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

A frightening spectral scare-fest from dramatist / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an forgotten horror when guests become pawns in a fiendish struggle. Streaming this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing tale of overcoming and ancient evil that will reconstruct fear-driven cinema this ghoul season. Guided by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and cinematic thriller follows five teens who are stirred imprisoned in a off-grid cabin under the ominous dominion of Kyra, a tormented girl possessed by a biblical-era Old Testament spirit. Be prepared to be gripped by a audio-visual presentation that combines bodily fright with timeless legends, streaming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a enduring element in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is radically shifted when the forces no longer appear from a different plane, but rather deep within. This mirrors the darkest facet of the victims. The result is a edge-of-seat inner struggle where the conflict becomes a constant clash between moral forces.


In a remote backcountry, five souls find themselves imprisoned under the fiendish rule and curse of a enigmatic spirit. As the survivors becomes powerless to fight her rule, marooned and chased by terrors beyond reason, they are made to face their greatest panics while the clock ruthlessly draws closer toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety surges and friendships implode, urging each cast member to scrutinize their true nature and the foundation of autonomy itself. The stakes magnify with every heartbeat, delivering a cinematic nightmare that integrates mystical fear with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to channel instinctual horror, an spirit from prehistory, influencing our fears, and challenging a being that peels away humanity when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra involved tapping into something outside normal anguish. She is insensitive until the takeover begins, and that shift is shocking because it is so unshielded.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be available for horror fans beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing users in all regions can witness this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its release of trailer #1, which has attracted over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, delivering the story to fans of fear everywhere.


Tune in for this mind-warping descent into darkness. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this launch day to dive into these unholy truths about free will.


For sneak peeks, making-of footage, and announcements from the cast and crew, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across entertainment pages and visit our horror hub.





Contemporary horror’s tipping point: 2025 in focus domestic schedule integrates legend-infused possession, Indie Shockers, paired with Franchise Rumbles

Spanning life-or-death fear rooted in mythic scripture and stretching into returning series set beside sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 looks like the most complex along with tactically planned year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. Top studios set cornerstones using marquee IP, even as premium streamers stack the fall with unboxed visions set against mythic dread. At the same time, indie storytellers is catching the echoes from a record 2024 festival run. As Halloween stays the prime week, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, but this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are precise, which means 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: High-craft horror returns

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal Pictures starts the year with a big gambit: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, in an immediate now. Guided by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. Slated for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Helmed by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

As summer eases, the WB camp drops the final chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Although the framework is familiar, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: nostalgic menace, trauma as theme, plus otherworld rules that chill. The ante is higher this round, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The continuation widens the legend, grows the animatronic horror lineup, speaking to teens and older millennials. It books December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Offerings: Economy, maximum dread

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. 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.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a close quarters body horror study pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, 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. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Also rising is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Scripted and led 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. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No swollen lore. No sequel clutter. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Badges as Fuel

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

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Franchise Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, led by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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.

What to Watch

Ancient myth goes wide
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Season Ahead: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The approaching Horror calendar year ahead: brand plays, universe starters, in tandem with A Crowded Calendar optimized for frights

Dek The upcoming horror cycle stacks right away with a January wave, thereafter unfolds through midyear, and running into the holidays, fusing franchise firepower, original angles, and smart counterprogramming. Major distributors and platforms are relying on lean spends, cinema-first plans, and shareable marketing that transform genre releases into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The genre has emerged as the bankable counterweight in release plans, a category that can grow when it resonates and still mitigate the downside when it underperforms. After the 2023 year showed buyers that mid-range chillers can own the national conversation, 2024 extended the rally with auteur-driven buzzy films and quiet over-performers. The head of steam flowed into 2025, where legacy revivals and filmmaker-prestige bets underscored there is room for multiple flavors, from series extensions to filmmaker-driven originals that play globally. The net effect for 2026 is a programming that reads highly synchronized across the major shops, with defined corridors, a harmony of established brands and new pitches, and a re-energized attention on exhibition windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium video on demand and OTT platforms.

Executives say the space now functions as a swing piece on the grid. Horror can bow on a wide range of weekends, yield a easy sell for ad units and social clips, and exceed norms with ticket buyers that show up on early shows and return through the week two if the entry hits. Following a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 cadence exhibits faith in that model. The slate commences with a stacked January stretch, then targets spring into early summer for alternate plays, while making space for a October build that pushes into late October and beyond. The layout also highlights the increasing integration of indie arms and streamers that can nurture a platform play, build word of mouth, and scale up at the proper time.

A companion trend is legacy care across brand ecosystems and heritage properties. The studios are not just producing another follow-up. They are seeking to position brand continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a brandmark that flags a refreshed voice or a cast configuration that links a new entry to a classic era. At the meanwhile, the helmers behind the most buzzed-about originals are doubling down on physical effects work, in-camera effects and location-forward worlds. That interplay affords 2026 a smart balance of brand comfort and unexpected turns, which is how the genre sells abroad.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount defines the early cadence with two marquee moves that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, positioning the film as both a lineage transfer and a foundation-forward character-forward chapter. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the directional approach suggests a memory-charged strategy without retreading the last two entries’ sibling arc. Expect a marketing push stacked with signature symbols, character spotlights, and a two-beat trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also dusts off 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 contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will spotlight. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will chase wide appeal through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format inviting quick adjustments to whatever defines horror talk that spring.

Universal has three specific lanes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is clean, grief-rooted, and premise-first: a grieving man onboards an AI companion that grows into a dangerous lover. The date places it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s team likely to echo eerie street stunts and brief clips that blurs love and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a final title to become an teaser payoff closer to the debut look. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. His entries are branded as director events, with a minimalist tease and a follow-up trailer set that shape mood without giving away the concept. The late-month date gives the studio room to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has consistently shown that a visceral, on-set effects led aesthetic can feel premium on a disciplined budget. Expect a red-band summer horror jolt that leans into overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio launches two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, preserving a trusty supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is describing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus my review here to serve both franchise faithful and newcomers. The fall slot allows Sony to build marketing units around canon, and monster design, elements that can lift format premiums and fan-forward engagement.

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 built on minute detail and archaic language, this time driven by werewolf stories. The specialty arm has already reserved 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.

Where the platforms fit in

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on stable tracks. The studio’s horror films land on copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a sequence that enhances both debut momentum and viewer acquisition in the tail. Prime Video pairs licensed titles with global originals and brief theater runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in catalog discovery, using seasonal hubs, horror hubs, and featured rows to keep attention on the annual genre haul. Netflix keeps options open about original films and festival additions, confirming horror entries closer to launch and eventizing drops with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a hybrid of tailored theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming 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 pivoting to niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a per-project basis. The platform has indicated interest to purchase select projects with accomplished filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for platform stickiness when the genre conversation peaks.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 lane with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is uncomplicated: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, updated for modern sonics and picture. 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 signaled a theatrical-first plan for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the back half.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, marshalling the project through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday slot to broaden. That positioning has helped for arthouse horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception allows. Anticipate 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 targeted theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subs.

Series vs standalone

By weight, 2026 tips toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate legacy awareness. The watch-out, as ever, is staleness. The pragmatic answer is to position each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is foregrounding character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-tinted vision from a emerging director. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and auteur plays deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the configuration is known enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Comps from the last three years illuminate the model. In 2023, a exclusive window model that observed windows did not hamper a day-date move from thriving when the brand was sticky. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror hit big in premium formats. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they alter lens and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters shot consecutively, enables marketing to tie installments through personae and themes and to keep materials circulating without dead zones.

Production craft signals

The craft conversations behind the upcoming entries telegraph a continued bias toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that underscores unease and texture rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for textured sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in long-lead press and department features before rolling out a atmospheric tease that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and sparks shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a self-aware reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature execution and sets, which fit with fan-con activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel must-have. Look for trailers that elevate disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that play in premium auditoriums.

Month-by-month map

January is jammed. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a brooding contrast amid headline IP. The month caps 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 menu of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth holds.

Pre-summer months set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Back half into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a bridge slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited disclosures that favor idea over plot.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can win the holiday when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card redemption.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s machine mate becomes something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her abrasive boss fight to survive on a rugged island as the hierarchy upends and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to terror, based on Cronin’s in-camera craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting setup that plays with the fear of a child’s fragile point of view. Rating: not yet rated. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-built and headline-actor led eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A genre lampoon that needles of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fascinations. Rating: TBD. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 bursts, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a another family caught in long-buried horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survival-first horror over action fireworks. Rating: TBA. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: closely held. Rating: forthcoming. Production: proceeding. 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-specific language and bone-deep menace. Rating: pending. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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

Why 2026 makes sense

Three execution-level forces drive this lineup. First, production that paused or reshuffled in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined 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 releases. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify meme-ready beats from test screenings, managed scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Calendar math also matters. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, making room for genre entries that can lead a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will navigate here cluster across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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 sleeper chase continues in Q1, where low-to-mid 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 press those advantages. 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives 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 icy, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, sound field, and image-making 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, Lined Up To Scare

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is franchise muscle where it helps, 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 late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the gasps sell the seats.