Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons mythic darkness, a bone chilling shocker, arriving Oct 2025 on major streaming services

A chilling spectral suspense story from author / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an prehistoric nightmare when strangers become puppets in a demonic maze. Dropping this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping story of struggle and ancient evil that will reshape the horror genre this Halloween season. Visualized by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and atmospheric suspense flick follows five people who awaken imprisoned in a secluded cottage under the sinister sway of Kyra, a female presence possessed by a prehistoric biblical demon. Ready yourself to be hooked by a filmic display that fuses gut-punch terror with ancestral stories, debuting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a legendary pillar in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is twisted when the fiends no longer come outside the characters, but rather through their own souls. This portrays the most sinister part of the protagonists. The result is a enthralling moral showdown where the events becomes a unforgiving clash between innocence and sin.


In a desolate terrain, five figures find themselves stuck under the unholy aura and inhabitation of a uncanny spirit. As the victims becomes submissive to escape her command, left alone and targeted by creatures impossible to understand, they are pushed to endure their emotional phantoms while the doomsday meter coldly counts down toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion amplifies and relationships shatter, pressuring each character to challenge their core and the concept of volition itself. The consequences rise with every fleeting time, delivering a frightening tale that weaves together supernatural terror with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to dive into primitive panic, an threat that existed before mankind, feeding on psychological breaks, and wrestling with a being that strips down our being when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra meant evoking something deeper than fear. She is unseeing until the entity awakens, and that change is terrifying because it is so raw.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for streaming beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—allowing subscribers across the world can engage with this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its original clip, which has collected over notable views.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, delivering the story to scare fans abroad.


Tune in for this unforgettable fall into madness. Experience *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to dive into these terrifying truths about free will.


For director insights, extra content, and alerts straight from the filmmakers, follow @YACMovie across platforms and visit our horror hub.





Current horror’s inflection point: the 2025 cycle U.S. Slate weaves old-world possession, signature indie scares, and brand-name tremors

Spanning fight-to-live nightmare stories inspired by biblical myth all the way to brand-name continuations alongside surgical indie voices, 2025 is tracking to be horror’s most layered as well as tactically planned year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. the big studios lay down anchors with known properties, concurrently subscription platforms pack the fall with new voices together with ancestral chills. In the indie lane, the art-house flank is drafting behind the tailwinds from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, but this year, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are exacting, which means 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

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

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 deepens the push.

the Universal banner lights the fuse with a confident swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, but a crisp modern milieu. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. Booked into mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Under Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

As summer eases, the WB camp rolls out the capstone from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the tone that worked before is intact: retro dread, trauma as text, plus otherworld rules that chill. This run ups the stakes, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The new chapter enriches the lore, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, speaking to teens and older millennials. It arrives in December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, an intimate body horror unraveling anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

In the mix sits Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative led by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered 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. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. 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.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is a clever angle. No bloated mythology. No continuity burden. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Legacy IP: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Trend Lines

Myth turns mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror resurges
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

What’s Next: Autumn density and winter pivot

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

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 chiller calendar year ahead: brand plays, new stories, paired with A jammed Calendar calibrated for screams

Dek The emerging scare slate packs from day one with a January cluster, following that extends through peak season, and well into the holiday stretch, fusing name recognition, untold stories, and smart counterplay. The big buyers and platforms are relying on right-sized spends, exclusive theatrical windows first, and influencer-ready assets that frame these offerings into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The field has emerged as the dependable tool in release plans, a segment that can expand when it connects and still mitigate the drawdown when it does not. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for top brass that lean-budget shockers can own the zeitgeist, 2024 continued the surge with visionary-driven titles and unexpected risers. The head of steam moved into the 2025 frame, where reboots and awards-minded projects proved there is demand for different modes, from franchise continuations to one-and-done originals that play globally. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a roster that appears tightly organized across players, with strategic blocks, a balance of marquee IP and original hooks, and a revived emphasis on cinema windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium home window and OTT platforms.

Marketers add the horror lane now serves as a swing piece on the schedule. The genre can premiere on numerous frames, furnish a simple premise for promo reels and platform-native cuts, and overperform with demo groups that come out on advance nights and hold through the subsequent weekend if the picture pays off. Following a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 cadence underscores assurance in that logic. The slate starts with a busy January stretch, then turns to spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while reserving space for a September to October window that flows toward the Halloween frame and into early November. The grid also highlights the increasing integration of indie distributors and subscription services that can develop over weeks, fuel WOM, and go nationwide at the inflection point.

A companion trend is brand curation across unified worlds and heritage properties. Studio teams are not just making another return. They are aiming to frame ongoing narrative with a sense of event, whether that is a typeface approach that suggests a new vibe or a star attachment that ties a latest entry to a early run. At the simultaneously, the creative teams behind the top original plays are celebrating hands-on technique, practical gags and specific settings. That pairing offers 2026 a vital pairing of brand comfort and surprise, which is the formula for international play.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount plants an early flag with two big-ticket moves that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, positioning the film as both a baton pass and a origin-leaning character study. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the directional approach announces a nostalgia-forward campaign without looping the last two entries’ sisters thread. Plan for a rollout centered on brand visuals, intro reveals, and a trailer cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

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 draw the campaign will play up. As a summer alternative, this one will pursue four-quadrant chatter through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format allowing quick pivots to whatever tops the conversation that spring.

Universal has three discrete projects. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is simple, somber, and high-concept: a grieving man brings home an AI companion that evolves into a killer companion. The date lines it up at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s team likely to mirror creepy live activations and short reels that interlaces love and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title reveal to become an attention spike closer to the initial promo. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele projects are marketed as auteur events, with a concept-forward tease and a second trailer wave that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween runway gives Universal room to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has made clear that a raw, in-camera leaning approach can feel prestige on a lean spend. Position this as a red-band summer horror rush that pushes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio lines up two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, keeping a consistent supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is framing as a reimagined restart 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 focus to serve both longtime followers and casuals. The fall slot gives Sony time to build materials around setting detail, and creature builds, elements that can amplify premium format interest and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains Eggers’ run of period horror centered on immersive craft and period speech, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is supportive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform plans for 2026 run on tested paths. The studio’s horror films flow to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a sequence that elevates both opening-weekend urgency and subscriber lifts in the later window. Prime Video stitches together third-party pickups with worldwide entries and limited runs in theaters when the data backs it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in library engagement, using editorial spots, seasonal hubs, and staff picks to increase tail value on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix remains opportunistic about internal projects and festival deals, dating horror entries near their drops and eventizing launches with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a two-step of tailored theatrical exposure and quick platforming that translates talk to trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a curated basis. The platform has proven amenable to secure select projects with top-tier auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for sustained usage when the genre conversation heats up.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 lane with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is no-nonsense: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, upgraded for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a theatrical rollout for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the late-season weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, curating the rollout through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then leveraging the Christmas corridor to broaden. That positioning has been successful for elevated genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception allows. Watch for 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 jointly, using limited runs to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Known brands versus new stories

By proportion, 2026 is weighted toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness name recognition. his comment is here The caveat, as ever, is diminishing returns. The operating solution is to sell each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is centering character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is promising a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-accented approach from a emerging director. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the assembly is familiar enough to generate pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Recent-year comps frame the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that observed windows did not foreclose a simultaneous release test from delivering when the brand was sticky. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror surged in PLF. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they change perspective and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on 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 produced back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to relate entries through character and theme and to keep assets alive without long gaps.

How the films are being made

The director conversations behind this slate forecast a continued bias toward tactile, location-specific 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 lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that elevates tone and tension rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in deep-dive features and technical spotlights before rolling out a teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and spurs shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a self-referential reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature work and production design, which match well with con floor moments and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel definitive. Look for trailers that foreground precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that land in premium houses.

The schedule at a glance

January is crowded. 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 quiet contrast amid big-brand pushes. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the menu of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

Early-year through spring tee up summer. Scream 7 opens February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Shoulder season into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited teasers that center concept over reveals.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card redemption.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s virtual companion shifts into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively 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 run into a unsettled 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 claw to survive on a cut-off island as the power dynamic flips and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to fear, founded on Cronin’s practical effects and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting tale that channels the fear through a preteen’s shifting subjective view. Rating: to be announced. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-grade and star-led haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A parody return that pokes at hot-button genre motifs and true-crime obsessions. Rating: pending. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top this content cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites ignites, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further widens again, with a fresh family caught in returning horrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on pure survival horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: undetermined. Production: in progress. 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: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. 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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three grounded forces frame this lineup. First, production that decelerated or rearranged in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and shorter 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 out-earned straight-to-streaming releases. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work shareable moments from test screenings, curated scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

The slot calculus is real. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, making room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will line up across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where disciplined-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 capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, acoustics, and picture 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, Ready To Roar

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is IP strength where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the frights sell the seats.