boss scramble to survive on a desolate island as the hierarchy inverts and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

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 fright, anchored by Cronin’s physical craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting piece that frames the panic through a preteen’s flickering subjective lens. Rating: TBD. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A parody return that satirizes of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fixations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites surges, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a new household caught in old terrors. Rating: TBD. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A restart designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-first horror over action fireworks. Rating: forthcoming. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: undetermined. Production: underway. 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 era-faithful speech and elemental fear. Rating: pending. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three hands-on forces organize this lineup. First, production that decelerated or re-sequenced in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and compressed schedules. 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 surpassed straight-to-streaming drops. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work repeatable beats from test screenings, metered scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, providing runway for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will share space across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets see here remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 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 capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, smart allocations, 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 detail, sonics, and imagery 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 Looks Exciting

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand gravity where needed, 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, lock the reveals, and let the frights sell the seats.