Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons age-old dread, a nightmare fueled feature, premiering Oct 2025 on premium platforms

One frightening mystic fright fest from cinematographer / director Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an timeless dread when newcomers become vehicles in a cursed struggle. Debuting on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching portrayal of survival and primordial malevolence that will resculpt scare flicks this fall. Brought to life by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and eerie feature follows five teens who suddenly rise stuck in a unreachable lodge under the sinister grip of Kyra, a possessed female haunted by a 2,000-year-old biblical demon. Prepare to be seized by a narrative spectacle that blends raw fear with legendary tales, arriving on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a recurring motif in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is redefined when the fiends no longer develop from elsewhere, but rather within themselves. This symbolizes the most terrifying facet of every character. The result is a bone-chilling emotional conflict where the story becomes a constant clash between righteousness and malevolence.


In a isolated backcountry, five adults find themselves caught under the sinister dominion and spiritual invasion of a obscure female presence. As the group becomes vulnerable to break her command, detached and tormented by creatures ungraspable, they are compelled to face their emotional phantoms while the moments ruthlessly strikes toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust rises and associations break, coercing each protagonist to scrutinize their existence and the nature of self-determination itself. The pressure surge with every tick, delivering a cinematic nightmare that merges unearthly horror with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to draw upon raw dread, an darkness that existed before mankind, influencing psychological breaks, and examining a evil that tests the soul when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra required summoning something more primal than sorrow. She is blind until the curse activates, and that metamorphosis is eerie because it is so personal.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for home viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—offering streamers around the globe can survive this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its first trailer, which has collected over strong viewer count.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, exporting the fear to international horror buffs.


Make sure to see this gripping voyage through terror. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to explore these spiritual awakenings about existence.


For teasers, on-set glimpses, and press updates via the production team, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your socials and visit the official movie site.





Today’s horror Turning Point: the year 2025 U.S. calendar braids together legend-infused possession, art-house nightmares, paired with returning-series thunder

Moving from survival horror grounded in mythic scripture all the way to legacy revivals plus keen independent perspectives, 2025 appears poised to be the most textured and calculated campaign year in a decade.

Call it full, but it is also focused. Major studios plant stakes across the year with established lines, even as premium streamers stack the fall with first-wave breakthroughs plus archetypal fear. In the indie lane, the art-house flank is buoyed by the backdraft from a record 2024 festival run. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The fall stretch is the proving field, notably this year, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are calculated, and 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

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

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s schedule lights the fuse with a statement play: a reimagined Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, in a modern-day environment. Under director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. set for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Under Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Initial heat flags it as potent.

When summer fades, the Warner Bros. banner rolls out the capstone from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Even with a familiar chassis, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the memorable motifs return: retro dread, trauma in the foreground, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The ante is higher this round, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The follow up digs further into canon, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It lands in December, buttoning the final window.

Digital Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, an intimate body horror unraveling starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, 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 terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in 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 smart play. No puffed out backstory. No continuity burden. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They are more runway than museum.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

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

Legacy Lines: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, led by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Emerging Currents

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

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

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

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

Outlook: Fall pileup, winter curveball

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 including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The upcoming fear slate: next chapters, new stories, And A hectic Calendar engineered for jolts

Dek The new genre slate crowds in short order with a January traffic jam, before it flows through summer corridors, and well into the festive period, weaving franchise firepower, original angles, and calculated counter-scheduling. Distributors with platforms are committing to smart costs, theatrical-first rollouts, and viral-minded pushes that shape these films into all-audience topics.

Where horror stands going into 2026

Horror filmmaking has shown itself to be the sturdy move in annual schedules, a space that can spike when it catches and still mitigate the floor when it under-delivers. After 2023 demonstrated to top brass that responsibly budgeted scare machines can command the national conversation, the following year continued the surge with festival-darling auteurs and stealth successes. The run flowed into 2025, where returns and premium-leaning entries confirmed there is appetite for different modes, from franchise continuations to one-and-done originals that translate worldwide. The aggregate for 2026 is a roster that shows rare alignment across players, with obvious clusters, a spread of known properties and fresh ideas, and a re-energized priority on box-office windows that fuel later windows on PVOD and home platforms.

Distribution heads claim the genre now performs as a schedule utility on the distribution slate. The genre can roll out on nearly any frame, supply a easy sell for ad units and vertical videos, and lead with ticket buyers that come out on early shows and hold through the second frame if the entry lands. On the heels of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 configuration signals comfort in that model. The slate begins with a loaded January schedule, then taps spring and early summer for alternate plays, while keeping space for a October build that stretches into holiday-adjacent weekends and past Halloween. The grid also spotlights the ongoing integration of indie arms and SVOD players that can build gradually, stoke social talk, and expand at the optimal moment.

Another broad trend is brand management across connected story worlds and classic IP. The companies are not just turning out another sequel. They are setting up brand continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a title treatment that conveys a fresh attitude or a casting pivot that ties a incoming chapter to a first wave. At the simultaneously, the creative teams behind the eagerly awaited originals are favoring material texture, in-camera effects and site-specific worlds. That combination offers 2026 a confident blend of comfort and discovery, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount defines the early cadence with two front-of-slate releases that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the heart, positioning the film as both a succession moment and a DNA-forward character-first story. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the authorial approach signals a legacy-leaning mode without recycling the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push stacked with recognizable motifs, character previews, and a rollout cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also relaunches 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 angle the campaign will emphasize. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will seek general-audience talk through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format enabling quick reframes to whatever drives the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three specific lanes. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is simple, sorrow-tinged, and concept-forward: a grieving man implements an machine companion that shifts into a killer companion. The date places it at the front of a thick month, with marketing at Universal likely to replay uncanny-valley stunts and snackable content that melds attachment and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a official title to become an event moment closer to the debut look. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele’s releases are framed as marquee events, with a concept-forward tease and a second wave of trailers that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween runway gives Universal room to maximize 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, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has made clear that a gnarly, practical-first strategy can feel top-tier on a disciplined budget. Look for a gore-forward summer horror charge that leans hard into international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio sets two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, preserving a reliable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is calling a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both players and novices. The fall slot offers Sony space to build materials around environmental design, and monster aesthetics, elements that can stoke premium screens and fan events.

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 continues Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in meticulous craft and historical speech, this time orbiting lycan myth. The label has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is supportive.

Digital platform strategies

Digital strategies for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s genre slate land on copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a stair-step that expands both opening-weekend urgency and sign-up spikes in the post-theatrical. Prime Video combines licensed films with global originals and small theatrical windows when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in deep cuts, using well-timed internal promotions, horror hubs, and handpicked rows to lengthen the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps flexible about first-party entries and festival snaps, locking in horror entries toward the drop and eventizing premieres with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a laddered of selective theatrical runs and quick platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to board select projects with prestige directors or star packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for monthly activity when the genre conversation intensifies.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is curating a 2026 sequence with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is straightforward: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, upgraded for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a theatrical-first plan for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the autumn weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, guiding the film through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then working the holiday corridor to go wider. That positioning has helped for auteur horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception prompts. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using precision theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their membership.

Series vs horror standalone

By weight, 2026 skews toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use brand equity. The trade-off, as ever, is diminishing returns. The pragmatic answer is to brand each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is foregrounding core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a European tilt from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the package is steady enough to build pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Three-year comps clarify the template. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that maintained windows did not prevent a dual release from working when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror popped in premium large format. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they reframe POV and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, permits marketing to tie installments through personae and themes and to continue assets in field without pause points.

Behind-the-camera trends

The craft conversations behind the 2026 slate signal a continued emphasis on hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that leans on atmosphere and fear rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in feature stories and department features before rolling out a tease that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and generates shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a self-aware reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature design and production design, which are ideal for fan-con activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel essential. Look for trailers that emphasize pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that work in PLF.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is heavy. Universal’s 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 gloomy counterbalance amid larger brand plays. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the palette of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Late Q1 and spring tee up summer. 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 backs big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

End of summer through fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a transitional slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event occupies October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited plot reveals that put concept first.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card redemption.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s synthetic partner shifts into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back 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 ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. 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 work to survive on a cut-off island as the power dynamic flips and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. 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 TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to nightmare, based on Cronin’s tactile craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting piece that plays with the horror of a child’s tricky POV. Rating: rating pending. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-grade and toplined 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 skewers of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fervors. Rating: TBA. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 ignites, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further opens again, with a unlucky family bound to returning horrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A new start designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-driven horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: to be announced. Production: underway. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 historical diction and primordial menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three nuts-and-bolts forces shape this lineup. First, production that stalled or re-slotted in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on shareable moments from test screenings, managed scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

The slot calculus is real. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, offering breathing room for genre entries that can control a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will stack across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where value-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first 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. 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 flow and breadth. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two 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 fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, sonics, and visuals 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

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand gravity where needed, original vision where it matters, 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, hold the mystery, and let the shudders sell the seats.