Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up primeval malevolence, a spine tingling horror feature, bowing October 2025 across premium platforms

An spine-tingling spiritual shockfest from scriptwriter / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an archaic fear when strangers become vehicles in a dark struggle. Premiering on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, the YouTube platform, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing episode of perseverance and ancient evil that will revolutionize terror storytelling this fall. Visualized by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and claustrophobic thriller follows five unacquainted souls who arise caught in a wilderness-bound hideaway under the malignant will of Kyra, a female presence consumed by a ancient holy text monster. Brace yourself to be gripped by a narrative venture that unites bone-deep fear with spiritual backstory, releasing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a legendary motif in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is subverted when the monsters no longer originate beyond the self, but rather inside their minds. This depicts the malevolent layer of these individuals. The result is a intense internal warfare where the plotline becomes a merciless confrontation between right and wrong.


In a forsaken forest, five figures find themselves imprisoned under the ghastly dominion and grasp of a elusive being. As the victims becomes incapacitated to reject her rule, stranded and pursued by powers impossible to understand, they are required to stand before their soulful dreads while the deathwatch unceasingly winds toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension surges and connections erode, urging each character to evaluate their being and the idea of decision-making itself. The consequences grow with every fleeting time, delivering a paranormal ride that fuses occult fear with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to dive into instinctual horror, an power that predates humanity, manipulating emotional vulnerability, and examining a curse that threatens selfhood when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra required summoning something darker than pain. She is uninformed until the evil takes hold, and that metamorphosis is bone-chilling because it is so emotional.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for on-demand beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—giving watchers globally can watch this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its first preview, which has gathered over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, exporting the fear to viewers around the world.


Join this life-altering spiral into evil. Enter *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to face these chilling revelations about the psyche.


For film updates, production news, and social posts via the production team, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across fan hubs and visit our horror hub.





Today’s horror tipping point: calendar year 2025 American release plan weaves Mythic Possession, indie terrors, set against franchise surges

From survivor-centric dread infused with old testament echoes as well as franchise returns plus pointed art-house angles, 2025 stands to become the most complex combined with blueprinted year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. studio powerhouses lay down anchors with franchise anchors, concurrently digital services saturate the fall with unboxed visions together with archetypal fear. On the festival side, festival-forward creators is riding the afterglow of a peak 2024 circuit. Since Halloween is the prized date, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. A fat September–October lane is customary now, and in 2025, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are disciplined, so 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: The Return of Prestige Fear

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s pipeline begins the calendar with a bold swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, but a sharp contemporary setting. Guided by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. arriving mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Guided by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and 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. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

When summer fades, Warner’s slate drops the final chapter from its bankable horror series: 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. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson re engages, and the memorable motifs return: nostalgic menace, trauma as theme, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This time the stakes climb, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, broadens the animatronic terror cast, bridging teens and legacy players. It drops in December, pinning the winter close.

Streamer Exclusives: Economy, maximum dread

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

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. 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.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a tight space body horror vignette featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly 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 explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped 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 overinflated mythology. No brand fatigue. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

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

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

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

Legacy Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

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

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Dials to Watch

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror returns
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Badges become bargaining chips
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Outlook: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The 2026 Horror season: returning titles, fresh concepts, And A loaded Calendar engineered for chills

Dek The current scare year crowds right away with a January cluster, following that rolls through summer, and pushing into the festive period, mixing brand equity, untold stories, and smart counter-scheduling. Studios and platforms are betting on responsible budgets, big-screen-first runs, and social-fueled campaigns that convert the slate’s entries into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror marketplace has established itself as the sturdy release in release strategies, a vertical that can spike when it resonates and still limit the liability when it underperforms. After 2023 reassured executives that efficiently budgeted fright engines can own mainstream conversation, 2024 continued the surge with director-led heat and surprise hits. The upswing extended into the 2025 frame, where returns and filmmaker-prestige bets made clear there is room for diverse approaches, from franchise continuations to fresh IP that export nicely. The sum for 2026 is a run that feels more orchestrated than usual across players, with intentional bunching, a equilibrium of brand names and fresh ideas, and a re-energized stance on exhibition windows that drive downstream revenue on premium video on demand and platforms.

Insiders argue the space now slots in as a schedule utility on the rollout map. Horror can arrive on most weekends, deliver a clean hook for promo reels and UGC-friendly snippets, and outpace with crowds that show up on Thursday previews and sustain through the next weekend if the movie fires. Exiting a production delay era, the 2026 rhythm reflects comfort in that model. The calendar rolls out with a stacked January run, then leans on spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while keeping space for a fall cadence that reaches into late October and afterwards. The calendar also includes the ongoing integration of boutique distributors and home platforms that can nurture a platform play, build word of mouth, and broaden at the strategic time.

A parallel macro theme is brand curation across linked properties and established properties. The players are not just pushing another chapter. They are shaping as ongoing narrative with a heightened moment, whether that is a art treatment that announces a refreshed voice or a ensemble decision that connects a new entry to a vintage era. At the alongside this, the creative leads behind the marquee originals are favoring practical craft, practical gags and location-forward worlds. That convergence hands 2026 a confident blend of familiarity and surprise, which is why the genre exports well.

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

Paramount fires first with two front-of-slate releases that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the front, setting it up as both a legacy handover and a origin-leaning character-centered film. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance signals a nostalgia-forward treatment without covering again the last two entries’ sisters storyline. The studio is likely to mount a drive built on classic imagery, early character teases, and a two-beat trailer plan targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will play up. As a summer alternative, this one will chase mainstream recognition through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format enabling quick updates to whatever defines the discourse that spring.

Universal has three specific lanes. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is clean, tragic, and big-hook: a grieving man activates an synthetic partner that becomes a harmful mate. The date lines it up at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to recreate creepy live activations and brief clips that hybridizes companionship and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a title reveal to become an marketing beat closer to the initial promo. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele titles are marketed as auteur events, with a concept-forward tease and a later trailer push that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The prime October weekend gives the studio room to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to 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 is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has demonstrated that a gritty, practical-first approach can feel cinematic on a middle budget. Frame it as a blood-soaked summer horror charge that leans hard into overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio launches two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, extending a steady supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is selling as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both core fans and first-timers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build materials around setting detail, and monster aesthetics, elements that can boost IMAX and PLF uptake and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions 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 grounded in minute detail and dialect, this time engaging werewolf myth. Focus Features has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is glowing.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform plans for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s genre slate feed copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a ordering that amplifies both opening-weekend urgency and platform bumps in the late-window. Prime Video blends third-party pickups with global originals and short theatrical plays when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library curation, using in-app campaigns, spooky hubs, and staff picks to extend momentum on the horror cume. Netflix retains agility about own-slate titles and festival wins, securing horror entries closer to launch and positioning as event drops releases with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a hybrid of tailored theatrical exposure and rapid platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has shown a willingness to secure select projects with recognized filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for retention when the genre conversation heats up.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 pipeline with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is straightforward: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, modernized for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a theatrical rollout for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the autumn stretch.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday slot to broaden. That positioning has helped for prestige horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception justifies. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using targeted theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Series vs standalone

By count, 2026 leans toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap legacy awareness. The watch-out, as ever, is diminishing returns. The operating solution is to sell each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is bringing forward core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is floating a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a European tilt from a buzzed-about director. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with signature mischievous 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 legacy IP, the package is anchored enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday previews.

Recent comps frame the template. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that respected streaming windows did not prevent a simultaneous release test from working when the brand was strong. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror hit big in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel new when they pivot perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to link the films through character arcs and themes and to continue assets in field without long breaks.

How the look and feel evolve

The craft conversations behind the upcoming entries point to a continued lean toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that elevates atmosphere and fear rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft coverage before rolling out a initial teaser that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On movies the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and sparks shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta pivot that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster realization and design, which work nicely for con floor moments and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel key. Look for trailers that center surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that work in PLF.

From winter to holidays

January is busy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid marquee brands. The month finishes 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 legit, but the mix of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

Early-year through spring prepare summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can pop 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.

Late summer into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a late-September window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a peekaboo tease plan and limited information drops that stress concept over spoilers.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card use.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s machine mate evolves into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional Check This Out core.

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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 prickly boss struggle to survive on a lonely island as the power dynamic tilts and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to nightmare, grounded in Cronin’s hands-on craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal 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 residential haunting setup that channels the fear through a kid’s uneven perspective. Rating: to be announced. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

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 satire sequel that skewers current genre trends and true-crime buzz. Rating: TBD. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 detonates, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a unlucky family snared by residual nightmares. Rating: not yet rated. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A new start designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward pure survival horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: closely held. Rating: to be announced. Production: ongoing. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and elemental menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 lands now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces frame this lineup. First, production that decelerated or shifted in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more measured 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 my company releases. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on shareable moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Calendar math also matters. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can control a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will coexist across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 breakout 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 leverage those opportunities. 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.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, 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 Is Well Positioned

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand power where it counts, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver 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, deliver taut trailers, lock the reveals, and let the shudders sell the seats.