Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens primeval malevolence, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, bowing October 2025 on global platforms

One unnerving spectral suspense story from screenwriter / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an ancient malevolence when unrelated individuals become instruments in a malevolent conflict. Going live this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking story of survival and age-old darkness that will reconstruct terror storytelling this harvest season. Helmed by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and moody motion picture follows five teens who wake up imprisoned in a off-grid shack under the unfriendly will of Kyra, a tormented girl dominated by a 2,000-year-old sacred-era entity. Get ready to be gripped by a immersive event that merges bone-deep fear with mystical narratives, coming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a long-standing fixture in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is reversed when the spirits no longer manifest from an outside force, but rather through their own souls. This portrays the deepest shade of each of them. The result is a harrowing cognitive warzone where the emotions becomes a soul-crushing fight between moral forces.


In a haunting landscape, five campers find themselves marooned under the unholy rule and grasp of a obscure entity. As the group becomes submissive to deny her command, disconnected and preyed upon by beings indescribable, they are confronted to acknowledge their inner demons while the timeline coldly moves toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease amplifies and teams crack, demanding each character to evaluate their values and the idea of liberty itself. The danger rise with every beat, delivering a cinematic nightmare that weaves together otherworldly panic with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to awaken deep fear, an entity rooted in antiquity, emerging via emotional vulnerability, and wrestling with a darkness that redefines identity when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra required summoning something beyond human emotion. She is innocent until the evil takes hold, and that flip is bone-chilling because it is so internal.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for viewing beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—making sure horror lovers worldwide 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 evolution to its intro video, which has collected over 100K plays.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, bringing the film to a worldwide audience.


Mark your calendar for this cinematic exploration of dread. Join *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to uncover these spiritual awakenings about inner darkness.


For bonus footage, behind-the-scenes content, and reveals from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across Facebook and TikTok and visit the official website.





Today’s horror inflection point: calendar year 2025 U.S. lineup fuses old-world possession, independent shockers, alongside series shake-ups

Moving from fight-to-live nightmare stories infused with ancient scripture all the way to legacy revivals plus sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is shaping up as horror’s most layered in tandem with deliberate year for the modern era.

Call it full, but it is also focused. the big studios are anchoring the year by way of signature titles, while streaming platforms stack the fall with new voices paired with archetypal fear. On the festival side, the independent cohort is drafting behind the echoes of 2024’s record festival wave. Since Halloween is the prized date, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, however this time, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are targeted, accordingly 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige fear returns

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 set the base, 2025 deepens the push.

the Universal banner lights the fuse with a bold swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, but a sharp contemporary setting. With Leigh Whannell at the helm with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. arriving mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Eli Craig directs starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

When summer tapers, Warner’s slate unveils the final movement inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Though the formula is familiar, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Scott Derrickson returns, and the tone that worked before is intact: retro dread, trauma as text, along with eerie supernatural rules. The ante is higher this round, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The return delves further into myth, builds out the animatronic fear crew, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It arrives in December, locking down the winter tail.

Platform Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a close quarters body horror study including 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 lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story toplined 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 story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It reads as sharp positioning. No overweight mythology. No brand fatigue. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Heritage Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, under Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Signals and Trends

Old myth goes broad
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror comes roaring back
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Forecast: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The new Horror release year: entries, Originals, and also A loaded Calendar optimized for nightmares

Dek The fresh horror calendar builds from the jump with a January logjam, after that carries through the mid-year, and pushing into the late-year period, weaving legacy muscle, novel approaches, and shrewd alternatives. Studios and platforms are committing to cost discipline, theatrical exclusivity first, and buzz-forward plans that pivot these releases into all-audience topics.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The horror marketplace has turned into the consistent release in studio slates, a lane that can surge when it resonates and still hedge the floor when it does not. After 2023 reassured greenlighters that low-to-mid budget scare machines can shape mainstream conversation, the following year kept energy high with high-profile filmmaker pieces and slow-burn breakouts. The upswing rolled into 2025, where legacy revivals and festival-grade titles signaled there is demand for different modes, from returning installments to original features that resonate abroad. The upshot for 2026 is a slate that reads highly synchronized across the industry, with clear date clusters, a pairing of brand names and first-time concepts, and a renewed emphasis on release windows that boost PVOD and platform value on paid VOD and OTT platforms.

Studio leaders note the horror lane now works like a utility player on the schedule. The genre can bow on most weekends, generate a easy sell for ad units and TikTok spots, and overperform with audiences that come out on preview nights and keep coming through the second frame if the release hits. Post a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 configuration indicates confidence in that model. The calendar opens with a thick January schedule, then uses spring and early summer for contrast, while holding room for a fall cadence that stretches into the Halloween frame and into the next week. The schedule also spotlights the increasing integration of boutique distributors and streamers that can develop over weeks, create conversation, and expand at the inflection point.

A second macro trend is series management across shared universes and legacy IP. The players are not just releasing another entry. They are trying to present lore continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a brandmark that flags a tonal shift or a casting move that bridges a incoming chapter to a classic era. At the concurrently, the visionaries behind the top original plays are leaning into material texture, practical effects and concrete locations. That combination affords 2026 a robust balance of assurance and surprise, which is how the films export.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount leads early with two headline titles that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the lead, presenting it More about the author as both a baton pass and a back-to-basics character-focused installment. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance indicates a roots-evoking campaign without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Look for a marketing run rooted in legacy iconography, first images of characters, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

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 creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will foreground. As a summer alternative, this one will seek broad awareness through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick reframes to whatever owns horror talk that spring.

Universal has three clear bets. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is efficient, tragic, and premise-first: a grieving man sets up an artificial companion that shifts into a murderous partner. The date sets it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s team likely to iterate on eerie street stunts and brief clips that hybridizes affection and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a proper title to become an PR pop closer to the first trailer. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele projects are framed as director events, with a concept-forward tease and a next wave of trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The Halloween runway creates space for Universal to own 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, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a tactile, prosthetic-heavy mix can feel top-tier on a middle budget. Expect a red-band summer horror charge that maximizes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio launches two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, continuing a consistent supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is describing as a new take 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 clearer mandate to serve both longtime followers and first-timers. The fall slot gives Sony time to build artifacts around world-building, and monster craft, elements that can amplify deluxe auditorium demand and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by rigorous craft and linguistic texture, this time steeped in lycan lore. The imprint has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is warm.

Streaming windows and tactics

Windowing plans in 2026 run on stable tracks. The studio’s horror films land on copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a structure that elevates both FOMO and viewer acquisition in the post-theatrical. Prime Video combines licensed films with international acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library engagement, using featured rows, spooky hubs, and staff picks to increase tail value on overall cume. Netflix plays opportunist about Netflix films and festival acquisitions, scheduling horror entries on shorter runways and coalescing around drops with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a laddered of targeted theatrical exposure and swift platform pivots that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has proven amenable to acquire select projects with established auteurs or name-led packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for sustained usage when the genre conversation swells.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 corridor with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is direct: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, retooled for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a cinema-first plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the September weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday dates to move out. That positioning has shown results Check This Out for prestige horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception encourages. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using limited runs to kindle evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By skew, 2026 tips toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness fan equity. The risk, as ever, is fatigue. The operating solution is to present each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is leading with character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a continental coloration from a hot helmer. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and director-first projects provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the team and cast is recognizable enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Three-year comps make sense of the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that observed windows did not deter a day-and-date experiment from working when the brand was powerful. In 2024, precision craft horror punched above its weight in premium screens. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they angle differently and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters shot consecutively, creates space for marketing to tie installments through character and theme and to continue assets in field without long breaks.

How the look and feel evolve

The director conversations behind the 2026 entries signal a continued preference for material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that highlights unease and texture rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and era-correct language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and creates shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a self-referential reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature work and production design, which match well with convention activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel primary. Look for trailers that elevate pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that land in premium houses.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is crowded. 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 quiet contrast amid headline IP. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the palette of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth sticks.

Late winter and spring tee up summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

August into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited information drops that stress concept over spoilers.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and card redemption.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s artificial companion mutates into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 difficult boss push to survive on a uninhabited island as the chain of command inverts and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to terror, anchored by Cronin’s physical craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 family-home haunting piece that interrogates the chill of a child’s mercurial impressions. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-built and headline-actor led ghost thriller.

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 spoof revival that needles in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime buzz. Rating: pending. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 spreads, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new family bound to ancient dread. Rating: TBD. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-core horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: to be announced. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: TBD. Production: moving forward. 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 bone-deep menace. Rating: TBA. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 and why now

Three workable forces frame this lineup. First, production that decelerated or re-sequenced in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more measured 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 debuts. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work repeatable beats from test screenings, metered scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

A fourth factor is programming math. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, providing runway for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will compete across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

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

The dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where lower and mid-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to press those advantages. 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.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, aural design, and visual design 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 Strong 2026 Horizon

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is recognizable IP where it plays, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the gasps sell the seats.