Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases age-old dread, a nerve shredding chiller, launching October 2025 across premium platforms

A bone-chilling mystic terror film from creator / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an archaic dread when foreigners become conduits in a hellish ceremony. Dropping this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing account of continuance and age-old darkness that will reshape the fear genre this October. Helmed by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and atmospheric fearfest follows five people who awaken stuck in a off-grid structure under the aggressive control of Kyra, a tormented girl dominated by a millennia-old scriptural evil. Brace yourself to be hooked by a screen-based journey that weaves together soul-chilling terror with mystical narratives, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a well-established motif in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is inverted when the beings no longer descend outside their bodies, but rather through their own souls. This portrays the most terrifying side of each of them. The result is a relentless mind game where the narrative becomes a unyielding tug-of-war between moral forces.


In a barren no-man's-land, five individuals find themselves isolated under the dark force and possession of a unidentified female presence. As the protagonists becomes paralyzed to oppose her rule, stranded and followed by evils unnamable, they are made to wrestle with their worst nightmares while the deathwatch unceasingly ticks toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust escalates and partnerships splinter, requiring each person to question their essence and the nature of liberty itself. The consequences grow with every short lapse, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that intertwines otherworldly suspense with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to uncover pure dread, an spirit from ancient eras, manipulating fragile psyche, and confronting a darkness that questions who we are when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra meant evoking something darker than pain. She is clueless until the evil takes hold, and that shift is eerie because it is so close.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for on-demand beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—offering users across the world can engage with this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its first preview, which has racked up over 100K plays.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, taking the terror to a worldwide audience.


Make sure to see this heart-stopping journey into fear. Stream *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to uncover these ghostly lessons about human nature.


For featurettes, behind-the-scenes content, and press updates directly from production, follow @YACMovie across social media and visit the movie portal.





Contemporary horror’s inflection point: 2025 across markets stateside slate braids together myth-forward possession, independent shockers, paired with Franchise Rumbles

Running from pressure-cooker survival tales infused with old testament echoes and including franchise returns alongside pointed art-house angles, 2025 is tracking to be the most dimensioned together with precision-timed year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. leading studios are anchoring the year through proven series, concurrently streamers flood the fall with new voices as well as archetypal fear. Meanwhile, the independent cohort is surfing the kinetic energy of a record-setting 2024 festival season. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, though in this cycle, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are precise, which means 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s pipeline sets the tone with a big gambit: a contemporary Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, inside today’s landscape. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. timed 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. Directed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer wanes, Warner Bros. Pictures launches the swan song of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. While the template is known, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson re engages, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: retro dread, trauma foregrounded, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This time, the stakes are raised, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, thickens the animatronic pantheon, reaching teens and game grownups. It posts in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streaming Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a two hander body horror spiral fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend led by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece 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.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It is a clever angle. No bloated mythology. No franchise baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. 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.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Lines: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, steered by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

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

Trend Lines

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Projection: Fall pileup, winter curveball

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. 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 aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The next spook lineup: installments, non-franchise titles, plus A jammed Calendar aimed at shocks

Dek The incoming scare season builds immediately with a January traffic jam, after that extends through the mid-year, and running into the holidays, weaving franchise firepower, creative pitches, and savvy counterplay. Studios and platforms are focusing on lean spends, cinema-first plans, and shareable marketing that pivot horror entries into water-cooler talk.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This category has become the consistent tool in studio slates, a vertical that can break out when it catches and still safeguard the risk when it underperforms. After 2023 demonstrated to greenlighters that low-to-mid budget shockers can drive the zeitgeist, the following year extended the rally with signature-voice projects and surprise hits. The energy translated to 2025, where revivals and awards-minded projects highlighted there is appetite for a spectrum, from continued chapters to filmmaker-driven originals that perform internationally. The net effect for 2026 is a roster that presents tight coordination across studios, with clear date clusters, a pairing of established brands and original hooks, and a refocused strategy on cinema windows that fuel later windows on PVOD and digital services.

Insiders argue the space now performs as a plug-and-play option on the slate. Horror can open on numerous frames, supply a quick sell for teasers and social clips, and outstrip with audiences that turn out on opening previews and continue through the next weekend if the picture fires. On the heels of a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 configuration reflects certainty in that approach. The year launches with a front-loaded January run, then uses spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while reserving space for a late-year stretch that flows toward the fright window and afterwards. The arrangement also highlights the increasing integration of indie arms and streaming partners that can develop over weeks, fuel WOM, and grow at the optimal moment.

A reinforcing pattern is brand management across shared IP webs and veteran brands. Major shops are not just pushing another sequel. They are seeking to position threaded continuity with a occasion, whether that is a logo package that broadcasts a new vibe or a lead change that anchors a new installment to a foundational era. At the concurrently, the creative teams behind the most watched originals are championing hands-on technique, physical gags and specific settings. That fusion gives the 2026 slate a strong blend of known notes and invention, which is how the films export.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount marks the early tempo with two centerpiece projects that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the lead, angling it as both a handoff and a classic-mode character-driven entry. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance hints at a roots-evoking mode without replaying the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Anticipate a campaign centered on classic imagery, character previews, and a promo sequence timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

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 back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will emphasize. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will chase wide appeal through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format supporting quick redirects to whatever dominates trend lines that spring.

Universal has three discrete projects. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is straightforward, loss-driven, and easily pitched: a grieving man activates an algorithmic mate that becomes a fatal companion. The date positions it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to bring back eerie street stunts and short-form creative that melds longing and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a public title to become an event moment closer to the initial promo. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele projects are presented as marquee events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a next wave of trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor opens a lane to lead 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, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has proven that a raw, physical-effects centered execution can feel prestige on a middle budget. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror rush that emphasizes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio sets two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, continuing a consistent supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is marketing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both diehards and casuals. The fall slot offers Sony space to build assets around mythos, and creature effects, elements that can fuel format premiums and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in rigorous craft and period language, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is glowing.

Digital platform strategies

Platform strategies for 2026 run on predictable routes. The Universal horror run flow to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a cadence that maximizes both debut momentum and subscriber lifts in the back half. Prime Video will mix licensed films with cross-border buys and select theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in back-catalog play, using featured rows, genre hubs, and curated rows to prolong the run on overall cume. Netflix stays nimble about originals and festival acquisitions, slotting horror entries with shorter lead times and making event-like go-lives with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a one-two of focused cinema runs and prompt platform moves that converts WOM to subscribers. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has proven amenable to purchase select projects with accomplished filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation builds.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 arc with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is no-nonsense: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, elevated for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the fall weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday corridor to increase reach. That positioning has proved effective for auteur horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a set click to read more of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception allows. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using targeted theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Franchises versus originals

By number, 2026 leans in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage legacy awareness. The concern, as ever, is brand wear. The workable fix is to position each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is foregrounding character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is floating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a European tilt from a emerging director. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and director-driven titles add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the assembly is comforting enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Comparable trends from recent years announce the plan. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that kept clean windows did not obstruct a day-date move from hitting when the brand was sticky. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror surged in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they angle differently and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters shot consecutively, permits marketing to cross-link entries through character web and themes and to leave creative active without doldrums.

Craft and creative trends

The creative meetings behind these films suggest a continued bias toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that spotlights grain and menace rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in deep-dive features and technical spotlights before rolling out a tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at gristle and gore, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and gathers shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta-horror reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature and environment design, which play well in fan conventions and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel key. Look for trailers that emphasize fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that explode in larger rooms.

From winter to holidays

January is jammed. 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 heftier brand moves. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the variety of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Post-January through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Late-season stretch leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a late-September window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a mystery-first teaser plan and limited disclosures that favor idea over plot.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card redemption.

Title briefs within the narrative

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 take on a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s AI companion becomes something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete 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 emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively 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 comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. 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 tough boss struggle to survive on a lonely island as the power balance of power reverses and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to horror, founded on Cronin’s practical effects and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 home-set haunting scenario that threads the dread through a kid’s uneven perspective. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A parody reboot that riffs on present-day genre chatter and true-crime obsessions. Rating: TBA. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a new family caught in returning horrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on pure survival horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: TBD. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in progress. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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 historical diction and primal menace. Rating: TBA. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. 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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why 2026, why now

Three pragmatic forces drive this lineup. First, production that paused or rearranged in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often call for 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 out-earned straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on bite-size scare clips from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will stack across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

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 expanded PLF presence without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where lean-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 capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit 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 somber, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to set up the have a peek at these guys audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, right-sized allotments, 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 visual texture, sound field, and image-making 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.

A Promising 2026

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand heft where it matters, filmmaker vision where it matters, 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, keep secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.