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

This blood-curdling paranormal thriller from creator / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an mythic curse when unknowns become instruments in a demonic ritual. Streaming October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing portrayal of endurance and prehistoric entity that will reimagine the horror genre this October. Guided by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and shadowy cinema piece follows five lost souls who wake up stuck in a far-off structure under the malignant rule of Kyra, a female lead inhabited by a ancient holy text monster. Be warned to be drawn in by a visual experience that merges visceral dread with mythic lore, hitting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a classic foundation in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is challenged when the forces no longer form beyond the self, but rather inside them. This mirrors the deepest shade of every character. The result is a harrowing spiritual tug-of-war where the narrative becomes a soul-crushing conflict between innocence and sin.


In a barren no-man's-land, five young people find themselves imprisoned under the malicious effect and inhabitation of a secretive being. As the characters becomes unresisting to reject her influence, exiled and pursued by forces indescribable, they are made to deal with their soulful dreads while the moments relentlessly ticks onward toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease intensifies and associations disintegrate, demanding each figure to question their core and the nature of free will itself. The pressure climb with every second, delivering a frightening tale that integrates spiritual fright with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to draw upon deep fear, an evil rooted in antiquity, channeling itself through fragile psyche, and examining a darkness that tests the soul when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra demanded embodying something outside normal anguish. She is in denial until the evil takes hold, and that conversion is eerie because it is so internal.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for public screening beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—giving streamers no matter where they are can witness this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its original clip, which has collected over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, presenting the nightmare to international horror buffs.


Experience this soul-jarring descent into hell. Explore *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to survive these unholy truths about our species.


For film updates, filmmaker commentary, and news from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across media channels and visit the official website.





Modern horror’s Turning Point: 2025 across markets U.S. calendar Mixes archetypal-possession themes, art-house nightmares, alongside returning-series thunder

Kicking off with last-stand terror suffused with near-Eastern lore and onward to installment follow-ups set beside incisive indie visions, 2025 is coalescing into the most stratified along with precision-timed year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. major banners lock in tentpoles with established lines, simultaneously streaming platforms flood the fall with new voices together with old-world menace. In the indie lane, the artisan tier is drafting behind the uplift of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Since Halloween is the prized date, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, yet in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are targeted, accordingly 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige fear returns

The top end is active. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s schedule starts the year with a confident swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in an immediate now. Steered by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. set for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Steered by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer wanes, the WB camp releases the last chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Granted the structure is classic, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson re engages, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: nostalgic menace, trauma centered writing, and eerie supernatural logic. The ante is higher this round, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The follow up digs further into canon, grows the animatronic horror lineup, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It drops in December, pinning the winter close.

Platform Plays: Modest spend, serious shock

While the big screen favors titles you know, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend led by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Authored and directed 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 the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as 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 a smart play. No puffed out backstory. No series drag. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

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

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Series Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, guided by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. 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.

Emerging Currents

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Big screen is a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Forecast: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The coming 2026 fear cycle: returning titles, non-franchise titles, And A packed Calendar calibrated for frights

Dek: The fresh horror slate builds immediately with a January wave, from there runs through peak season, and continuing into the winter holidays, marrying brand equity, fresh ideas, and tactical counterplay. The major players are doubling down on right-sized spends, theatrical leads, and viral-minded pushes that turn the slate’s entries into cross-demo moments.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The horror sector has grown into the bankable swing in programming grids, a pillar that can surge when it clicks and still safeguard the floor when it fails to connect. After 2023 showed greenlighters that disciplined-budget shockers can drive mainstream conversation, the following year sustained momentum with signature-voice projects and slow-burn breakouts. The run pushed into 2025, where returns and elevated films proved there is an opening for several lanes, from ongoing IP entries to filmmaker-driven originals that perform internationally. The upshot for 2026 is a roster that reads highly synchronized across companies, with mapped-out bands, a equilibrium of legacy names and first-time concepts, and a recommitted priority on theatrical windows that feed downstream value on premium digital and OTT platforms.

Insiders argue the category now functions as a fill-in ace on the rollout map. Horror can launch on open real estate, provide a tight logline for ad units and shorts, and punch above weight with fans that show up on previews Thursday and hold through the subsequent weekend if the picture works. After a work stoppage lag, the 2026 cadence reflects conviction in that approach. The slate begins with a thick January lineup, then uses spring and early summer for counterweight, while saving space for a autumn stretch that carries into late October and afterwards. The schedule also illustrates the stronger partnership of indie distributors and OTT outlets that can stage a platform run, grow buzz, and move wide at the optimal moment.

A second macro trend is IP cultivation across connected story worlds and storied titles. Big banners are not just greenlighting another return. They are moving to present ongoing narrative with a specialness, whether that is a title treatment that suggests a fresh attitude or a talent selection that anchors a latest entry to a classic era. At the parallel to that, the creative teams behind the marquee originals are returning to in-camera technique, real effects and distinct locales. That pairing yields 2026 a strong blend of home base and discovery, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount defines the early cadence with two big-ticket titles that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the front, marketing it as both a legacy handover and a back-to-basics character piece. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach hints at a throwback-friendly treatment without replaying the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Anticipate a campaign anchored in heritage visuals, character previews, and a rollout cadence hitting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will play up. As a summer relief option, this one will pursue large awareness through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format allowing quick switches to whatever shapes the discourse that spring.

Universal has three clear bets. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is simple, somber, and commercial: a grieving man adopts an algorithmic mate that escalates into a killer companion. The date sets it at the front of a heavy month, with marketing at Universal likely to mirror strange in-person beats and snackable content that interweaves intimacy and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a title reveal to become an event moment closer to the first trailer. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. His entries are treated as must-see filmmaker statements, with a teaser with minimal detail and a second wave of trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date allows Universal to dominate 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, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has consistently shown that a gritty, on-set effects led style can feel deluxe on a efficient spend. Position this as a gore-forward summer horror rush that leans into global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio lines up two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, holding a reliable supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is presenting as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both devotees and general audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build marketing units around environmental design, and creature effects, elements that can drive premium screens and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by minute detail and period speech, this time set against lycan legends. The specialty arm has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is favorable.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Digital strategies for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s releases window into copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a sequence that maximizes both FOMO and sign-up spikes in the post-theatrical. Prime Video combines third-party pickups with worldwide buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their edges in back-catalog play, using editorial spots, genre hubs, and featured rows to lengthen the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix remains opportunistic about first-party entries and festival pickups, securing horror entries near their drops and turning into events premieres with surge have a peek at these guys campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a dual-phase of focused cinema runs and fast windowing that monetizes buzz via trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a situational basis. The platform has proven amenable to secure select projects with established auteurs or A-list packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation intensifies.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 sequence with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is clear: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, refined for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the autumn weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the year-end corridor to move out. That positioning has paid off for craft-driven horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception merits. Anticipate 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 jointly, using limited runs to jump-start evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Known brands versus new stories

By number, the 2026 slate bends toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on cultural cachet. The question, as ever, is overexposure. The operating solution is to brand each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is leading with character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-tinted vision from a new voice. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the team and cast is familiar enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Past-three-year patterns frame the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that maintained windows did not deter a day-and-date experiment from working when the brand was potent. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror punched above its weight in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel new when they alter lens and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters shot in tandem, builds a path for marketing to bridge entries through relationships and themes and to leave creative active without long breaks.

Technique and craft currents

The production chatter behind this year’s genre signal a continued tilt toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that underscores unease and texture rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called this contact form Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and era-correct language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in feature stories and department features before rolling out a first look that keeps plot minimal, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and sparks shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a self-aware reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will live or die on creature design and production design, which fit with convention activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel irresistible. Look for trailers that highlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that play in premium auditoriums.

The schedule at a glance

January is heavy. 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 foggy reset amid big-brand pushes. The month closes 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 formidable, but the spread of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth sustains.

Late winter and spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. The 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 spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a early fall window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a opaque tease strategy and limited plot reveals that put concept first.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card burn.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s AI companion becomes something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: ambience-forward adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her severe boss push to survive on a far-flung island as the power balance of power upends and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to fright, rooted in Cronin’s practical effects and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting chiller that toys with the terror of a child’s fragile impressions. Rating: rating pending. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed and headline-actor led paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that teases of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime obsessions. Rating: not yet rated. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites erupts, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a new clan caught in older hauntings. Rating: undetermined. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A new start designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survivalist horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in progress. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

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-precise speech and raw menace. Rating: TBA. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026, why now

Three practical forces organize this lineup. First, production that downshifted or rearranged in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming releases. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work shareable moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Calendar math also matters. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will stack across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

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

The underdog chase continues in Q1, where cost-efficient genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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 year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, 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 keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, sound, 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, Lined Up To Scare

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand equity where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, keep the secrets, and let the gasps sell the seats.