Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes ancient dread, a chilling supernatural thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on top streamers

One unnerving mystic terror film from author / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an primeval dread when guests become subjects in a satanic ceremony. Dropping this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing narrative of living through and primordial malevolence that will alter fear-driven cinema this scare season. Visualized by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and immersive thriller follows five teens who suddenly rise ensnared in a unreachable hideaway under the aggressive command of Kyra, a troubled woman possessed by a prehistoric sacrosanct terror. Arm yourself to be absorbed by a cinematic display that melds deep-seated panic with mystical narratives, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a iconic element in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is flipped when the forces no longer develop from beyond, but rather inside their minds. This mirrors the shadowy version of every character. The result is a harrowing emotional conflict where the tension becomes a brutal battle between good and evil.


In a forsaken wild, five individuals find themselves confined under the ominous effect and domination of a mysterious female presence. As the survivors becomes vulnerable to combat her command, cut off and tormented by terrors unimaginable, they are thrust to deal with their raw vulnerabilities while the final hour without pity draws closer toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety mounts and associations break, pressuring each person to doubt their true nature and the principle of autonomy itself. The hazard amplify with every passing moment, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that intertwines unearthly horror with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to draw upon core terror, an darkness beyond time, embedding itself in our weaknesses, and confronting a spirit that strips down our being when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra meant evoking something beyond human emotion. She is unaware until the control shifts, and that evolution is emotionally raw because it is so intimate.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be released for home viewing beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—so that customers across the world can face this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its first preview, which has received over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, making the film to international horror buffs.


Witness this soul-jarring voyage through terror. Confront *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to face these unholy truths about mankind.


For featurettes, on-set glimpses, and insider scoops from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YACFilm across your favorite networks and visit our film’s homepage.





The horror genre’s Turning Point: 2025 across markets U.S. rollouts braids together biblical-possession ideas, Indie Shockers, stacked beside series shake-ups

Moving from survival horror inspired by legendary theology to IP renewals set beside keen independent perspectives, 2025 stands to become horror’s most layered combined with precision-timed year in ten years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. top-tier distributors lay down anchors using marquee IP, concurrently streaming platforms prime the fall with first-wave breakthroughs and old-world menace. At the same time, indie storytellers is propelled by the echoes from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, though in this cycle, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are methodical, hence 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige terror resurfaces

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal Pictures kicks off the frame with a big gambit: a contemporary Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Guided by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. Slated for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Led by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer eases, Warner’s pipeline delivers the closing chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. While the template is known, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Scott Derrickson again directs, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: retro dread, trauma in the foreground, plus otherworld rules that chill. The bar is raised this go, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The return delves further into myth, grows the animatronic horror lineup, bridging teens and legacy players. It hits in December, pinning the winter close.

Streamer Exclusives: Lean budgets, heavy bite

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a room scale body horror descent led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Next comes Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is a calculated bet. No bloated mythology. No franchise baggage. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Franchise Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Dials to Watch

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror reemerges
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Big screen is a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

The Road Ahead: Fall stack and winter swing card

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, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The new scare lineup: installments, standalone ideas, plus A hectic Calendar geared toward goosebumps

Dek: The incoming horror season crowds right away with a January cluster, after that runs through the summer months, and running into the holidays, balancing series momentum, creative pitches, and calculated release strategy. Studios with streamers are committing to responsible budgets, theatrical-first rollouts, and viral-minded pushes that pivot these releases into cross-demo moments.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The field has grown into the surest option in release strategies, a corner that can accelerate when it catches and still limit the floor when it underperforms. After the 2023 year re-taught decision-makers that lean-budget genre plays can dominate mainstream conversation, 2024 kept energy high with festival-darling auteurs and quiet over-performers. The run translated to the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and arthouse crossovers highlighted there is demand for a variety of tones, from franchise continuations to non-IP projects that travel well. The result for 2026 is a programming that is strikingly coherent across the major shops, with intentional bunching, a balance of marquee IP and fresh ideas, and a renewed focus on theater exclusivity that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium video on demand and digital services.

Schedulers say the category now operates like a plug-and-play option on the distribution slate. Horror can kick off on many corridors, furnish a tight logline for marketing and platform-native cuts, and lead with viewers that appear on opening previews and stay strong through the next pass if the picture delivers. After a production delay era, the 2026 layout exhibits certainty in that playbook. The calendar begins with a crowded January corridor, then plants flags in spring and early summer for balance, while carving room for a autumn stretch that runs into the fright window and into post-Halloween. The schedule also underscores the greater integration of specialized labels and digital platforms that can launch in limited release, create conversation, and roll out at the timely point.

An added macro current is brand strategy across connected story worlds and legacy IP. The players are not just mounting another continuation. They are aiming to frame ongoing narrative with a heightened moment, whether that is a brandmark that flags a reframed mood or a lead change that anchors a new entry to a vintage era. At the simultaneously, the creative leads behind the top original plays are leaning into tactile craft, real effects and grounded locations. That interplay delivers the 2026 slate a confident blend of home base and discovery, which is what works overseas.

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

Paramount fires first with two high-profile moves that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the core, steering it as both a legacy handover and a foundation-forward character study. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the authorial approach indicates a memory-charged treatment without recycling the last two entries’ sisters storyline. A campaign is expected built on heritage visuals, initial cast looks, and a tease cadence aimed at late fall. Distribution is big-screen via 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 reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will lean on. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will go after broad awareness through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick redirects to whatever drives the social talk that spring.

Universal has three distinct pushes. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is straightforward, somber, and big-hook: a grieving man brings home an virtual partner that escalates into a harmful mate. The date places it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to replay off-kilter promo beats and micro spots that blurs longing and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a public title to become an attention spike closer to the first look. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. His entries are presented as director events, with a opaque teaser and a later trailer push that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The late-October frame creates space for Universal to command 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, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has demonstrated that a flesh-and-blood, prosthetic-heavy strategy can feel cinematic on a lean spend. Look for a red-band summer horror charge that emphasizes global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio books two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, extending a dependable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is calling a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both core fans and new audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build marketing units around universe detail, and monster craft, elements that can boost large-format demand and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances Eggers’ run of period horror built on rigorous craft and language, this time orbiting lycan myth. Focus Features has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is glowing.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform tactics for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s slate head to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a cadence that expands both initial urgency and subscriber lifts in the late-window. Prime Video pairs licensed films with cross-border buys and short theatrical plays when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in back-catalog play, using timely promos, fright rows, and staff picks to sustain interest on the 2026 genre total. Netflix retains agility about originals and festival snaps, timing horror entries closer to launch and turning into events arrivals with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a hybrid of precision releases and accelerated platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a curated basis. The platform has been willing to purchase select projects with award winners or name-led packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 pipeline with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is clear: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, reimagined for modern mix 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 suggested a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn stretch.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday frame to scale. That positioning has served the company well for filmmaker-driven genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden 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 concert, using select theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Franchises versus originals

By skew, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage marquee value. The challenge, as ever, is audience fatigue. The go-to fix is to frame each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is leading with character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-accented approach from a emerging director. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the cast-creatives package is familiar enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday previews.

Comps from the last three years make sense of the template. In 2023, a cinema-first model that kept clean windows did not hamper a day-and-date experiment from delivering when the brand was big. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror outperformed in large-format rooms. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they reorient and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to thread films through protagonists and motifs and to maintain a flow of assets without lulls.

How the look and feel evolve

The filmmaking conversations behind the upcoming entries suggest a continued bias toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that elevates atmosphere and fear rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and guild coverage before rolling out a first look that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and generates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta pivot that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature execution and sets, which fit with fan-con activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel key. Look for trailers that emphasize fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that play in premium auditoriums.

Month-by-month map

January is jammed. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid marquee brands. The month wraps 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 credible, but the range of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

Post-January through spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a Source spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now enables 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 clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Back half into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil follows September 18, a transitional slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a opaque tease strategy and limited pre-release reveals that favor idea over plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card spend.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s algorithmic partner becomes something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: atmospheric 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 difficult boss struggle to survive on a cut-off island as the power balance of power reverses and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to dread, driven by Cronin’s in-camera craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting chiller that manipulates the dread of a child’s fragile read. Rating: pending. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-crafted and star-fronted eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that needles present-day genre chatter and true crime fascinations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a young family snared by older hauntings. Rating: TBD. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-driven horror over action fireworks. Rating: forthcoming. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: closely held. Rating: not yet rated. Production: ongoing. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 elemental menace. Rating: awaiting classification. 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: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why this year, why now

Three hands-on forces shape this lineup. First, production that stalled or rearranged in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often call for 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 beaten straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work repeatable beats from test screenings, managed scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

A fourth factor is programming math. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, creating valuable space for genre entries that can lead a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will trade weekends across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

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

The surprise-hit pursuit 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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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 flow and breadth. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, 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 gain momentum, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

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

2026 Looks Exciting

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand equity where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of 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-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, lock the reveals, and let the gasps sell the seats.