Age-old Evil awakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding feature, rolling out October 2025 on major streaming services

A spine-tingling mystic fright fest from scriptwriter / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an archaic entity when unknowns become tokens in a diabolical contest. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking portrayal of survival and primeval wickedness that will revamp horror this season. Brought to life by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and tone-heavy cinema piece follows five strangers who come to confined in a unreachable structure under the oppressive influence of Kyra, a young woman claimed by a 2,000-year-old biblical demon. Arm yourself to be hooked by a audio-visual ride that harmonizes primitive horror with biblical origins, releasing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a mainstay motif in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is inverted when the demons no longer appear outside their bodies, but rather from deep inside. This symbolizes the grimmest facet of the protagonists. The result is a emotionally raw internal warfare where the intensity becomes a brutal clash between divinity and wickedness.


In a forsaken woodland, five campers find themselves confined under the malevolent effect and possession of a unidentified entity. As the companions becomes unresisting to withstand her curse, severed and tracked by evils impossible to understand, they are compelled to deal with their core terrors while the final hour unceasingly ticks onward toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease swells and ties crack, forcing each member to reflect on their identity and the nature of autonomy itself. The pressure mount with every second, delivering a scare-fueled ride that combines demonic fright with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to dive into instinctual horror, an presence beyond recorded history, influencing inner turmoil, and exposing a darkness that dismantles free will when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra asked for exploring something rooted in terror. She is blind until the entity awakens, and that evolution is bone-chilling because it is so deep.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for audiences beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—providing households from coast to coast can dive into this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its first preview, which has collected over six-figure audience.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, giving access to the movie to global fright lovers.


Make sure to see this cinematic fall into madness. Join *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to uncover these fearful discoveries about our species.


For behind-the-scenes access, filmmaker commentary, and announcements from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across platforms and visit the movie portal.





The horror genre’s watershed moment: 2025 across markets U.S. release slate fuses biblical-possession ideas, signature indie scares, alongside returning-series thunder

From survival horror inspired by ancient scripture all the way to legacy revivals and focused festival visions, 2025 is lining up as the most stratified in tandem with calculated campaign year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. major banners bookend the months with known properties, as platform operators saturate the fall with debut heat paired with ancient terrors. Meanwhile, independent banners is surfing the uplift of a peak 2024 circuit. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the other windows are mapped with care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, though in this cycle, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are targeted, therefore 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: High-craft horror returns

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 doubles down.

the Universal camp leads off the quarter with a risk-forward move: a contemporary Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, but a crisp modern milieu. Under director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Slated for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Directed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

At summer’s close, the WB camp drops the final chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Though the formula is familiar, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: throwback unease, trauma in the foreground, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This time the stakes climb, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, thickens the animatronic pantheon, bridging teens and legacy players. It drops in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

SVOD Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a body horror chamber piece with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend starring Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. 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. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this film taps 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 an astute call. No heavy handed lore. No franchise baggage. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Series Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

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

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, under Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Trend Lines

Mythic dread mainstreams
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror reemerges
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Forecast: Fall pileup, winter curveball

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The 2026 terror release year: Sequels, filmmaker-first projects, together with A stacked Calendar calibrated for goosebumps

Dek: The new genre year builds from the jump with a January traffic jam, then runs through midyear, and pushing into the year-end corridor, combining name recognition, novel approaches, and tactical alternatives. Studios and streamers are committing to tight budgets, box-office-first windows, and social-driven marketing that pivot these releases into mainstream chatter.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror has shown itself to be the sturdy option in annual schedules, a space that can break out when it connects and still mitigate the exposure when it doesn’t. After 2023 showed leaders that cost-conscious genre plays can drive the zeitgeist, the following year kept the drumbeat going with visionary-driven titles and sleeper breakouts. The energy carried into 2025, where reboots and prestige plays confirmed there is appetite for multiple flavors, from continued chapters to one-and-done originals that resonate abroad. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a run that looks unusually coordinated across studios, with purposeful groupings, a harmony of known properties and new packages, and a tightened strategy on theatrical windows that fuel later windows on premium digital and digital services.

Executives say the category now behaves like a versatile piece on the grid. The genre can arrive on most weekends, offer a quick sell for creative and short-form placements, and outstrip with crowds that respond on opening previews and keep coming through the follow-up frame if the feature connects. Post a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 setup reflects faith in that setup. The slate begins with a front-loaded January band, then taps spring and early summer for counterweight, while carving room for a fall cadence that connects to Halloween and afterwards. The schedule also reflects the ongoing integration of indie arms and SVOD players that can platform and widen, spark evangelism, and widen at the sweet spot.

An added macro current is series management across ongoing universes and long-running brands. Studios are not just rolling another installment. They are trying to present threaded continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a brandmark that suggests a new vibe or a casting pivot that threads a fresh chapter to a first wave. At the simultaneously, the creative teams behind the marquee originals are doubling down on in-camera technique, practical effects and location-forward worlds. That fusion affords the 2026 slate a vital pairing of brand comfort and invention, which is the formula for international play.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount establishes early momentum with two spotlight pushes that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the focus, presenting it as both a relay and a return-to-roots relationship-driven entry. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance points to a legacy-leaning campaign without looping the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Look for a marketing run driven by heritage visuals, character previews, and a two-beat trailer plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will spotlight. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will pursue large awareness horror through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format inviting quick switches to whatever defines horror talk that spring.

Universal has three specific strategies. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is efficient, melancholic, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man brings home an virtual partner that evolves into a killer companion. The date sets it at the front of a crowded corridor, with marketing at Universal likely to renew creepy live activations and short-form creative that hybridizes romance and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a final title to become an marketing beat closer to the teaser. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele’s work are set up as marquee events, with a concept-forward tease and a second beat that shape mood without giving away the concept. The pre-Halloween slot gives the studio room to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has long shown that a raw, practical-first treatment can feel elevated on a lean spend. Look for a gore-forward summer horror shock that leans hard into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio launches two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, holding a reliable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is marketing as a fresh restart 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 mission to serve both longtime followers and novices. The fall slot hands Sony window to build campaign pieces around environmental design, and monster craft, elements that can lift IMAX and PLF uptake and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by textural authenticity and period language, this time engaging werewolf myth. Focus’s team has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is glowing.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform plans for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s genre slate head to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a sequence that optimizes both launch urgency and sub growth in the back half. Prime Video balances third-party pickups with global acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data points to it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in archive usage, using seasonal hubs, spooky hubs, and curated rows to maximize the tail on overall cume. Netflix retains agility about internal projects and festival buys, scheduling horror entries on shorter runways and positioning as event drops premieres with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a dual-phase of tailored theatrical exposure and swift platform pivots that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a per-project basis. The platform has proven amenable to board select projects with prestige directors or name-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for monthly engagement when the genre conversation builds.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 sequence with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is direct: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, modernized for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a big-screen first plan for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the back half.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through select festivals if the cut is ready, then leveraging the December frame to scale. That positioning has been successful for filmmaker-driven genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception warrants. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using boutique theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their user base.

Series vs standalone

By proportion, 2026 favors the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit marquee value. The question, as ever, is audience fatigue. The pragmatic answer is to frame each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is bringing forward character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a Francophone tone from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the packaging is recognizable enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years frame the strategy. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that kept streaming intact did not hamper a hybrid test from hitting when the brand was compelling. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror hit big in PLF. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel new when they reframe POV and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, permits marketing to tie installments through relationships and themes and to leave creative active without dead zones.

Behind-the-camera trends

The director conversations behind this slate point to a continued bias toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that underscores grain and menace rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in feature stories and craft features before rolling out a preview that leans on mood over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and generates shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta inflection that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature and environment design, which align with booth activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel necessary. Look for trailers that underscore hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that sing on PLF.

How the year maps out

January is packed. 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 somber counterpoint amid big-brand pushes. The month wraps 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 legit, but the menu of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth sustains.

Late Q1 and spring seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now accommodates 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 sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can hit 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 premium screens.

August and September into October leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a late-September window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited teasers that favor idea over plot.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can win the holiday when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and holiday gift-card burn.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s AI companion evolves into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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

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 stumble upon a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. 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 abrasive boss claw to survive on a rugged island as the control dynamic flips and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to chill, grounded in Cronin’s in-camera craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting chiller that teases the chill of a child’s inconsistent POV. Rating: to be announced. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-supported 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 returning creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that needles modern genre fads and true-crime manias. Rating: TBD. Production: fall 2025 production window. 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 ignites, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further widens again, with a different family linked to old terrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survivalist horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: underway. 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 era-accurate language and raw menace. Rating: pending. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three hands-on forces define this lineup. First, production that downshifted or migrated in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming releases. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine meme-ready beats from test screenings, select scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can seize a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will coexist across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

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

The sleeper-hit hunt continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to capitalize on those pockets. 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, 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 flow and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, 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 hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, soundcraft, and framing 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

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is franchise muscle where it helps, filmmaker vision where it matters, 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the fear sell the seats.