Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases mythic darkness, a chilling supernatural thriller, bowing October 2025 across top digital platforms

A blood-curdling occult shockfest from screenwriter / director Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an mythic terror when foreigners become conduits in a hellish struggle. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching tale of endurance and primeval wickedness that will revamp the fear genre this October. Visualized by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and cinematic film follows five unacquainted souls who are stirred sealed in a unreachable hideaway under the hostile power of Kyra, a central character possessed by a timeless religious nightmare. Brace yourself to be immersed by a narrative display that fuses bone-deep fear with folklore, streaming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a recurring concept in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is subverted when the presences no longer descend beyond the self, but rather through their own souls. This echoes the shadowy shade of the victims. The result is a edge-of-seat internal warfare where the emotions becomes a merciless conflict between purity and corruption.


In a barren woodland, five friends find themselves stuck under the evil influence and infestation of a shadowy woman. As the group becomes incapacitated to deny her manipulation, exiled and targeted by powers unfathomable, they are compelled to encounter their greatest panics while the seconds coldly ticks toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion swells and partnerships erode, urging each character to contemplate their essence and the notion of decision-making itself. The consequences grow with every second, delivering a fear-soaked story that merges ghostly evil with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to awaken pure dread, an evil older than civilization itself, working through inner turmoil, and challenging a force that forces self-examination when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra was centered on something past sanity. She is ignorant until the entity awakens, and that transformation is haunting because it is so deep.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for home viewing beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing horror lovers everywhere can witness this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its first trailer, which has received over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, presenting the nightmare to thrill-seekers globally.


Avoid skipping this haunted voyage through terror. Experience *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to witness these terrifying truths about the human condition.


For behind-the-scenes access, production insights, and promotions via the production team, follow @YACMovie across social media and visit our spooky domain.





Today’s horror major pivot: 2025 in focus stateside slate Mixes archetypal-possession themes, microbudget gut-punches, set against brand-name tremors

Beginning with endurance-driven terror steeped in mythic scripture all the way to canon extensions in concert with incisive indie visions, 2025 is emerging as the most textured and tactically planned year in a decade.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio majors bookend the months with familiar IP, in parallel SVOD players flood the fall with new perspectives plus ancestral chills. In parallel, the artisan tier is catching the afterglow of a banner 2024 fest year. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A fat September–October lane is customary now, however this time, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are targeted, accordingly 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 set the base, 2025 accelerates.

Universal starts the year with an audacious swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in a modern-day environment. Steered by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. targeting mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Under Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

When summer fades, Warner’s slate rolls out the capstone of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson re boards, and the tone that worked before is intact: retrograde shiver, trauma centered writing, along with eerie supernatural rules. This pass pushes higher, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The continuation widens the legend, stretches the animatronic parade, bridging teens and legacy players. It posts in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Firsts: Economy, maximum dread

While cinemas swing on series strength, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a tight space body horror vignette pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is destined for a fall landing.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

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. Scripted and led 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. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within 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 canny scheduling. No overinflated mythology. No continuity burden. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

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

Legacy Brands: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots 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.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, under 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.

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

Dials to Watch

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror ascends again
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

The Road Ahead: Autumn density and winter pivot

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

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 assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The forthcoming 2026 spook cycle: continuations, Originals, alongside A packed Calendar tailored for shocks

Dek: The brand-new horror cycle crowds early with a January bottleneck, then extends through summer corridors, and deep into the festive period, weaving series momentum, new concepts, and strategic counterweight. Studios and streamers are doubling down on lean spends, cinema-first plans, and influencer-ready assets that pivot these offerings into culture-wide discussion.

Where horror stands going into 2026

Horror has established itself as the bankable lever in studio lineups, a corner that can accelerate when it hits and still safeguard the risk when it stumbles. After 2023 showed studio brass that low-to-mid budget horror vehicles can dominate cultural conversation, the following year carried the beat with signature-voice projects and word-of-mouth wins. The carry rolled into the 2025 frame, where reboots and awards-minded projects highlighted there is demand for different modes, from franchise continuations to fresh IP that resonate abroad. The end result for 2026 is a grid that appears tightly organized across the market, with purposeful groupings, a equilibrium of familiar brands and untested plays, and a renewed priority on release windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium home window and home streaming.

Insiders argue the genre now acts as a wildcard on the release plan. The genre can arrive on numerous frames, yield a clean hook for previews and short-form placements, and overperform with moviegoers that arrive on preview nights and hold through the second weekend if the feature pays off. In the wake of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 cadence reflects confidence in that logic. The year rolls out with a busy January block, then uses spring and early summer for alternate plays, while keeping space for a fall cadence that extends to spooky season and past the holiday. The calendar also highlights the stronger partnership of specialty distributors and digital platforms that can grow from platform, spark evangelism, and go nationwide at the timely point.

A further high-level trend is franchise tending across shared universes and storied titles. Major shops are not just producing another chapter. They are setting up continuity with a occasion, whether that is a graphic identity that signals a re-angled tone or a talent selection that bridges a new entry to a first wave. At the same time, the helmers behind the most buzzed-about originals are leaning into on-set craft, practical effects and location-forward worlds. That interplay yields 2026 a healthy mix of recognition and surprise, which is why the genre exports well.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount establishes early momentum with two spotlight pushes that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the heart, presenting it as both a relay and a back-to-basics character piece. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the authorial approach conveys a heritage-honoring mode without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Watch for a push centered on signature symbols, early character teases, and a staggered trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will emphasize. As a summer relief option, this one will build general-audience talk through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format making room for quick pivots to whatever defines the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three discrete plays. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is tidy, somber, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man adopts an machine companion that grows into a murderous partner. The date places it at the front of a crowded corridor, with marketing at Universal likely to iterate on uncanny-valley stunts and micro spots that melds love and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a branding reveal to become an marketing beat closer to the horror early tease. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. The filmmaker’s films are set up as signature events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a second wave of trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The spooky-season slot opens a lane to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has demonstrated that a flesh-and-blood, on-set effects led approach can feel elevated on a controlled budget. Expect a grime-caked summer horror shot that spotlights international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio rolls out two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, keeping a consistent supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is marketing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both franchise faithful and curious audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build artifacts around environmental design, and creature builds, elements that can drive PLF interest and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by textural authenticity and dialect, this time engaging werewolf myth. Focus’s team has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s horror titles flow to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a sequence that maximizes both launch urgency and sub growth in the back half. Prime Video continues to mix third-party pickups with international acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in catalog discovery, using editorial spots, October hubs, and handpicked rows to lengthen the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix remains opportunistic about own-slate titles and festival snaps, locking in horror entries toward the drop and elevating as drops drops with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a tiered of focused cinema runs and speedy platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a discrete basis. The platform has been willing to secure select projects with accomplished filmmakers or star packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for monthly engagement when the genre conversation builds.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 arc 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 somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, elevated for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the October weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through select festivals if the cut is ready, then working the holiday frame to widen. That positioning has served the company well for auteur 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 tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception allows. Look for 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 together, using precision theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Franchise entries versus originals

By proportion, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage fan equity. The concern, as ever, is viewer burnout. The workable fix is to present each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is centering core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a Francophone tone from a fresh helmer. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the configuration is known enough to build pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Recent-year comps help explain the logic. In 2023, a theater-first model that preserved streaming windows did not obstruct a simultaneous release test from winning when the brand was robust. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror punched above its weight in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they rotate perspective and raise the stakes. 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 double feature plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, allows marketing to connect the chapters through character web and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without lulls.

Behind-the-camera trends

The creative meetings behind the year’s horror forecast a continued emphasis on practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that foregrounds mood and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and medieval diction, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in trade spotlights and artisan spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and creates shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta reframe that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster work and world-building, which lend themselves to expo activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel necessary. Look for trailers that emphasize hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that sing on PLF.

How the year maps out

January is busy. 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 tonal palate cleanser amid marquee brands. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the palette of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth sustains.

Late Q1 and spring seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

August into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a opaque tease strategy and limited disclosures that favor idea over plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and card redemption.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s virtual companion becomes something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: tone-first 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 difficult boss battle to survive on a desolate island as the chain of command shifts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to menace, grounded in Cronin’s practical craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting piece that toys with the panic of a child’s wobbly interpretations. Rating: pending. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A parody return that riffs on present-day genre chatter and true-crime manias. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: principal photography set 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 erupts, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new family entangled with residual nightmares. Rating: TBD. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: pending. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on pure survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: TBD. Production: active. 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 time-true diction and elemental menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. 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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three nuts-and-bolts forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that stalled or re-slotted in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on social-ready stingers from test screenings, metered scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can capture a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will coexist across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where midrange-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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, 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 feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, disciplined footprints, 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 visual texture, aural design, 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 Shapes Up Strong

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is recognizable IP where it plays, 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, keep secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.