Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons primeval malevolence, a bone chilling horror feature, bowing October 2025 on premium platforms

One terrifying spectral terror film from narrative craftsman / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an ancient evil when foreigners become puppets in a dark contest. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking narrative of overcoming and primeval wickedness that will transform terror storytelling this harvest season. Created by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and gothic suspense flick follows five strangers who find themselves sealed in a remote structure under the hostile dominion of Kyra, a mysterious girl dominated by a timeless sacred-era entity. Steel yourself to be shaken by a visual event that fuses bodily fright with biblical origins, arriving on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a classic trope in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is twisted when the presences no longer develop from a different plane, but rather through their own souls. This mirrors the grimmest corner of each of them. The result is a edge-of-seat cognitive warzone where the events becomes a merciless clash between good and evil.


In a haunting woodland, five individuals find themselves caught under the sinister sway and infestation of a haunted character. As the ensemble becomes submissive to combat her control, detached and hunted by spirits unnamable, they are pushed to face their worst nightmares while the countdown unceasingly edges forward toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust escalates and ties crack, urging each survivor to challenge their core and the structure of personal agency itself. The hazard amplify with every instant, delivering a frightening tale that blends otherworldly panic with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to dig into core terror, an threat rooted in antiquity, emerging via soul-level flaws, and highlighting a entity that threatens selfhood when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra involved tapping into something rooted in terror. She is clueless until the control shifts, and that change is eerie because it is so close.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for streaming beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—making sure households internationally can enjoy this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its original clip, which has gathered over notable views.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, bringing the film to global fright lovers.


Do not miss this cinematic ride through nightmares. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to acknowledge these unholy truths about free will.


For featurettes, on-set glimpses, and updates from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across online outlets and visit the official website.





American horror’s major pivot: the year 2025 U.S. calendar braids together old-world possession, signature indie scares, set against Franchise Rumbles

Moving from fight-to-live nightmare stories grounded in near-Eastern lore all the way to returning series set beside focused festival visions, 2025 is emerging as the most complex paired with deliberate year in ten years.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. major banners plant stakes across the year with familiar IP, in parallel digital services front-load the fall with new voices together with scriptural shivers. At the same time, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is fueled by the backdraft from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The fall stretch is the proving field, yet in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are disciplined, so 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: The Return of Prestige Fear

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 doubles down.

Universal Pictures begins the calendar with a confident swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, but a sharp contemporary setting. Directed by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. dated for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Eli Craig directs fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer eases, Warner’s schedule drops the final chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Though the outline is tried, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson resumes command, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: retro dread, trauma as text, along with eerie supernatural rules. This time the stakes climb, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The follow up digs further into canon, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, reaching teens and game grownups. It books December, pinning the winter close.

Platform Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

In the mix sits Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable starring Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It reads as sharp positioning. No heavy handed lore. No continuity burden. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

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

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy Lines: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, from Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

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.

Trends Worth Watching

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror retakes ground
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Laurels convert to leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

The Road Ahead: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The 2026 chiller year to come: installments, Originals, alongside A brimming Calendar calibrated for nightmares

Dek: The emerging scare slate packs at the outset with a January wave, and then extends through June and July, and running into the holiday frame, weaving series momentum, fresh ideas, and smart alternatives. The big buyers and platforms are embracing tight budgets, cinema-first plans, and short-form initiatives that shape the slate’s entries into national conversation.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

Horror filmmaking has emerged as the predictable option in release plans, a vertical that can break out when it connects and still safeguard the risk when it under-delivers. After the 2023 year proved to strategy teams that responsibly budgeted pictures can own pop culture, the following year held pace with filmmaker-forward plays and quiet over-performers. The energy pushed into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and elevated films underscored there is demand for many shades, from continued chapters to fresh IP that scale internationally. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a roster that shows rare alignment across the field, with planned clusters, a equilibrium of household franchises and first-time concepts, and a sharpened eye on theater exclusivity that fuel later windows on paid VOD and streaming.

Marketers add the genre now performs as a flex slot on the schedule. The genre can open on many corridors, offer a sharp concept for spots and vertical videos, and outperform with fans that show up on opening previews and maintain momentum through the next pass if the feature works. Exiting a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 layout indicates trust in that setup. The slate rolls out with a heavy January block, then exploits spring through early summer for alternate plays, while carving room for a late-year stretch that runs into the Halloween frame and beyond. The schedule also includes the greater integration of indie arms and platforms that can build gradually, build word of mouth, and scale up at the proper time.

A reinforcing pattern is brand curation across connected story worlds and classic IP. Studio teams are not just greenlighting another sequel. They are seeking to position continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a logo package that broadcasts a reframed mood or a lead change that threads a new entry to a vintage era. At the meanwhile, the helmers behind the marquee originals are favoring physical effects work, physical gags and distinct locales. That pairing produces 2026 a vital pairing of recognition and newness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount leads early with two spotlight moves that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the focus, angling it as both a legacy handover and a DNA-forward character piece. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture conveys a memory-charged angle without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Look for a marketing run fueled by recognizable motifs, character spotlights, and a staggered trailer plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will feature. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will hunt mainstream recognition through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format inviting quick switches to whatever dominates horror talk that spring.

Universal has three differentiated pushes. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is clean, soulful, and concept-forward: a grieving man brings home an algorithmic mate that turns into a harmful mate. The date positions it at the front of a front-loaded month, with the marketing arm likely to recreate creepy live activations and brief clips that interweaves longing and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a branding reveal to become an fan moment closer to the first look. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s pictures are branded as creative events, with a teaser that holds back and a later trailer push that signal tone without plot the concept. The prime October weekend affords Universal to command 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, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has made clear that a visceral, on-set effects led aesthetic can feel big on a disciplined budget. Look for a gore-forward summer horror charge that spotlights worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio books two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, carrying a bankable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is framing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both franchise faithful and newcomers. The fall slot allows Sony to build promo materials around mythos, and creature builds, elements that can amplify PLF interest and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on careful craft and period language, this time orbiting lycan myth. The company has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is robust.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform tactics for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre entries head to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a structure that fortifies both opening-weekend urgency and subscriber lifts in the late-window. Prime Video interleaves licensed films with global pickups and limited runs in theaters when the data signals it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in catalog discovery, using featured rows, horror hubs, and curated rows to maximize the tail on the horror cume. Netflix keeps options open about Netflix originals and festival acquisitions, confirming horror entries on shorter runways and positioning as event drops premieres with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a one-two of tailored theatrical exposure and swift platform pivots that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a discrete basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to invest in select projects with prestige directors or marquee packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation surges.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 track with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is straightforward: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, elevated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the September weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, guiding the film through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then leveraging the December frame to widen. That positioning has proved effective for filmmaker-driven genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception encourages. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using precision theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Legacy titles versus originals

By tilt, 2026 tilts in favor of the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit legacy awareness. The potential drawback, as ever, is audience fatigue. The operating solution is to package each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is leading with character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-tinted vision from a ascendant talent. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the team and cast is familiar enough to build pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Rolling three-year comps clarify the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that maintained windows did not prevent a day-date try from delivering when the brand was robust. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror rose in premium large format. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel new when they angle differently and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances 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 filmed consecutively, provides the means for marketing to connect the chapters through relationships and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without hiatuses.

How the films are being made

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind this year’s genre suggest a continued turn toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that highlights unease and texture rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft coverage before rolling out a initial teaser that leans on mood over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and produces shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta recalibration that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature execution and sets, which fit with convention activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel must-have. Look for trailers that accent razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in big rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is stacked. 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 quiet contrast amid larger brand plays. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the mix of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Late winter and spring set up the summer. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer have a peek here gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited asset reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and holiday gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s digital partner shifts into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. 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 abrasive boss claw to survive on a desolate island as the power dynamic shifts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to nightmare, rooted in Cronin’s physical craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting narrative that frames the panic through a youngster’s unsteady inner lens. Rating: TBA. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-crafted and toplined haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A parody return that pokes at of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime crazes. Rating: pending. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites ignites, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a new household entangled with residual nightmares. Rating: not yet rated. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: pending. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-driven horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: pending. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: pending. Production: moving forward. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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 primal menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. 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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026 and why now

Three workable forces structure this lineup. First, production that stalled or shifted in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and shorter 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 generated more than straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage turnkey scare beats from test screenings, metered scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can capture a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will jostle across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 lower and mid-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two 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 bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, acoustics, and visuals that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Shapes Up Strong

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand heft where it matters, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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 late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, guard the secrets, and let the frights sell the seats.