Age-old Horror Emerges within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked supernatural thriller, rolling out October 2025 across top digital platforms

One bone-chilling occult fear-driven tale from dramatist / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an timeless horror when passersby become instruments in a diabolical conflict. Available this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful depiction of overcoming and ancient evil that will alter the fear genre this Halloween season. Crafted by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and emotionally thick cinema piece follows five individuals who wake up confined in a far-off structure under the malignant influence of Kyra, a tormented girl overtaken by a time-worn biblical demon. Steel yourself to be gripped by a theatrical venture that melds intense horror with mystical narratives, landing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a classic trope in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is redefined when the demons no longer originate from a different plane, but rather from within. This portrays the haunting side of the protagonists. The result is a edge-of-seat cognitive warzone where the story becomes a soul-crushing contest between purity and corruption.


In a desolate terrain, five teens find themselves stuck under the unholy presence and infestation of a unknown female presence. As the group becomes incapable to oppose her command, cut off and chased by powers beyond comprehension, they are compelled to reckon with their inner demons while the countdown without pity moves toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust surges and alliances shatter, compelling each cast member to reflect on their existence and the foundation of decision-making itself. The danger accelerate with every minute, delivering a nightmarish journey that blends unearthly horror with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to tap into core terror, an curse from ancient eras, embedding itself in mental cracks, and examining a being that tests the soul when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra meant channeling something deeper than fear. She is innocent until the curse activates, and that conversion is gut-wrenching because it is so close.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for digital release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—making sure viewers from coast to coast can get immersed in this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its intro video, which has garnered over 100K plays.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, offering the tale to a worldwide audience.


Mark your calendar for this haunted descent into darkness. Experience *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to uncover these haunting secrets about the human condition.


For director insights, filmmaker commentary, and insider scoops directly from production, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your favorite networks and visit our spooky domain.





U.S. horror’s sea change: the year 2025 stateside slate Mixes old-world possession, indie terrors, in parallel with Franchise Rumbles

Spanning fight-to-live nightmare stories suffused with biblical myth and stretching into canon extensions together with pointed art-house angles, 2025 is shaping up as the most variegated plus intentionally scheduled year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. the big studios set cornerstones with franchise anchors, in tandem subscription platforms flood the fall with new perspectives paired with legend-coded dread. In parallel, the artisan tier is carried on the afterglow from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, and in 2025, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are surgical, as a result 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: High-craft horror returns

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s schedule opens the year with a statement play: a contemporary Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, but a sharp contemporary setting. Guided by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. Booked into mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Eli Craig directs fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

Toward summer’s end, the Warner Bros. banner delivers the closing chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Though the outline is tried, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the memorable motifs return: retrograde shiver, trauma centered writing, along with eerie supernatural rules. This pass pushes higher, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, grows the animatronic horror lineup, speaking to teens and older millennials. It hits in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streaming Firsts: No Budget, No Problem

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a body horror duet with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend led by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, 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 dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is an astute call. No heavy handed lore. No continuity burden. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Heritage Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

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

What to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

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

SVOD originals harden up
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical becomes 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.

Forecast: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The approaching chiller slate: continuations, Originals, in tandem with A loaded Calendar Built For shocks

Dek The emerging horror year packs from the jump with a January bottleneck, subsequently unfolds through summer, and deep into the holiday stretch, combining IP strength, inventive spins, and data-minded offsets. Studio marketers and platforms are doubling down on smart costs, theatrical leads, and shareable marketing that transform these releases into all-audience topics.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The genre has become the steady tool in annual schedules, a corner that can lift when it performs and still cushion the downside when it under-delivers. After the 2023 year demonstrated to decision-makers that low-to-mid budget entries can shape the national conversation, 2024 kept energy high with visionary-driven titles and word-of-mouth wins. The momentum extended into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and festival-grade titles confirmed there is space for a variety of tones, from sequel tracks to standalone ideas that translate worldwide. The upshot for 2026 is a grid that looks unusually coordinated across players, with intentional bunching, a balance of marquee IP and untested plays, and a renewed attention on cinema windows that increase tail monetization on premium on-demand and digital services.

Planners observe the category now behaves like a schedule utility on the calendar. Horror can kick off on most weekends, yield a clear pitch for promo reels and reels, and lead with audiences that line up on preview nights and stay strong through the next weekend if the title hits. In the wake of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 setup indicates conviction in that equation. The year rolls out with a crowded January block, then leans on spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while making space for a autumn stretch that connects to All Hallows period and into November. The arrangement also illustrates the continuing integration of specialty distributors and digital platforms that can platform and widen, spark evangelism, and expand at the right moment.

An added macro current is brand curation across shared universes and established properties. Major shops are not just turning out another next film. They are working to present continuity with a occasion, whether that is a brandmark that broadcasts a tonal shift or a lead change that ties a next film to a early run. At the alongside this, the auteurs behind the top original plays are favoring in-camera technique, practical gags and vivid settings. That interplay provides 2026 a strong blend of brand comfort and shock, which is the formula for international play.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount marks the early tempo with two headline pushes that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the focus, positioning the film as both a cross-generational handoff and a origin-leaning character-focused installment. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture signals a heritage-honoring bent without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run stacked with franchise iconography, initial cast looks, and a tease cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also brings back 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 contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will foreground. As a summer relief option, this one will seek mainstream recognition through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format supporting quick pivots to whatever shapes the conversation that spring.

Universal has three specific strategies. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is elegant, melancholic, and commercial: a grieving man implements an AI companion that turns into a perilous partner. The date positions it at the front of a packed window, with Universal’s campaign likely to echo creepy live activations and snackable content that threads devotion and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a final title to become an fan moment closer to the initial promo. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. The filmmaker’s films are positioned as auteur events, with a hinting teaser and a subsequent trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The prime October weekend gives Universal room to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has made clear that a gritty, makeup-driven approach can feel top-tier on a moderate cost. Look for a grime-caked summer horror rush that leans hard into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio places two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, sustaining a bankable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is positioning as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both core fans and casuals. The fall slot lets Sony to build promo materials around setting detail, and monster aesthetics, elements that can drive IMAX and PLF uptake and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions 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 shaped by immersive craft and dialect, this time set against lycan legends. The label has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is positive.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Windowing plans in 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s genre slate land on copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a ordering that optimizes both premiere heat and trial spikes in the late-window. Prime Video interleaves third-party pickups with global originals and targeted theatrical runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library curation, using seasonal hubs, fright rows, and collection rows to lengthen the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix stays opportunistic about internal projects and festival snaps, scheduling horror entries closer to drop and turning into events rollouts with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a one-two of precision releases and rapid platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has been willing to board select projects with top-tier auteurs or star packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation swells.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 sequence with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is tight: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, refined for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the October weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday corridor to increase reach. That positioning has been successful for auteur horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception drives. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using small theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their audience.

Franchises versus originals

By share, 2026 favors the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage marquee value. The risk, as ever, is diminishing returns. The standing approach is to frame each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is elevating relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a Francophone tone from a ascendant talent. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the deal build is recognizable enough to accelerate early sales and preview-night turnout.

Recent comps help explain the method. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that observed windows did not prevent a day-date try from paying off when the brand was powerful. In 2024, precision craft horror surged in premium formats. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they reorient and widen scale. 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 two-step approach, with chapters shot back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to cross-link entries through relationships and themes and to hold creative in the market without extended gaps.

Craft and creative trends

The filmmaking conversations behind this year’s genre forecast a continued shift toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that foregrounds creep and texture rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and era-correct language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft features before rolling out a teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for red-band excess, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and drives shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta recalibration that great post to read brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature work and production design, which work nicely for booth activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel irresistible. Look for trailers that foreground pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that land in big rooms.

How the year maps out

January is loaded. 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 atmospheric change-up amid heftier brand moves. 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 serious, but the spread of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth holds.

Late winter and spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to 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 heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. 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.

August and September into October leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a shoulder season window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited information drops that stress concept over spoilers.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s algorithmic partner becomes something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively 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 heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her abrasive boss push to survive on a uninhabited island as the power balance turns and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to chill, built on Cronin’s hands-on craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting setup that explores the terror of a child’s shaky POV. Rating: TBA. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-built and star-fronted ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A parody reboot that lampoons of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fascinations. Rating: to be announced. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 detonates, with Check This Out an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a fresh family caught in returning horrors. Rating: pending. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A new start designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survivalist horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in progress. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and raw menace. Rating: pending. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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

Why the 2026 timing works

Three workable forces shape this lineup. First, production that stalled or re-slotted in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming landings. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on bite-size scare clips from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

The slot calculus is real. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can command a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will stack across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where midrange-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo 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 keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, aural design, and visuals 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

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand power where it counts, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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, deliver taut trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the fear sell the seats.