Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primordial evil, a nerve shredding chiller, launching October 2025 across major platforms

A chilling ghostly suspense story from creator / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an mythic nightmare when foreigners become subjects in a satanic conflict. Dropping this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing episode of resistance and age-old darkness that will transform terror storytelling this Halloween season. Guided by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and moody feature follows five people who are stirred confined in a wooded shack under the menacing influence of Kyra, a haunted figure dominated by a timeless religious nightmare. Arm yourself to be captivated by a audio-visual display that intertwines instinctive fear with folklore, debuting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a long-standing element in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is reimagined when the monsters no longer come beyond the self, but rather from their psyche. This represents the darkest layer of all involved. The result is a edge-of-seat identity crisis where the narrative becomes a unforgiving face-off between right and wrong.


In a wilderness-stricken terrain, five young people find themselves stuck under the ghastly presence and infestation of a haunted woman. As the characters becomes submissive to reject her command, marooned and attacked by evils impossible to understand, they are driven to face their darkest emotions while the hours without pity counts down toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety grows and teams splinter, coercing each participant to scrutinize their being and the notion of freedom of choice itself. The consequences amplify with every breath, delivering a nightmarish journey that merges demonic fright with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to awaken core terror, an threat that predates humanity, operating within our fears, and highlighting a spirit that strips down our being when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra meant evoking something more primal than sorrow. She is unseeing until the evil takes hold, and that change is shocking because it is so close.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for worldwide release beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—providing viewers anywhere can face this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its intro video, which has attracted over massive response.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, giving access to the movie to scare fans abroad.


Mark your calendar for this mind-warping fall into madness. Explore *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to witness these fearful discoveries about our species.


For sneak peeks, set experiences, and reveals from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursed across your favorite networks and visit the official movie site.





Contemporary horror’s major pivot: calendar year 2025 U.S. rollouts blends Mythic Possession, underground frights, in parallel with legacy-brand quakes

Running from survival horror grounded in old testament echoes and onward to franchise returns set beside cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 looks like the most variegated and tactically planned year in years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio powerhouses set cornerstones by way of signature titles, as streamers flood the fall with debut heat and old-world menace. At the same time, festival-forward creators is propelled by the tailwinds of a banner 2024 fest year. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the other windows are mapped with care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, yet in 2025, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are disciplined, as a result 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Premium dread reemerges

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 doubles down.

Universal opens the year with a risk-forward move: a reconceived Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, instead in a current-day frame. Steered by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. dated for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Helmed by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer eases, Warner’s slate bows the concluding entry inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Even with a familiar chassis, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson resumes command, and those signature textures resurface: vintage toned fear, trauma centered writing, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This run ups the stakes, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The follow up digs further into canon, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It bows in December, pinning the winter close.

Streamer Exclusives: No Budget, No Problem

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a body horror duet fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming 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. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It looks like sharp programming. No overstuffed canon. No canon weight. 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.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Dials to Watch

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror ascends again
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

What’s Next: 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. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The oncoming chiller release year: Sequels, non-franchise titles, together with A packed Calendar aimed at shocks

Dek The new genre calendar clusters up front with a January glut, from there stretches through peak season, and deep into the December corridor, mixing marquee clout, new voices, and shrewd counterweight. The major players are focusing on lean spends, theatrical exclusivity first, and short-form initiatives that shape the slate’s entries into broad-appeal conversations.

How the genre looks for 2026

Horror filmmaking has become the bankable play in studio calendars, a lane that can spike when it catches and still cushion the floor when it under-delivers. After 2023 reassured executives that cost-conscious horror vehicles can command mainstream conversation, the following year kept the drumbeat going with festival-darling auteurs and under-the-radar smashes. The head of steam carried into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and prestige plays proved there is capacity for diverse approaches, from sequel tracks to original one-offs that perform internationally. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a schedule that shows rare alignment across players, with mapped-out bands, a blend of brand names and untested plays, and a revived commitment on theatrical windows that increase tail monetization on premium digital rental and streaming.

Planners observe the genre now performs as a utility player on the slate. The genre can roll out on nearly any frame, provide a clean hook for trailers and short-form placements, and outperform with demo groups that come out on first-look nights and maintain momentum through the next pass if the release works. Post a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 cadence signals certainty in that approach. The slate commences with a thick January band, then taps spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while reserving space for a late-year stretch that pushes into the Halloween corridor and into early November. The gridline also spotlights the continuing integration of arthouse labels and platforms that can platform a title, create conversation, and grow at the right moment.

A companion trend is IP cultivation across shared IP webs and legacy IP. Distribution groups are not just pushing another chapter. They are setting up lore continuity with a occasion, whether that is a graphic identity that telegraphs a re-angled tone or a cast configuration that bridges a new entry to a heyday. At the parallel to that, the writer-directors behind the most anticipated originals are championing in-camera technique, physical gags and distinct locales. That alloy hands the 2026 slate a strong blend of home base and invention, which is what works overseas.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount marks the early tempo with two headline releases that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the spine, angling it as both a handoff and a back-to-basics relationship-driven entry. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the authorial approach indicates a throwback-friendly approach without recycling the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Plan for a rollout anchored in legacy iconography, first-look character reveals, and a tiered teaser plan timed to late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

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 joining up again, 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 contrast play, this one will build broad awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format permitting quick reframes to whatever drives genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three defined plays. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is simple, grief-rooted, and commercial: a grieving man brings home an AI companion that evolves into a dangerous lover. The date places it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s promo team likely to iterate on off-kilter promo beats and micro spots that fuses devotion and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a title reveal to become an PR pop closer to the debut look. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele’s pictures are positioned as creative events, with a mystery-first teaser and a second beat that shape mood without giving away the concept. The Halloween runway affords Universal to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has demonstrated that a gritty, prosthetic-heavy mix can feel top-tier on a tight budget. Position this as a hard-R summer horror jolt that spotlights global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio launches two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, carrying a proven supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is billing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both fans and first-timers. The fall slot lets Sony to build artifacts around setting detail, and practical creature work, elements that can increase IMAX and PLF uptake and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by immersive craft and language, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is strong.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform strategies for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal titles head to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a stair-step that maximizes both debut momentum and subscription bumps in the downstream. Prime Video combines third-party pickups with global originals and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in back-catalog play, using prominent placements, October hubs, and handpicked rows to maximize the tail on overall cume. Netflix plays opportunist about Netflix films and festival deals, locking in horror entries toward the drop and positioning as event drops drops with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a paired of selective theatrical runs and swift platform pivots that turns chatter to conversion. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to take on select projects with acclaimed directors or star-led packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for retention when the genre conversation heats up.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 runway with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is clean: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, updated 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. The distributor has positioned a cinema-first plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the late-season weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then relying on the December frame to increase reach. That positioning has shown results for arthouse horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception supports. Expect 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 hand in hand, using precision theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their community.

Series vs standalone

By volume, 2026 is weighted toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on fan equity. The risk, as ever, is overexposure. The preferred tactic is to pitch each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is leading with character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-flavored turn from a ascendant talent. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and auteur plays bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a island survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the bundle is recognizable enough to generate pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Rolling three-year comps help explain the approach. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that preserved streaming windows did not block a day-date try from succeeding when the brand was potent. In 2024, director-craft horror rose in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they alter lens and elevate scope. 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 double feature plan, with chapters shot in tandem, gives leeway to marketing to tie installments through character arcs and themes and to keep assets in-market without pause points.

How the look and feel evolve

The shop talk behind this year’s genre forecast a continued lean toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that highlights unease and texture rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in trade spotlights and artisan spotlights before rolling out a preview that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for red-band excess, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and drives shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta pivot that centers an original star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature and environment design, which favor con floor moments and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel primary. Look for trailers that emphasize fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that work in PLF.

Calendar cadence

January is packed. 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 atmospheric change-up amid bigger brand plays. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the range of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

Pre-summer months seed summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads 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 and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

End of summer through fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-October slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a minimalist tease strategy and limited plot reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and card redemption.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits 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 mourning man’s synthetic partner mutates into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: atmospheric 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 prickly boss fight to survive on a cut-off island as the hierarchy upends and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to fear, built on Cronin’s hands-on craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. 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 in-home haunting piece that twists the unease of a child’s shaky point of view. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-crafted and star-led eerie 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 send-up revival that teases present-day genre chatter and true crime fixations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. 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 erupts, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a unlucky family entangled with returning horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

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

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: forthcoming. Production: advancing. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

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 period language and bone-deep menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three practical forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or shifted in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more strict 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 placements. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these this contact form titles will activate reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will compete across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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 sleeper chase 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 work 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. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, 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 pace and range. 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 keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

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

2026, Ready To Roar

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand equity where it matters, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of 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 late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, lock the reveals, and let the shocks sell the seats.