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

A bone-chilling unearthly suspense film from author / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an prehistoric evil when unknowns become tokens in a fiendish ordeal. Streaming on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving narrative of resistance and ancient evil that will revolutionize the horror genre this harvest season. Directed by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and gothic thriller follows five unacquainted souls who find themselves imprisoned in a off-grid dwelling under the oppressive grip of Kyra, a mysterious girl inhabited by a antiquated scriptural evil. Prepare to be ensnared by a motion picture spectacle that integrates bodily fright with ancestral stories, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a legendary motif in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is radically shifted when the beings no longer come outside the characters, but rather from their core. This mirrors the malevolent element of the group. The result is a relentless mental war where the intensity becomes a merciless push-pull between light and darkness.


In a barren no-man's-land, five figures find themselves sealed under the fiendish presence and domination of a obscure character. As the ensemble becomes incapable to combat her curse, left alone and hunted by terrors unfathomable, they are driven to confront their greatest panics while the hours harrowingly moves toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust swells and connections dissolve, prompting each protagonist to evaluate their values and the idea of self-determination itself. The intensity intensify with every beat, delivering a cinematic nightmare that fuses ghostly evil with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to dive into raw dread, an power beyond time, influencing emotional fractures, and highlighting a entity that questions who we are when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra asked for exploring something far beyond human desperation. She is insensitive until the invasion happens, and that metamorphosis is terrifying because it is so emotional.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for audiences beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing audiences from coast to coast can face this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its intro video, which has received over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, making the film to thrill-seekers globally.


Be sure to catch this bone-rattling spiral into evil. Stream *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to experience these spiritual awakenings about mankind.


For previews, special features, and alerts directly from production, follow @YACFilm across fan hubs and visit the official website.





The horror genre’s major pivot: the year 2025 U.S. calendar interlaces archetypal-possession themes, indie terrors, paired with returning-series thunder

Beginning with fight-to-live nightmare stories drawn from scriptural legend and stretching into brand-name continuations and focused festival visions, 2025 is coalescing into the most textured in tandem with carefully orchestrated year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. studio majors are anchoring the year through proven series, as streamers pack the fall with emerging auteurs together with scriptural shivers. At the same time, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is catching the kinetic energy from a record 2024 festival run. As Halloween stays the prime week, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, however this time, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are methodical, hence 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 presses the advantage.

the Universal camp lights the fuse with a marquee bet: a contemporary Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in an immediate now. Led by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. set for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Led by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

Toward summer’s end, Warner Bros. releases the last chapter within its surest horror brand: 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. Though the outline is tried, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: nostalgic menace, trauma foregrounded, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This run ups the stakes, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The new chapter enriches the lore, broadens the animatronic terror cast, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It arrives in December, cornering year end horror.

Streamer Exclusives: Tight funds, wide impact

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Next comes Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative starring Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as 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 a calculated bet. No overstuffed canon. No IP hangover. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

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

Series Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, led by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Dials to Watch

Mythic dread mainstreams
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

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

Streamers grow fangs
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

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

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Outlook: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. 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.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The approaching chiller slate: continuations, new stories, in tandem with A hectic Calendar calibrated for goosebumps

Dek: The fresh scare calendar stacks at the outset with a January traffic jam, following that runs through midyear, and pushing into the festive period, fusing IP strength, new voices, and strategic release strategy. The big buyers and platforms are relying on smart costs, exclusive theatrical windows first, and buzz-forward plans that turn the slate’s entries into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror momentum into 2026

Horror filmmaking has proven to be the bankable tool in release plans, a category that can scale when it hits and still mitigate the floor when it does not. After the 2023 year proved to buyers that lean-budget genre plays can dominate audience talk, 2024 carried the beat with director-led heat and quiet over-performers. The run extended into the 2025 frame, where returns and festival-grade titles underscored there is an opening for diverse approaches, from franchise continuations to original features that export nicely. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a run that is strikingly coherent across companies, with mapped-out bands, a spread of legacy names and new concepts, and a revived priority on cinema windows that power the aftermarket on premium home window and SVOD.

Buyers contend the space now operates like a schedule utility on the calendar. The genre can bow on virtually any date, offer a clean hook for ad units and UGC-friendly snippets, and lead with audiences that respond on early shows and stay strong through the follow-up frame if the entry lands. Emerging from a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 configuration signals trust in that approach. The year kicks off with a busy January block, then targets spring into early summer for counterweight, while keeping space for a September to October window that reaches into spooky season and into November. The grid also underscores the deeper integration of arthouse labels and home platforms that can grow from platform, fuel WOM, and go nationwide at the precise moment.

A further high-level trend is brand curation across linked properties and storied titles. Big banners are not just producing another sequel. They are setting up brand continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a title presentation that announces a tonal shift or a star attachment that ties a upcoming film to a original cycle. At the alongside this, the directors behind the marquee originals are embracing real-world builds, special makeup and grounded locations. That convergence gives 2026 a confident blend of familiarity and shock, which is how the films export.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount plants an early flag with two marquee pushes that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the spine, presenting it as both a cross-generational handoff and a return-to-roots character-forward chapter. Production is active in Atlanta, and the creative stance points to a roots-evoking framework without repeating the last two entries’ family thread. The studio is likely to mount a drive driven by franchise iconography, character spotlights, and a tease cadence targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

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 back together, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will emphasize. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will hunt wide appeal through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format permitting quick redirects to whatever shapes the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three clear bets. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is tidy, soulful, and easily pitched: a grieving man adopts an intelligent companion that evolves into a murderous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s team likely to iterate on viral uncanny stunts and short-form creative that threads devotion and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed 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 proper title to become an teaser payoff closer to the early tease. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. His entries are presented as filmmaker events, with a teaser that holds back and a later trailer push that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The late-October frame gives the studio room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has shown that a in-your-face, in-camera leaning strategy can feel elevated on a middle budget. Position this as a blood-soaked summer horror shock that spotlights global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio deploys two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, continuing a evergreen supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is selling as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both players and casuals. The fall slot gives Sony time to build promo materials around canon, and practical creature work, elements that can stoke premium screens and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror centered on minute detail and textual fidelity, this time steeped in lycan lore. The company has already set the date for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is enthusiastic.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform strategies for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s horror titles window into copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a ordering that expands both initial urgency and subscriber lifts in the post-theatrical. Prime Video will mix acquired titles with international acquisitions and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data backs it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in catalog discovery, using prominent placements, spooky hubs, and staff picks to increase tail value on lifetime take. Netflix stays nimble about first-party entries and festival additions, slotting horror entries near launch and positioning as event drops rollouts with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a two-step of targeted theatrical exposure and speedy platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has proven amenable to acquire select projects with prestige directors or star-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for sustained usage when the genre conversation spikes.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is curating a 2026 slate 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 sell is uncomplicated: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, reimagined for modern soundscapes and visuals. 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 hinted a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the back half.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, marshalling the project through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then pressing the year-end corridor to expand. That positioning has been successful for auteur horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception prompts. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using boutique theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Franchises versus originals

By skew, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit franchise value. The potential drawback, as ever, is staleness. The pragmatic answer is to market each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is leading with character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is floating a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a European tilt from a new voice. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the package is comforting enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Three-year comps frame the playbook. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that preserved streaming windows did not foreclose a day-date try from hitting when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror hit big in premium screens. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they pivot perspective and increase ambition. 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 lensed sequentially, provides the means for marketing to interlace chapters through character arcs and themes and to sustain campaign assets without hiatuses.

Behind-the-camera trends

The shop talk behind these films forecast a continued move toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is tracking Check This Out to its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that foregrounds aura and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in long-lead press and craft features before rolling out a tease that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and sparks shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta inflection that centers an original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature design and production design, which favor fan-con activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel definitive. Look for trailers that accent hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids 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. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid headline IP. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the tonal variety creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth spreads.

Q1 into Q2 load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late summer into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a late-September window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a slow-reveal plan and limited disclosures that elevate concept over story.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card use.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s genes. 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 synthetic partner shifts into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished 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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. 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 unyielding boss fight to survive on a cut-off island as the control balance upends and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-front survival film 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 horror, rooted in Cronin’s on-set craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting premise that teases the panic of a child’s unreliable senses. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-scale and A-list fronted occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that skewers present-day genre chatter and true crime fervors. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a young family entangled with lingering terrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A fresh restart designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in pure survival horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: TBD. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: TBA. Production: ongoing. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and elemental dread. Rating: TBD. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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

Why 2026 lands now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that slowed or rearranged in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and accelerated 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 outperformed straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on repeatable beats 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 delivers.

There is also the slotting calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can control a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will share space across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, 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 surprise-hit pursuit 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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, efficient placements, 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 detail, 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 Looks Exciting

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand equity where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the fear sell the seats.