Mythic Evil Rises in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising thriller, bowing October 2025 across premium platforms

This chilling unearthly terror film from creator / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an ancient terror when guests become tools in a dark ordeal. Airings begin this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving saga of endurance and old world terror that will remodel terror storytelling this harvest season. Crafted by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and atmospheric screenplay follows five young adults who snap to locked in a secluded hideaway under the malevolent control of Kyra, a young woman controlled by a 2,000-year-old Old Testament spirit. Be prepared to be seized by a narrative spectacle that combines primitive horror with legendary tales, landing 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 time-honored narrative in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is redefined when the monsters no longer descend beyond the self, but rather internally. This depicts the shadowy version of every character. The result is a relentless internal warfare where the story becomes a brutal face-off between heaven and hell.


In a remote backcountry, five young people find themselves trapped under the dark grip and domination of a haunted being. As the survivors becomes unable to escape her curse, marooned and chased by entities indescribable, they are made to stand before their inner horrors while the final hour relentlessly moves toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia deepens and friendships splinter, requiring each cast member to evaluate their essence and the concept of personal agency itself. The threat escalate with every passing moment, delivering a cinematic nightmare that weaves together demonic fright with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to dive into raw dread, an malevolence rooted in antiquity, feeding on our fears, and highlighting a darkness that forces self-examination when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra asked for exploring something beneath mortal despair. She is ignorant until the curse activates, and that shift is eerie because it is so close.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for worldwide release beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—ensuring watchers no matter where they are can get immersed in this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its original clip, which has gathered over notable views.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, giving access to the movie to thrill-seekers globally.


Experience this cinematic exploration of dread. Explore *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to dive into these evil-rooted truths about the human condition.


For bonus footage, director cuts, and reveals straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursed across your socials and visit our film’s homepage.





American horror’s major pivot: 2025 U.S. Slate Mixes archetypal-possession themes, festival-born jolts, set against series shake-ups

Ranging from survivor-centric dread drawn from ancient scripture through to franchise returns set beside surgical indie voices, 2025 is coalescing into horror’s most layered in tandem with strategic year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. top-tier distributors hold down the year using marquee IP, in parallel streaming platforms front-load the fall with new voices together with archetypal fear. Across the art-house lane, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is fueled by the momentum of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, and now, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are disciplined, hence 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Premium dread reemerges

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s schedule starts the year with a big gambit: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, instead in a current-day frame. With Leigh Whannell at the helm featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. arriving mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Steered by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Early reactions hint at fangs.

As summer eases, Warner Bros. drops the final chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Although the framework is familiar, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the memorable motifs return: vintage toned fear, trauma foregrounded, and eerie supernatural logic. The bar is raised this go, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, grows the animatronic horror lineup, speaking to teens and older millennials. It opens in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Digital Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a body horror duet with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story with Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Conceived and directed 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 evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is canny scheduling. No heavy handed lore. No legacy baggage. 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.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

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, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Franchise Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, steered by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Key Trends

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

What’s Next: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight 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. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The forthcoming 2026 genre lineup: entries, fresh concepts, paired with A jammed Calendar designed for nightmares

Dek The emerging scare year crams in short order with a January crush, then rolls through the mid-year, and straight through the holiday stretch, mixing legacy muscle, new voices, and smart counterplay. Distributors with platforms are doubling down on smart costs, theatrical leads, and social-fueled campaigns that convert these films into cross-demo moments.

Horror momentum into 2026

Horror filmmaking has grown into the consistent lever in studio lineups, a vertical that can spike when it lands and still limit the losses when it misses. After the 2023 year re-taught decision-makers that modestly budgeted chillers can lead cultural conversation, 2024 kept energy high with signature-voice projects and surprise hits. The upswing carried into 2025, where re-entries and prestige plays underscored there is a lane for multiple flavors, from ongoing IP entries to fresh IP that travel well. The result for 2026 is a grid that presents tight coordination across companies, with defined corridors, a blend of known properties and new concepts, and a refocused priority on cinema windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium on-demand and OTT platforms.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now serves as a utility player on the rollout map. Horror can roll out on many corridors, yield a quick sell for creative and platform-native cuts, and overperform with moviegoers that show up on first-look nights and continue through the sophomore frame if the film fires. Coming out of a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 cadence underscores assurance in that logic. The slate opens with a front-loaded January stretch, then taps spring and early summer for contrast, while clearing room for a fall cadence that runs into spooky season and past the holiday. The map also features the increasing integration of indie distributors and streaming partners that can platform a title, build word of mouth, and grow at the sweet spot.

A further high-level trend is brand curation across unified worlds and heritage properties. Studio teams are not just turning out another follow-up. They are setting up brand continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a brandmark that indicates a tonal shift or a star attachment that links a upcoming film to a foundational era. At the concurrently, the directors behind the marquee originals are doubling down on in-camera technique, practical effects and grounded locations. That convergence gives the 2026 slate a strong blend of recognition and shock, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount establishes early momentum with two spotlight projects that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, setting it up as both a handoff and a return-to-roots character piece. Production is active in Atlanta, and the authorial approach indicates a memory-charged approach without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Look for a marketing run driven by heritage visuals, first-look character reveals, and a staggered trailer plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

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 campaign lever the campaign will feature. As a summer contrast play, this one will build large awareness through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format enabling quick adjustments to whatever tops the conversation that spring.

Universal has three separate plays. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is clean, tragic, and commercial: a grieving man onboards an algorithmic mate that becomes a dangerous lover. The date places it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with marketing at Universal likely to recreate strange in-person beats and brief clips that interlaces love and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a title reveal to become an PR pop closer to the early tease. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. His projects are marketed as director events, with a hinting teaser and a next wave of trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The late-October frame gives the studio room to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has long shown that a visceral, hands-on effects strategy can feel cinematic on a disciplined budget. Frame it as a grime-caked summer horror shock that leans hard into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio mounts two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, holding a steady supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is billing as a new foundation 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 longtime followers and curious audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build promo materials around setting detail, and creature builds, elements that can drive PLF interest and fan events.

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 extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror grounded in rigorous craft and period speech, this time orbiting lycan myth. The company has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is positive.

How the platforms plan to play it

Windowing plans in 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s slate head to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a ladder that enhances both initial urgency and sub growth in the back half. Prime Video will mix library titles with global originals and small theatrical windows when the data supports it. Max and Hulu work their edges in archive usage, using curated hubs, spooky hubs, and programmed rows to stretch the tail on the horror cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about Netflix originals and festival deals, securing horror entries on shorter runways and elevating as drops debuts with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a hybrid of tailored theatrical exposure and prompt platform moves that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a curated basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to board select projects with acclaimed directors or headline-cast packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation builds.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 pipeline with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is clean: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, modernized for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the October weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then using the holiday dates to expand. That positioning has been successful for filmmaker-driven genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception supports. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using precision theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their subs.

Legacy titles versus originals

By count, the 2026 slate skews toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use name recognition. The risk, as ever, is overexposure. The operating solution is to pitch each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is spotlighting character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a Francophone tone from a hot helmer. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the package is grounded enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Recent-year comps make sense of the strategy. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that respected streaming windows did not prevent a day-and-date experiment from paying off when the brand was compelling. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror rose in PLF. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they angle differently and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, enables marketing to relate entries through character web and themes and to leave creative active without pause points.

Production craft signals

The director conversations behind the 2026 slate forecast a continued bias toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that leans on unease and texture rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft features before rolling out a atmospheric tease that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and produces shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta inflection that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will live or die on monster aesthetics and world-building, which fit with convention activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel definitive. Look for trailers that accent disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that play in premium auditoriums.

Release calendar overview

January is busy. 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 moody palate cleanser amid marquee brands. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the spread of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

February through May stage summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

August and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a minimalist tease strategy and limited disclosures that prioritize concept over plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card redemption.

One-sentence dossiers

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s machine mate turns into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back 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 comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. 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 prickly boss work to survive on a desolate island as the control dynamic swivels and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 modern reconception that returns the monster to dread, driven by Cronin’s material craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 tale that mediates the fear via a youngster’s uncertain point of view. Rating: rating pending. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that skewers in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fixations. Rating: to be announced. Production: shoot planned 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 bursts, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new household bound to old terrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival-first horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: forthcoming. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: TBD. Production: ongoing. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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-precise speech and primal menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three nuts-and-bolts forces define this lineup. First, production that decelerated or recalendared in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and pared-down timelines. movies Second, studios have become more disciplined 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 launches. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate bite-size scare clips from test screenings, managed scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will jostle across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, 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 breakout hunt 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 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.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two 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 shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, aural design, 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

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand power where it counts, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for 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, produce clean trailers, hold the mystery, and let the gasps sell the seats.