Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primeval horror, a pulse pounding shocker, premiering Oct 2025 on major streaming services

This hair-raising spectral thriller from creator / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an timeless force when drifters become pawns in a demonic struggle. Premiering this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping journey of overcoming and forgotten curse that will resculpt horror this scare season. Guided by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and immersive tale follows five characters who regain consciousness imprisoned in a isolated cabin under the ominous will of Kyra, a haunted figure claimed by a time-worn holy text monster. Get ready to be enthralled by a motion picture ride that harmonizes instinctive fear with legendary tales, dropping on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a legendary element in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is reimagined when the forces no longer emerge outside their bodies, but rather from deep inside. This suggests the shadowy layer of each of them. The result is a riveting spiritual tug-of-war where the intensity becomes a brutal struggle between virtue and vice.


In a remote wild, five individuals find themselves sealed under the evil force and infestation of a haunted figure. As the survivors becomes incapacitated to withstand her power, abandoned and tracked by powers unnamable, they are required to stand before their greatest panics while the deathwatch without pity ticks onward toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust intensifies and alliances crack, compelling each figure to reconsider their core and the idea of autonomy itself. The hazard climb with every minute, delivering a fear-soaked story that blends otherworldly suspense with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to dive into ancestral fear, an darkness born of forgotten ages, feeding on emotional vulnerability, and highlighting a being that forces self-examination when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra required summoning something far beyond human desperation. She is insensitive until the curse activates, and that shift is haunting because it is so private.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for audiences beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—providing watchers in all regions can engage with this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its original clip, which has racked up over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, exporting the fear to fans of fear everywhere.


Avoid skipping this life-altering fall into madness. Enter *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to experience these chilling revelations about our species.


For exclusive trailers, behind-the-scenes content, and press updates from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your socials and visit the official movie site.





U.S. horror’s watershed moment: the 2025 season domestic schedule interlaces Mythic Possession, festival-born jolts, alongside series shake-ups

Spanning last-stand terror rooted in ancient scripture to franchise returns as well as acutely observed indies, 2025 is lining up as the most complex plus calculated campaign year for the modern era.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio powerhouses lay down anchors with franchise anchors, concurrently platform operators load up the fall with fresh voices paired with primordial unease. At the same time, the artisan tier is carried on the tailwinds from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. As Halloween stays the prime week, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A fat September–October lane is customary now, distinctly in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are surgical, so 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Premium dread reemerges

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal camp starts the year with a risk-forward move: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, within a sleek contemporary canvas. With Leigh Whannell at the helm fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. targeting mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Helmed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

By late summer, Warner’s pipeline releases the last chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re teams, and the tone that worked before is intact: old school creep, trauma as narrative engine, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This time the stakes climb, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The continuation widens the legend, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It drops in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Platform Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a body horror chamber piece with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga starring Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within 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 overweight mythology. No brand fatigue. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

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

Legacy Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, led by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

What to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror resurges
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

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

Cinemas are a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Projection: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to 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. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The new fright slate: next chapters, filmmaker-first projects, plus A brimming Calendar tailored for frights

Dek The emerging genre cycle stacks at the outset with a January pile-up, thereafter extends through summer, and well into the year-end corridor, mixing brand equity, creative pitches, and calculated alternatives. Studios and platforms are leaning into mid-range economics, theatrical leads, and influencer-ready assets that convert the slate’s entries into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror sector has emerged as the bankable option in programming grids, a corner that can accelerate when it lands and still cushion the exposure when it falls short. After 2023 demonstrated to leaders that mid-range fright engines can dominate mainstream conversation, 2024 sustained momentum with director-led heat and slow-burn breakouts. The trend fed into the 2025 frame, where revived properties and critical darlings showed there is a market for diverse approaches, from returning installments to standalone ideas that resonate abroad. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a run that is strikingly coherent across studios, with mapped-out bands, a balance of familiar brands and novel angles, and a sharpened attention on theatrical windows that increase tail monetization on premium video on demand and OTT platforms.

Distribution heads claim the category now slots in as a wildcard on the release plan. Horror can open on almost any weekend, yield a easy sell for creative and social clips, and over-index with fans that line up on preview nights and stay strong through the follow-up frame if the movie satisfies. Following a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 configuration shows trust in that playbook. The year launches with a heavy January window, then targets spring into early summer for alternate plays, while holding room for a fall cadence that runs into spooky season and past Halloween. The arrangement also reflects the tightening integration of specialty arms and home platforms that can grow from platform, build word of mouth, and expand at the timely point.

A parallel macro theme is franchise tending across unified worlds and long-running brands. The players are not just mounting another follow-up. They are seeking to position lore continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a title design that announces a refreshed voice or a talent selection that reconnects a new entry to a classic era. At the very same time, the creative leads behind the headline-grabbing originals are championing in-camera technique, special makeup and grounded locations. That blend provides 2026 a robust balance of familiarity and invention, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount fires first with two high-profile moves that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the focus, setting it up as both a passing of the torch and a foundation-forward character study. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture hints at a heritage-honoring treatment without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Watch for a push fueled by classic imagery, character-first teases, and a staggered trailer plan slated for late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will double down on. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will drive general-audience talk through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format supporting quick pivots to whatever defines pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three unique plays. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is straightforward, melancholic, and big-hook: a grieving man adopts an virtual partner that grows into a murderous partner. The date puts it at the front of a front-loaded month, with the studio’s marketing likely to renew viral uncanny stunts and bite-size content that melds affection and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar my review here currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a final title to become an attention spike closer to the debut look. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. The filmmaker’s films are branded as marquee events, with a hinting teaser and a later trailer push that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The late-October frame opens a lane 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, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has consistently shown that a flesh-and-blood, prosthetic-heavy execution can feel premium on a middle budget. Look for a grime-caked summer horror jolt that leans hard into overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio launches two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, sustaining a dependable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is billing as a fresh 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 well-defined brief to serve both franchise faithful and novices. The fall slot gives Sony time to build assets around lore, and creature work, elements that can boost large-format demand and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by careful craft and archaic language, this time driven by werewolf stories. The company has already set the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is robust.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform strategies for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s releases move to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a ordering that expands both opening-weekend urgency and sub growth in the tail. Prime Video blends third-party pickups with worldwide entries and limited runs in theaters when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library pulls, using curated hubs, Halloween hubs, and collection rows to increase tail value on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix stays nimble about original films and festival grabs, slotting horror entries toward the drop and elevating as drops arrivals with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a one-two of tailored theatrical exposure and fast windowing that monetizes buzz via trials. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a selective basis. The platform has been willing to take on select projects with prestige directors or name-led packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation intensifies.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 slate with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is no-nonsense: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, retooled for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has signaled a standard theatrical run for the title, an positive signal for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the late stretch.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, marshalling the project through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the year-end corridor to open out. That positioning has helped for auteur horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception warrants. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using precision theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their audience.

Known brands versus new stories

By share, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Check This Out Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage cultural cachet. The watch-out, as ever, is audience fatigue. The preferred tactic is to frame each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is emphasizing character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-accented approach from a emerging director. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the configuration is grounded enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years frame the model. In 2023, a exclusive window model that held distribution windows did not hamper a same-day experiment from delivering when the brand was trusted. In 2024, precision craft horror popped in premium screens. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they rotate perspective and scale the storytelling. 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 back-to-back plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, allows marketing to bridge entries through character spine and themes and to keep assets alive without extended gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft rooms behind the 2026 slate point to a continued lean toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that centers atmosphere and fear rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft coverage before rolling out a mood teaser that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and earns shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta-horror reset that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will live or die on monster work and world-building, which are ideal for fan-con activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel definitive. Look for trailers that accent hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that land in big rooms.

The schedule at a glance

January is stacked. 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 tonal palate cleanser amid headline IP. The month finishes 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 credible, but the menu of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth persists.

Late Q1 and spring tee up summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into 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 lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Shoulder season into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a shoulder season window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited asset reveals that elevate concept over story.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card burn.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s synthetic partner turns into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

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

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 prickly boss work to survive on a cut-off island as the control balance tilts and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to fright, built on Cronin’s on-set craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. 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 residential haunting chiller that refracts terror through a preteen’s uneven subjective view. Rating: to be announced. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A genre lampoon that skewers contemporary horror memes and true crime fervors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: shoot planned 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 spreads, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new family anchored to residual nightmares. Rating: TBA. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: pending. Logline: A fresh restart designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survivalist horror over action spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and elemental menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. 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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 and why now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces shape this lineup. First, production that downshifted or recalendared in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming landings. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on meme-ready beats from test screenings, precision scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can lead a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will jostle across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

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

The underdog chase continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

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

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, sonics, 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.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is name recognition where it counts, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence 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-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, guard the secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.