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

A haunting supernatural fright fest from narrative craftsman / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an timeless dread when newcomers become instruments in a demonic maze. Streaming on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, the YouTube platform, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking tale of living through and ancient evil that will remodel horror this cool-weather season. Realized by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and claustrophobic thriller follows five strangers who come to imprisoned in a isolated shack under the menacing sway of Kyra, a female lead overtaken by a two-thousand-year-old biblical demon. Get ready to be gripped by a theatrical presentation that fuses visceral dread with mythic lore, hitting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a mainstay element in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is flipped when the malevolences no longer originate from elsewhere, but rather deep within. This represents the most sinister part of the cast. The result is a psychologically brutal psychological battle where the story becomes a ongoing battle between good and evil.


In a remote wilderness, five characters find themselves cornered under the ghastly sway and curse of a secretive figure. As the ensemble becomes incapable to deny her power, severed and tracked by entities inconceivable, they are cornered to encounter their worst nightmares while the seconds brutally strikes toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust grows and ties crack, requiring each person to reconsider their values and the idea of liberty itself. The threat climb with every minute, delivering a scare-fueled ride that merges demonic fright with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to explore pure dread, an threat beyond recorded history, filtering through our fears, and wrestling with a power that strips down our being when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra called for internalizing something far beyond human desperation. She is uninformed until the invasion happens, and that conversion is soul-crushing because it is so emotional.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for viewing beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing viewers internationally can dive into this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its first preview, which has garnered over six-figure audience.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, taking the terror to a global viewership.


Join this soul-jarring spiral into evil. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to witness these chilling revelations about the mind.


For bonus footage, making-of footage, and news from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursed across platforms and visit our spooky domain.





American horror’s pivotal crossroads: 2025 American release plan braids together archetypal-possession themes, signature indie scares, in parallel with Franchise Rumbles

Kicking off with last-stand terror drawn from ancient scripture and stretching into returning series paired with focused festival visions, 2025 is tracking to be the most dimensioned in tandem with deliberate year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. major banners set cornerstones by way of signature titles, while platform operators load up the fall with fresh voices paired with primordial unease. On the independent axis, indie storytellers is catching the carry from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the other windows are mapped with care. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, and in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are disciplined, which means 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Prestige terror resurfaces

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s slate starts the year with a statement play: a refashioned Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in an immediate now. Directed by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. Slated for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Eli Craig directs including 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. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer winds down, Warner Bros. releases the last chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson resumes command, and those signature textures resurface: vintage toned fear, trauma foregrounded, and eerie supernatural logic. This run ups the stakes, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The return delves further into myth, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, courting teens and the thirty something base. It posts in December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Offerings: Modest spend, serious shock

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a sealed box body horror arc starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend featuring Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled 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. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing 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 an astute call. No heavy handed lore. No sequel clutter. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Brands: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, under Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Signals and Trends

Myth turns mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror swings back
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Big screen is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn density and winter pivot

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw 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 mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The forthcoming 2026 genre year to come: entries, standalone ideas, plus A loaded Calendar geared toward goosebumps

Dek The brand-new genre calendar loads from the jump with a January pile-up, thereafter rolls through summer, and continuing into the holiday frame, combining legacy muscle, new concepts, and calculated offsets. Major distributors and platforms are betting on responsible budgets, exclusive theatrical windows first, and buzz-forward plans that convert the slate’s entries into broad-appeal conversations.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The genre has established itself as the predictable lever in distribution calendars, a segment that can break out when it lands and still insulate the drawdown when it does not. After the 2023 year re-taught strategy teams that low-to-mid budget genre plays can lead the discourse, the following year maintained heat with signature-voice projects and slow-burn breakouts. The trend translated to the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and prestige plays proved there is appetite for many shades, from franchise continuations to one-and-done originals that scale internationally. The end result for 2026 is a slate that appears tightly organized across the field, with intentional bunching, a harmony of familiar brands and new pitches, and a renewed commitment on theatrical windows that increase tail monetization on premium video on demand and OTT platforms.

Studio leaders note the space now works like a swing piece on the slate. Horror can debut on nearly any frame, create a easy sell for spots and vertical videos, and lead with viewers that line up on Thursday previews and hold through the second weekend if the feature fires. Following a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 plan demonstrates comfort in that logic. The calendar commences with a front-loaded January block, then uses spring and early summer for audience offsets, while carving room for a October build that runs into the fright window and past the holiday. The schedule also highlights the stronger partnership of arthouse labels and SVOD players that can develop over weeks, grow buzz, and move wide at the proper time.

Another broad trend is IP stewardship across linked properties and storied titles. Studio teams are not just releasing another continuation. They are trying to present ongoing narrative with a headline quality, whether that is a title presentation that conveys a fresh attitude or a casting choice that reconnects a next entry to a original cycle. At the same time, the visionaries behind the high-profile originals are leaning into real-world builds, physical gags and concrete locations. That interplay affords the 2026 slate a robust balance of comfort and newness, which is the formula for international play.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount establishes early momentum with two prominent plays that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the spine, marketing it as both a passing of the torch and a heritage-centered character piece. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the directional approach suggests a legacy-leaning campaign without covering again the Young & Cursed last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Count on a promo wave centered on franchise iconography, character spotlights, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also revives 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 on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will play up. As a summer relief option, this one will hunt wide buzz through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format inviting quick reframes to whatever defines trend lines that spring.

Universal has three discrete pushes. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is tidy, loss-driven, and commercial: a grieving man sets up an synthetic partner that mutates into a harmful mate. The date lines it up at the front of a stacked January, with the Universal machine likely to iterate on strange in-person beats and short-form creative that interlaces longing and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a title drop to become an headline beat closer to the initial tease. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. His entries are framed as filmmaker events, with a mystery-first teaser and a subsequent trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The late-October frame offers Universal room to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has made clear that a gritty, practical-first approach can feel prestige on a efficient spend. Expect a viscera-heavy summer horror rush that leans into offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio sets two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, maintaining a trusty supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is billing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both loyalists and first-timers. The fall slot lets Sony to build marketing units around canon, and creature work, elements that can fuel large-format demand and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues Eggers’ run of period horror defined by immersive craft and textual fidelity, this time engaging werewolf myth. The distributor has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is strong.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Windowing plans in 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s horror titles land on copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a cadence that amplifies both debut momentum and sign-up momentum in the post-theatrical. Prime Video balances licensed content with worldwide entries and limited cinema engagements when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in archive usage, using seasonal hubs, horror hubs, and editorial rows to stretch the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix plays opportunist about internal projects and festival grabs, finalizing horror entries on shorter runways and eventizing releases with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a tiered of precision theatrical plays and rapid platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a situational basis. The platform has proven amenable to invest in select projects with award winners or celebrity-led packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for monthly engagement when the genre conversation surges.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 slate with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is uncomplicated: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, modernized for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the autumn weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, managing the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday dates to go wider. That positioning has delivered for director-led genre with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception justifies. 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 as partners, using limited theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their subs.

Legacy titles versus originals

By tilt, 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 name recognition. The risk, as ever, is staleness. The standing approach is to pitch each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is emphasizing character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-flavored turn from a buzzed-about director. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and talent-first projects add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the bundle is grounded enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Rolling three-year comps frame the model. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that kept streaming intact did not deter a dual release from succeeding when the brand was sticky. In 2024, art-forward horror outperformed in PLF. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they reframe POV and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters shot in tandem, enables marketing to thread films through character arcs and themes and to hold creative in the market without extended gaps.

Production craft signals

The director conversations behind the upcoming entries foreshadow a continued bias toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that spotlights mood and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and artisan spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that leans on mood over plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and earns shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta recalibration that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature craft and set design, which match well with booth activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel primary. Look for trailers that emphasize fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in big rooms.

Annual flow

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. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid bigger brand plays. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the tone spread carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth endures.

Pre-summer months seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now enables 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 heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Late-season stretch leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a shoulder season window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a opaque tease strategy and limited teasers that center concept over reveals.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card burn.

Embedded title notes

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s digital partner becomes something fatal and romantic. 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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror 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 encounter a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 hard-edged boss scramble to survive on a cut-off island as the power balance reverses and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. 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 not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to menace, grounded in Cronin’s practical craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting narrative that refracts terror through a little one’s uneven subjective view. Rating: TBA. Production: wrapped. 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 involved creatively again. Logline: {A parody return that skewers of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fervors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 surges, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new family snared by ancient dread. Rating: TBA. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survivalist horror over action spectacle. Rating: pending. 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: strategically hidden. Rating: undetermined. Production: proceeding. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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 era-accurate language and primordial menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three hands-on forces inform this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or rearranged in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and leaner 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 outpaced straight-to-streaming launches. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate clippable moments from test screenings, select scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will line up across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first unexpected 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. 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.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, sound, and framing 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

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is recognizable IP where it plays, 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, keep the secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.