Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up primordial evil, a nerve shredding shocker, premiering Oct 2025 on top streamers

One bone-chilling ghostly fright fest from author / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an age-old terror when passersby become instruments in a diabolical conflict. Releasing on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, the YouTube platform, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving chronicle of continuance and primeval wickedness that will transform the horror genre this spooky time. Brought to life by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and moody cinema piece follows five characters who find themselves caught in a remote dwelling under the malignant command of Kyra, a possessed female haunted by a millennia-old biblical demon. Brace yourself to be absorbed by a screen-based ride that fuses bodily fright with ancestral stories, landing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a historical motif in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is challenged when the beings no longer emerge externally, but rather from within. This echoes the most terrifying element of each of them. The result is a enthralling inner struggle where the suspense becomes a perpetual struggle between right and wrong.


In a wilderness-stricken terrain, five young people find themselves stuck under the dark presence and possession of a unidentified spirit. As the ensemble becomes unable to combat her influence, exiled and followed by powers beyond reason, they are cornered to face their soulful dreads while the seconds without pity counts down toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear surges and partnerships splinter, driving each person to reconsider their values and the structure of decision-making itself. The threat rise with every heartbeat, delivering a scare-fueled ride that fuses supernatural terror with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to dive into elemental fright, an entity from ancient eras, emerging via human fragility, and testing a will that tests the soul when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra called for internalizing something rooted in terror. She is innocent until the haunting manifests, and that flip is bone-chilling because it is so visceral.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be released for worldwide release beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—ensuring households from coast to coast can watch this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its release of trailer #1, which has gathered over notable views.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, bringing the film to thrill-seekers globally.


Avoid skipping this gripping path of possession. Join *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to dive into these nightmarish insights about mankind.


For film updates, extra content, and updates from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across your favorite networks and visit our horror hub.





Contemporary horror’s pivotal crossroads: 2025 domestic schedule interlaces legend-infused possession, Indie Shockers, set against tentpole growls

Across endurance-driven terror drawn from primordial scripture all the way to returning series as well as cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 appears poised to be the genre’s most multifaceted combined with intentionally scheduled year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. top-tier distributors hold down the year using marquee IP, in parallel streaming platforms load up the fall with unboxed visions paired with ancestral chills. On the independent axis, the independent cohort is surfing the backdraft from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The fall stretch is the proving field, however this time, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are methodical, so 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige fear returns

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

the Universal banner opens the year with a headline swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, but a crisp modern milieu. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Booked into mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Helmed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer winds down, Warner’s schedule unveils the final movement of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. While the template is known, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the tone that worked before is intact: retrograde shiver, trauma foregrounded, and a cold supernatural calculus. 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 sequel leans deeper into its lore, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, bridging teens and legacy players. It hits in December, pinning the winter close.

Streaming Firsts: Economy, maximum dread

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a body horror duet with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend 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 title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, 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.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

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 is a clever angle. No overweight mythology. No IP hangover. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

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

Franchise Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, under Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror swings back
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Season Ahead: Fall stack and winter swing card

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The upcoming scare season: follow-ups, Originals, as well as A packed Calendar tailored for jolts

Dek: The fresh genre calendar packs immediately with a January traffic jam, following that rolls through summer corridors, and deep into the festive period, combining franchise firepower, inventive spins, and calculated calendar placement. The big buyers and platforms are betting on responsible budgets, theater-first strategies, and platform-native promos that transform the slate’s entries into water-cooler talk.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The genre has become the predictable counterweight in annual schedules, a segment that can scale when it performs and still buffer the downside when it fails to connect. After 2023 reconfirmed for greenlighters that low-to-mid budget pictures can own mainstream conversation, 2024 carried the beat with director-led heat and slow-burn breakouts. The carry pushed into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and arthouse crossovers made clear there is capacity for many shades, from series extensions to non-IP projects that translate worldwide. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a calendar that is strikingly coherent across companies, with purposeful groupings, a harmony of familiar brands and untested plays, and a re-energized attention on cinema windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium home window and subscription services.

Schedulers say the space now performs as a fill-in ace on the release plan. Horror can premiere on nearly any frame, deliver a simple premise for spots and platform-native cuts, and lead with audiences that respond on first-look nights and stick through the follow-up frame if the feature satisfies. Exiting a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 rhythm shows confidence in that logic. The slate opens with a front-loaded January band, then targets spring into early summer for counterprogramming, while making space for a autumn push that connects to the Halloween frame and past the holiday. The layout also includes the increasing integration of indie distributors and streaming partners that can platform a title, grow buzz, and widen at the sweet spot.

A notable top-line trend is legacy care across interlocking continuities and classic IP. The companies are not just releasing another entry. They are working to present ongoing narrative with a marquee sheen, whether that is a title design that broadcasts a recalibrated tone or a cast configuration that bridges a latest entry to a original cycle. At the meanwhile, the directors behind the most anticipated originals are championing hands-on technique, practical gags and distinct locales. That mix affords the 2026 slate a confident blend of trust and novelty, which is what works overseas.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount sets the tone early with two high-profile titles that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the center, angling it as both a lineage transfer and a classic-mode character-centered film. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture signals a classic-referencing angle without going over the last two entries’ sisters thread. Look for a marketing run driven by classic imagery, intro reveals, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm landing toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will foreground. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will drive broad awareness through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format enabling quick turns to whatever dominates horror talk that spring.

Universal has three specific releases. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is straightforward, grief-rooted, and logline-clear: a grieving man installs an machine companion that escalates into a fatal companion. The date sets it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with marketing at Universal likely to recreate viral uncanny stunts and brief clips that blurs affection and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a title drop to become an PR pop closer to the first trailer. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele titles are presented as marquee events, with a concept-forward tease and a second beat that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date opens a lane to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to 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 top-lining. The franchise has demonstrated that a in-your-face, physical-effects centered strategy can feel big on a efficient spend. Position this as a viscera-heavy summer horror jolt that pushes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio mounts two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, sustaining a bankable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is calling a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both core fans and general audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build promo materials around universe detail, and monster aesthetics, elements that can fuel premium booking interest 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 continues Eggers’ run of period horror driven by historical precision and period language, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is favorable.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform tactics for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s slate window into copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a sequence that boosts both debut momentum and platform bumps in the later phase. Prime Video will mix licensed titles with worldwide entries and limited cinema engagements when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in archive usage, using timely promos, Halloween hubs, and staff picks to lengthen the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps options open about own-slate titles and festival snaps, dating horror entries closer to drop and making event-like launches with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a laddered of precision theatrical plays and speedy platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown appetite to acquire select projects with recognized filmmakers or A-list packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for monthly engagement when the genre conversation ramps.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 runway with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent horror Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is tight: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, elevated 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. The distributor has indicated a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late-season weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday slot to move out. That positioning has worked well for director-led genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception drives. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using limited theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their user base.

Balance of brands and originals

By proportion, 2026 bends toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap legacy awareness. The concern, as ever, is diminishing returns. The operating solution is to present each entry as a new angle. Paramount is foregrounding character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-accented approach from a rising filmmaker. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the packaging is comforting enough to accelerate early sales and preview-night crowds.

Past-three-year patterns contextualize the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that respected streaming windows did not block a simultaneous release test from succeeding when the brand was powerful. In 2024, director-craft horror rose in premium formats. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they reorient and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, enables marketing to link the films through cast and motif and to keep assets alive without pause points.

Technique and craft currents

The craft conversations behind the 2026 entries suggest a continued tilt toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that emphasizes texture and dread rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and medieval diction, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft features before rolling out a teaser that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at practical nastiness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and spurs shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta inflection that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature design and production design, which favor convention activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel primary. Look for trailers that underscore pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that land in big rooms.

Month-by-month map

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. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid bigger brand plays. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the mix of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth sustains.

Post-January through spring tee up summer. Scream 7 opens February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can deliver 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 run their PLF course.

End of summer through fall leans franchise. 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 shoulder-season slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited asset reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can play the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card redemption.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s AI companion becomes 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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run 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 difficult boss scramble to survive on a rugged island as the control dynamic tilts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 in the vault in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to dread, built on Cronin’s material craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting piece that threads the dread through a little one’s volatile personal vantage. Rating: to be announced. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural 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 send-up revival that pokes at present-day genre chatter and true-crime buzz. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming slated 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 breaks out, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new household linked to older hauntings. Rating: to be announced. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A new start designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival-driven horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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-faithful speech and primal menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. 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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 lands now

Three practical forces inform this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or re-slotted in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and leaner 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 outpaced straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine clippable moments from test screenings, metered scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Calendar math also matters. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can capture a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will cluster across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for 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 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, sound field, and 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 Robust 2026 On Deck

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is IP strength where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, 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 late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, protect the mystery, and let the scares sell the seats.