Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a nerve shredding supernatural thriller, bowing October 2025 across global platforms

A terrifying metaphysical horror tale from cinematographer / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an ancient dread when strangers become tokens in a satanic ordeal. Streaming on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing saga of staying alive and prehistoric entity that will reconstruct terror storytelling this fall. Helmed by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and shadowy story follows five characters who find themselves caught in a off-grid hideaway under the hostile influence of Kyra, a tormented girl possessed by a timeless ancient fiend. Be prepared to be hooked by a audio-visual spectacle that intertwines raw fear with biblical origins, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a classic pillar in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is reimagined when the presences no longer originate from beyond, but rather from deep inside. This illustrates the malevolent part of the victims. The result is a gripping mind game where the intensity becomes a unyielding fight between righteousness and malevolence.


In a wilderness-stricken wild, five friends find themselves contained under the ominous presence and inhabitation of a enigmatic woman. As the victims becomes unable to resist her influence, exiled and hunted by beings impossible to understand, they are confronted to confront their worst nightmares while the countdown relentlessly ticks onward toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety mounts and alliances fracture, forcing each cast member to rethink their essence and the idea of conscious will itself. The pressure surge with every minute, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that merges unearthly horror with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to tap into primal fear, an evil beyond time, operating within our fears, and testing a curse that strips down our being when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra meant channeling something more primal than sorrow. She is unaware until the takeover begins, and that pivot is harrowing because it is so private.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for audience access beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—providing households globally can dive into this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its original promo, which has gathered over notable views.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, presenting the nightmare to viewers around the world.


Mark your calendar for this haunted ride through nightmares. Explore *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to experience these chilling revelations about the human condition.


For exclusive trailers, special features, and insider scoops from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across Facebook and TikTok and visit our spooky domain.





American horror’s sea change: calendar year 2025 U.S. release slate integrates myth-forward possession, festival-born jolts, stacked beside brand-name tremors

Kicking off with survival horror grounded in legendary theology through to brand-name continuations together with incisive indie visions, 2025 is tracking to be the richest together with precision-timed year in years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. studio majors plant stakes across the year with established lines, in parallel SVOD players crowd the fall with new voices together with archetypal fear. On another front, independent banners is buoyed by the uplift from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, yet in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are precise, and 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Elevated fear reclaims ground

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s distribution arm opens the year with a confident swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, inside today’s landscape. With Leigh Whannell at the helm fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. arriving mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Eli Craig directs with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

By late summer, Warner’s pipeline rolls out the capstone within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. While the template is known, 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.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson re engages, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: nostalgic menace, trauma as theme, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The stakes escalate here, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The continuation widens the legend, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It drops in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Platform Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the quieter side is Together, a sealed box body horror arc led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Also rising is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative featuring Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in 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 each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. 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. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is canny scheduling. No heavy handed lore. No legacy baggage. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. 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. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Brands: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, guided by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Key Trends

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Outlook: Fall stack and winter swing card

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The approaching chiller slate: continuations, new stories, paired with A jammed Calendar calibrated for goosebumps

Dek: The current genre slate crams early with a January glut, before it flows through June and July, and carrying into the festive period, combining name recognition, creative pitches, and smart counterplay. Studios and streamers are embracing responsible budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and platform-native promos that shape genre titles into cross-demo moments.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The horror sector has established itself as the sturdy move in programming grids, a space that can accelerate when it breaks through and still insulate the drawdown when it doesn’t. After 2023 proved to leaders that lean-budget entries can galvanize the zeitgeist, the following year sustained momentum with director-led heat and word-of-mouth wins. The energy moved into 2025, where revivals and prestige plays highlighted there is an opening for diverse approaches, from continued chapters to original one-offs that resonate abroad. The net effect for 2026 is a slate that shows rare alignment across the major shops, with purposeful groupings, a spread of recognizable IP and original hooks, and a tightened priority on exhibition windows that increase tail monetization on premium video on demand and OTT platforms.

Studio leaders note the horror lane now performs as a plug-and-play option on the programming map. The genre can premiere on nearly any frame, deliver a easy sell for promo reels and short-form placements, and punch above weight with patrons that lean in on first-look nights and keep coming through the week two if the film pays off. Following a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 layout underscores comfort in that equation. The year begins with a loaded January window, then targets spring into early summer for balance, while saving space for a autumn push that carries into the fright window and into early November. The schedule also illustrates the expanded integration of arthouse labels and OTT outlets that can platform a title, generate chatter, and widen at the optimal moment.

Another broad trend is brand management across connected story worlds and long-running brands. The studios are not just making another continuation. They are shaping as threaded continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a title design that signals a new vibe or a ensemble decision that connects a incoming chapter to a early run. At the parallel to that, the filmmakers behind the high-profile originals are leaning into his comment is here on-set craft, practical gags and specific settings. That mix produces the 2026 slate a lively combination of trust and novelty, which is why the genre exports well.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount sets the tone early with two marquee entries that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the spine, angling it as both a lineage transfer and a rootsy character piece. Production is active in Atlanta, and the artistic posture signals a fan-service aware framework without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push driven by heritage visuals, first-look character reveals, and a tiered teaser plan hitting late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will emphasize. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will chase mainstream recognition through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format fitting quick updates to whatever drives the discourse that spring.

Universal has three specific bets. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is simple, heartbroken, and logline-clear: a grieving man purchases an algorithmic mate that mutates into a deadly partner. The date positions it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s team likely to echo eerie street stunts and micro spots that fuses longing and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a final title to become an teaser payoff closer to the initial tease. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. His projects are presented as director events, with a concept-forward tease and a later trailer push that shape mood without giving away the concept. The Halloween runway gives Universal room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has long shown that a gritty, hands-on effects approach can feel prestige on a mid-range budget. Look for a viscera-heavy summer horror surge that leans hard into overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio sets two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, continuing a trusty supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is presenting as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both fans and new audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign pieces around narrative world, and monster aesthetics, elements that can accelerate PLF interest and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror grounded in historical precision and archaic language, this time exploring werewolf lore. The label has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is robust.

How the platforms plan to play it

Digital strategies for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s genre entries shift to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a sequence that amplifies both week-one demand and sign-up momentum in the downstream. Prime Video blends catalogue additions with international acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library engagement, using More about the author well-timed internal promotions, spooky hubs, and editorial rows to lengthen the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix keeps optionality about first-party entries and festival snaps, slotting horror entries closer to launch and positioning as event drops releases with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a laddered of focused cinema runs and rapid platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a situational basis. The platform has proven amenable to take on select projects with accomplished filmmakers or marquee packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation spikes.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 sequence with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is direct: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, modernized for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a standard theatrical run for the title, an good sign for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the autumn stretch.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday dates to expand. That positioning has proved effective for craft-driven horror with four-quadrant hopes. 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 safe bet is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception encourages. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using limited runs to seed evangelism that fuels their membership.

Legacy titles versus originals

By number, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate household recognition. The concern, as ever, is fatigue. The operating solution is to position each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is emphasizing character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a continental coloration from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the team and cast is anchored enough to build pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years announce the model. In 2023, a cinema-first model that held distribution windows did not deter a day-date move from winning when the brand was potent. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror surged in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they rotate perspective and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends 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 consecutively, provides the means for marketing to link the films through personae and themes and to leave creative active without long breaks.

Production craft signals

The creative meetings behind 2026 horror suggest a continued tilt toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that spotlights mood and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and era-true language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in feature stories and department features before rolling out a tease that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and produces shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta refresh that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature execution and sets, which align with convention floor stunts and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel must-have. Look for trailers that foreground precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that sing on PLF.

From winter to holidays

January is stacked. Universal’s 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 somber counterpoint amid bigger brand plays. The month ends 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 thick, but the variety of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

Q1 into Q2 prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps 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 lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Late summer into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a bridge slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a tease-and-hold strategy and limited pre-release reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and card redemption.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s intelligent companion unfolds into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie 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 stumble upon a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: mood-led 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 demanding boss push to survive on a cut-off island as the control dynamic shifts and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-front survival film 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 from-today rework that returns the monster to chill, driven by Cronin’s material craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting piece that teases the fear of a child’s mercurial point of view. Rating: to be announced. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-grade and star-led spirit-world 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 satire sequel that satirizes current genre trends and true-crime manias. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 flares, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further reopens, with a unlucky family bound to returning horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. 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: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A reboot designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survivalist horror over action fireworks. Rating: to be announced. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: pending. Production: ongoing. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and primordial menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three execution-level forces drive this lineup. First, production that downshifted or re-sequenced in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming landings. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can capture a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where value-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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first quiet 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, aural design, and cinematography that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Ready To Roar

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is franchise muscle where it helps, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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, produce clean trailers, lock the reveals, and let the fear sell the seats.