Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases mythic darkness, a nightmare fueled thriller, debuting Oct 2025 on leading streamers

A haunting otherworldly fright fest from screenwriter / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an primeval terror when unfamiliar people become puppets in a fiendish ritual. Going live on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving story of continuance and forgotten curse that will transform scare flicks this October. Produced by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and immersive cinema piece follows five unacquainted souls who find themselves ensnared in a cut-off cottage under the malignant manipulation of Kyra, a troubled woman possessed by a antiquated biblical demon. Prepare to be shaken by a big screen event that merges soul-chilling terror with timeless legends, landing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a legendary trope in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is flipped when the monsters no longer appear outside the characters, but rather from their core. This depicts the most primal part of all involved. The result is a bone-chilling cognitive warzone where the suspense becomes a brutal struggle between light and darkness.


In a wilderness-stricken landscape, five figures find themselves caught under the possessive force and haunting of a uncanny figure. As the ensemble becomes unresisting to reject her rule, left alone and attacked by beings ungraspable, they are pushed to deal with their worst nightmares while the doomsday meter relentlessly ticks toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion amplifies and bonds dissolve, compelling each protagonist to scrutinize their character and the notion of self-determination itself. The pressure surge with every short lapse, delivering a paranormal ride that merges otherworldly panic with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to draw upon elemental fright, an force that existed before mankind, embedding itself in fragile psyche, and wrestling with a presence that questions who we are when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra demanded embodying something far beyond human desperation. She is clueless until the possession kicks in, and that transformation is bone-chilling because it is so close.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be available for home viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—so that households internationally can enjoy this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its original clip, which has attracted over massive response.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, delivering the story to fans of fear everywhere.


Do not miss this heart-stopping trip into the unknown. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to explore these evil-rooted truths about mankind.


For film updates, special features, and press updates directly from production, follow @YoungAndCursed across your socials and visit the official website.





Contemporary horror’s pivotal crossroads: calendar year 2025 U.S. lineup blends archetypal-possession themes, festival-born jolts, plus Franchise Rumbles

Across grit-forward survival fare infused with mythic scripture and onward to canon extensions and focused festival visions, 2025 is coalescing into the genre’s most multifaceted and tactically planned year in years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. studio majors hold down the year using marquee IP, while SVOD players crowd the fall with fresh voices plus legend-coded dread. In the indie lane, independent banners is fueled by the tailwinds from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. As Halloween stays the prime week, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The fall stretch is the proving field, distinctly in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are disciplined, and 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: The Return of Prestige Fear

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s schedule opens the year with a bold swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, in a modern-day environment. From director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. dated for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Under Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

By late summer, Warner’s slate releases the last chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson re engages, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: throwback unease, trauma as theme, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This pass pushes higher, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The return delves further into myth, stretches the animatronic parade, reaching teens and game grownups. It arrives in December, locking down the winter tail.

Platform Plays: Small budgets, sharp fangs

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a two hander body horror spiral with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale starring Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in 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. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. That is a savvy move. No bloated mythology. No IP hangover. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Franchise Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

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. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Emerging Currents

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror returns
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Forecast: 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 such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The coming 2026 spook slate: follow-ups, original films, and also A loaded Calendar calibrated for nightmares

Dek The upcoming horror season stacks from day one with a January cluster, from there extends through summer corridors, and far into the December corridor, blending legacy muscle, new voices, and shrewd counterweight. Major distributors and platforms are embracing responsible budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and platform-native promos that pivot these releases into broad-appeal conversations.

The genre’s posture for 2026

Horror filmmaking has proven to be the bankable play in distribution calendars, a segment that can expand when it resonates and still mitigate the losses when it misses. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for leaders that responsibly budgeted scare machines can drive the national conversation, the following year carried the beat with director-led heat and sleeper breakouts. The upswing rolled into 2025, where legacy revivals and arthouse crossovers highlighted there is capacity for a spectrum, from brand follow-ups to original features that export nicely. The takeaway for 2026 is a grid that looks unusually coordinated across distributors, with intentional bunching, a equilibrium of brand names and original hooks, and a refocused strategy on exhibition windows that enhance post-theatrical value on PVOD and digital services.

Planners observe the category now acts as a utility player on the programming map. The genre can roll out on almost any weekend, create a clear pitch for creative and UGC-friendly snippets, and outstrip with moviegoers that line up on Thursday nights and stick through the second weekend if the entry pays off. In the wake of a production delay era, the 2026 mapping shows confidence in that approach. The calendar commences with a crowded January run, then primes spring and early summer for alternate plays, while making space for a autumn push that reaches into Halloween and beyond. The calendar also shows the ongoing integration of specialized labels and platforms that can launch in limited release, build word of mouth, and grow at the proper time.

A reinforcing pattern is IP cultivation across linked properties and heritage properties. Distribution groups are not just producing another sequel. They are moving to present lineage with a headline quality, whether that is a art treatment that signals a refreshed voice or a casting move that bridges a latest entry to a original cycle. At the concurrently, the filmmakers behind the eagerly awaited originals are celebrating hands-on technique, on-set effects and concrete locations. That combination affords the 2026 slate a robust balance of home base and invention, which is what works overseas.

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

Paramount fires first with two big-ticket moves that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the heart, angling it as both a relay and a classic-mode character study. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the authorial approach signals a memory-charged bent without covering again the last two entries’ family thread. A campaign is expected fueled by legacy iconography, first-look character reveals, and a trailer cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is theatrical through 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 joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will lean on. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will go after wide appeal through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format inviting quick updates to whatever rules genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three specific entries. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is simple, loss-driven, and easily pitched: a grieving man implements an machine companion that turns into a murderous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s campaign likely to mirror viral uncanny stunts and short-cut promos that mixes devotion and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a final title to become an PR pop closer to the first look. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele titles are treated as filmmaker events, with a hinting teaser and a follow-up trailer set that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The prime October weekend gives the studio room to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press 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 guides, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has proven that a gnarly, hands-on effects strategy can feel cinematic on a controlled budget. Position this as a blood-soaked summer horror hit that pushes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio places two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, carrying a evergreen supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is presenting as a from-the-ground-up reboot 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 fans and novices. The fall slot lets Sony to build assets around narrative world, and creature work, elements that can amplify large-format demand and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on historical precision and historical speech, this time engaging werewolf myth. The imprint has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is robust.

Digital platform strategies

Platform strategies for 2026 run on established tracks. The studio’s horror films land on copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a ladder that maximizes both initial urgency and viewer acquisition in the back half. Prime Video stitches together licensed content with global acquisitions and targeted theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library curation, using featured rows, Halloween hubs, and curated strips to lengthen the tail on lifetime take. Netflix plays opportunist about Netflix films and festival pickups, confirming horror entries closer to launch and elevating as drops releases with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a one-two of tailored theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that translates talk to trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a curated basis. The platform has shown a willingness to pick up select projects with name filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for monthly engagement when the genre conversation ramps.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 corridor with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is direct: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, recalibrated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the fall weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then working the December frame to scale. That positioning has paid off for prestige horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception warrants. Anticipate 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 hand in hand, using boutique theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their subs.

Brands and originals

By skew, 2026 favors the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap cultural cachet. The caveat, as ever, is staleness. The go-to fix is to pitch each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is leading with character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a continental coloration from a ascendant talent. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the package is anchored enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday previews.

Comps from the last three years help explain the playbook. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that maintained windows did not prevent a same-day experiment from thriving when the brand was potent. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror over-performed in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they alter lens and raise the stakes. 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, gives leeway to marketing to tie installments through character and theme and to continue assets in field without long breaks.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The shop talk behind this year’s genre indicate a continued move toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that centers atmosphere and fear rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in long-lead features and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and earns shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta recalibration that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature design and production design, which match well with con floor moments and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel compelling. Look for trailers that underscore disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that sing on PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is jammed. 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 moody palate cleanser amid headline IP. The month finishes 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 real, but the menu of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth carries.

Q1 into Q2 seed summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into this contact form 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 comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

August into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a late-September window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a slow-reveal plan and limited disclosures that elevate concept over story.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can scale 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 to be detailed as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s digital partner grows into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography 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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem 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 heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: gothic-game 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 demanding boss claw to survive on a lonely island as the hierarchy reverses and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to horror, built on Cronin’s physical craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. 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 household haunting scenario that threads the dread through a preteen’s unreliable perspective. Rating: TBD. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A genre lampoon that pokes at today’s horror trends and true crime preoccupations. Rating: to be announced. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 flares, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a another family entangled with returning horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A new start designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival-core horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: to be announced. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: TBD. Production: continuing. 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 antique diction and elemental dread. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026 and why now

Three pragmatic forces shape this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or migrated in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming launches. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Calendar math also matters. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will compete across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The underdog chase 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 capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc 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 momentum and variety. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, sonics, and imagery that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Looks Exciting

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is IP strength where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, keep secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.