Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens ancient dread, a chilling horror thriller, debuting Oct 2025 across top streaming platforms

An spine-tingling paranormal thriller from dramatist / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an timeless nightmare when newcomers become subjects in a diabolical game. Premiering on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving depiction of survival and primordial malevolence that will transform terror storytelling this ghoul season. Visualized by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and shadowy film follows five figures who wake up sealed in a wooded house under the hostile dominion of Kyra, a tormented girl haunted by a antiquated sacred-era entity. Arm yourself to be drawn in by a audio-visual experience that combines primitive horror with mythic lore, premiering on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a mainstay foundation in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is twisted when the entities no longer come beyond the self, but rather inside them. This portrays the haunting version of the victims. The result is a bone-chilling mind game where the tension becomes a merciless clash between moral forces.


In a wilderness-stricken wild, five souls find themselves trapped under the malicious aura and spiritual invasion of a shadowy being. As the ensemble becomes powerless to deny her will, detached and attacked by spirits beyond reason, they are made to acknowledge their darkest emotions while the final hour without pause counts down toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion deepens and partnerships disintegrate, prompting each soul to doubt their personhood and the concept of independent thought itself. The cost climb with every passing moment, delivering a frightening tale that connects supernatural terror with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to tap into basic terror, an evil that predates humanity, emerging via fragile psyche, and dealing with a darkness that questions who we are when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra was about accessing something rooted in terror. She is insensitive until the curse activates, and that transition is soul-crushing because it is so personal.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for on-demand beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—delivering streamers anywhere can be part of this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its original promo, which has pulled in over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, offering the tale to thrill-seekers globally.


Avoid skipping this haunted ride through nightmares. Stream *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to dive into these ghostly lessons about the mind.


For sneak peeks, production news, and announcements from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursed across Facebook and TikTok and visit the official movie site.





The horror genre’s major pivot: the 2025 cycle U.S. Slate weaves archetypal-possession themes, Indie Shockers, plus tentpole growls

Kicking off with endurance-driven terror drawn from primordial scripture all the way to franchise returns in concert with incisive indie visions, 2025 is coalescing into the richest combined with calculated campaign year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. studio majors hold down the year through proven series, in tandem streamers load up the fall with unboxed visions paired with scriptural shivers. On another front, indie storytellers is buoyed by the afterglow of 2024’s record festival wave. Since Halloween is the prized date, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, yet in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are methodical, which means 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The majors are assertive. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s distribution arm opens the year with an audacious swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in an immediate now. Directed by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. targeting mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Helmed by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Initial heat flags it as potent.

Toward summer’s end, Warner Bros. releases the last chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Despite a known recipe, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson re teams, and those signature textures resurface: old school creep, trauma as text, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This time the stakes climb, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The return delves further into myth, builds out the animatronic fear crew, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It arrives in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Originals: No Budget, No Problem

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold case horror anthology threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a room scale body horror descent fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Conceived 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. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. That is a savvy move. No puffed out backstory. No canon weight. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They are more runway than museum.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Series Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, under Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Emerging Currents

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

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

Streamers grow fangs
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
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

What’s Next: Fall crush plus winter X factor

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

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The 2026 spook calendar year ahead: follow-ups, non-franchise titles, alongside A packed Calendar aimed at chills

Dek The incoming genre slate clusters immediately with a January glut, before it carries through the mid-year, and far into the December corridor, combining series momentum, inventive spins, and well-timed counterprogramming. The big buyers and platforms are leaning into responsible budgets, exclusive theatrical windows first, and buzz-forward plans that convert the slate’s entries into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror marketplace has proven to be the surest move in annual schedules, a corner that can spike when it breaks through and still hedge the risk when it does not. After the 2023 year reassured top brass that cost-conscious shockers can dominate social chatter, 2024 kept energy high with visionary-driven titles and word-of-mouth wins. The tailwind pushed into 2025, where reawakened brands and elevated films signaled there is space for many shades, from series extensions to original features that export nicely. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a programming that looks unusually coordinated across players, with strategic blocks, a spread of marquee IP and new concepts, and a reinvigorated eye on exhibition windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium rental and home platforms.

Studio leaders note the space now slots in as a fill-in ace on the distribution slate. Horror can bow on most weekends, deliver a simple premise for trailers and UGC-friendly snippets, and overperform with moviegoers that respond on previews Thursday and sustain through the second frame if the offering lands. Coming out of a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 configuration reflects assurance in that setup. The year gets underway with a front-loaded January corridor, then leans on spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while saving space for a late-year stretch that carries into All Hallows period and past the holiday. The arrangement also includes the increasing integration of indie distributors and home platforms that can grow from platform, ignite recommendations, and grow at the proper time.

A reinforcing pattern is IP cultivation across connected story worlds and legacy IP. Studio teams are not just making another continuation. They are shaping as lore continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a typeface approach that announces a new tone or a cast configuration that bridges a upcoming film to a vintage era. At the very same time, the helmers behind the high-profile originals are celebrating in-camera technique, special makeup and vivid settings. That fusion affords the 2026 slate a robust balance of recognition and novelty, which is what works overseas.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount defines the early cadence with two spotlight titles that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the center, framing it as both a legacy handover and a foundation-forward character-focused installment. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the tonal posture suggests a heritage-honoring strategy without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push stacked with signature symbols, character spotlights, and a tease cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also revives 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 as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will stress. As a summer contrast play, this one will generate mainstream recognition through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format supporting quick shifts to whatever defines the conversation that spring.

Universal has three specific releases. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is efficient, melancholic, and concept-forward: a grieving man purchases an digital partner that becomes a perilous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a packed window, with Universal’s team likely to echo eerie street stunts and micro spots that fuses devotion and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a official title to become an fan moment closer to the initial promo. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. The filmmaker’s films are set up as must-see filmmaker statements, with a minimalist tease and a second trailer wave that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The late-October frame lets the studio to take 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 leads, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has shown that a gritty, in-camera leaning style can feel elevated on a controlled budget. Position this as a blood-and-grime summer horror charge that centers global rollout, with Warner this website Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio mounts two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, preserving a steady supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is framing as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both players and newcomers. The fall slot allows Sony to build promo materials around mythos, and monster aesthetics, elements that can drive large-format demand and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by meticulous craft and period language, this time steeped in lycan lore. Focus Features has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is warm.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform strategies for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s slate move to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a tiered path that maximizes both week-one demand and sub growth in the after-window. Prime Video will mix library titles with global originals and limited cinema engagements when the data signals it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in deep cuts, using seasonal hubs, October hubs, and programmed rows to lengthen the tail on the 2026 genre total. Netflix stays opportunistic about internal projects and festival grabs, securing horror entries near launch and framing as events premieres with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a one-two of limited theatrical footprints and prompt platform moves that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a per-project basis. The platform has shown appetite to take on select projects with recognized filmmakers or marquee packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation heats up.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 slate with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is direct: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, updated for modern mix 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 positioned a theatrical-first plan for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the late-season weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, piloting the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday frame to move out. That positioning has been successful for craft-driven horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception allows. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using limited theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their subs.

Series vs standalone

By count, 2026 favors the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage household recognition. The trade-off, as ever, is audience fatigue. The practical approach is to sell each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is underscoring character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French sensibility from a emerging director. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the package is comforting enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Recent-year comps announce the plan. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that honored streaming windows did not hamper a hybrid test from performing when the brand was sticky. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror exceeded expectations in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel new when they alter lens and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, creates space for marketing to interlace chapters through character web and themes and to keep assets in-market without pause points.

Craft and creative trends

The production chatter behind the upcoming entries forecast a continued preference for hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that leans on mood and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and medieval diction, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in trade spotlights and guild coverage before rolling out a tone piece that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and produces shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a self-referential reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature work and production design, which fit with convention floor stunts and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that foreground hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that benefit on big speakers.

Release calendar overview

January is heavy. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid marquee brands. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the range of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth persists.

Late winter and spring stage summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

End of summer through fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil follows September 18, a pre-October slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited teasers that prioritize concept over plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can win the holiday when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card spend.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s virtual companion unfolds into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed 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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: ambience-forward adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her tough boss struggle to survive on a cut-off island as the hierarchy swivels and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to horror, based on Cronin’s physical craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting scenario that twists the horror of a child’s mercurial impressions. Rating: TBA. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed and name-above-title haunting 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 satirizes of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fixations. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites breaks out, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further opens again, with a different family anchored to ancient dread. Rating: undetermined. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A new start designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on classic survival-horror tone over action-centric bombast. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: to be announced. 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 antique diction and bone-deep menace. Rating: TBA. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 and why now

Three operational forces define this lineup. First, production that eased or migrated in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify meme-ready beats from test screenings, managed scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can seize a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will line up across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

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

The stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where lean-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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 pace and range. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, tight deployments, 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 surface detail, sound, and picture 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 Shapes Up Strong

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is IP strength where it matters, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, hold the mystery, and let the frights sell the seats.