Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primordial evil, a nerve shredding chiller, launching October 2025 across global platforms

This terrifying mystic fear-driven tale from screenwriter / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an prehistoric malevolence when unrelated individuals become pawns in a supernatural struggle. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful narrative of continuance and prehistoric entity that will revamp terror storytelling this ghoul season. Visualized by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and immersive feature follows five unacquainted souls who emerge confined in a isolated shack under the sinister rule of Kyra, a young woman claimed by a prehistoric ancient fiend. Anticipate to be enthralled by a theatrical venture that blends deep-seated panic with mystical narratives, arriving on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a well-established concept in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is redefined when the entities no longer originate from a different plane, but rather from their psyche. This marks the most terrifying part of the cast. The result is a emotionally raw emotional conflict where the suspense becomes a unyielding conflict between purity and corruption.


In a isolated no-man's-land, five teens find themselves trapped under the evil force and overtake of a obscure female presence. As the characters becomes defenseless to fight her curse, severed and attacked by spirits beyond reason, they are confronted to battle their inner horrors while the clock unforgivingly winds toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust swells and partnerships shatter, prompting each survivor to examine their existence and the idea of volition itself. The danger accelerate with every second, delivering a chilling narrative that intertwines unearthly horror with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to channel elemental fright, an malevolence that predates humanity, embedding itself in inner turmoil, and dealing with a presence that threatens selfhood when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra was centered on something beyond human emotion. She is blind until the curse activates, and that change is soul-crushing because it is so raw.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for audiences beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—making sure viewers anywhere can survive this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its original promo, which has seen over 100,000 views.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, extending the thrill to lovers of terror across nations.


Join this cinematic exploration of dread. Confront *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to acknowledge these terrifying truths about mankind.


For director insights, production insights, and reveals from inside the story, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across fan hubs and visit our horror hub.





American horror’s watershed moment: 2025 stateside slate Mixes primeval-possession lore, art-house nightmares, alongside returning-series thunder

Ranging from survivor-centric dread saturated with primordial scripture to brand-name continuations and sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 stands to become the most variegated as well as carefully orchestrated year in years.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. top-tier distributors stabilize the year with familiar IP, in parallel platform operators prime the fall with first-wave breakthroughs in concert with ancestral chills. At the same time, the artisan tier is fueled by the echoes of 2024’s record festival wave. As Halloween stays the prime week, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, yet in 2025, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are surgical, therefore 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: High-craft horror returns

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal Pictures fires the first shot with a marquee bet: a refashioned Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, but a sharp contemporary setting. Under director Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. Booked into mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Under Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Initial heat flags it as potent.

Toward summer’s end, the Warner lot rolls out the capstone from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson returns to the helm, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: vintage toned fear, trauma driven plotting, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This run ups the stakes, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The return delves further into myth, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It bows in December, locking down the winter tail.

Platform Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a body horror chamber piece fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn with Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is a clever angle. No bloated mythology. No series drag. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Long Running Lines: 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. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, led 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 sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Key Trends

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror comes roaring back
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Projection: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

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

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The next fright slate: installments, filmmaker-first projects, together with A packed Calendar aimed at frights

Dek The emerging scare year clusters up front with a January wave, after that extends through the mid-year, and straight through the holiday frame, weaving name recognition, untold stories, and shrewd calendar placement. Major distributors and platforms are focusing on tight budgets, theater-first strategies, and short-form initiatives that turn the slate’s entries into national conversation.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror marketplace has proven to be the bankable lever in annual schedules, a vertical that can lift when it clicks and still cushion the exposure when it falls short. After the 2023 year signaled to executives that modestly budgeted fright engines can drive cultural conversation, 2024 kept energy high with high-profile filmmaker pieces and word-of-mouth wins. The head of steam extended into 2025, where legacy revivals and elevated films proved there is a lane for different modes, from sequel tracks to original features that resonate abroad. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a lineup that looks unusually coordinated across distributors, with clear date clusters, a pairing of established brands and fresh ideas, and a recommitted emphasis on cinema windows that enhance post-theatrical value on PVOD and streaming.

Marketers add the horror lane now acts as a swing piece on the grid. The genre can kick off on many corridors, furnish a tight logline for previews and TikTok spots, and exceed norms with viewers that arrive on first-look nights and continue through the week two if the movie satisfies. After a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 configuration telegraphs belief in that dynamic. The calendar rolls out with a crowded January corridor, then leans on spring and early summer for contrast, while reserving space for a September to October window that extends to Halloween and into post-Halloween. The calendar also includes the increasing integration of specialized imprints and platforms that can grow from platform, build word of mouth, and expand at the strategic time.

A reinforcing pattern is series management across interlocking continuities and storied titles. The players are not just producing another installment. They are trying to present continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a typeface approach that announces a new tone or a casting move that bridges a fresh chapter to a classic era. At the meanwhile, the creative leads behind the eagerly awaited originals are doubling down on tactile craft, real effects and concrete locations. That mix provides 2026 a vital pairing of recognition and unexpected turns, which is the formula for international play.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount fires first with two front-of-slate titles that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the core, marketing it as both a succession moment and a back-to-basics character-centered film. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the artistic posture announces a classic-referencing treatment without replaying the last two entries’ sisters thread. The studio is likely to mount a drive fueled by recognizable motifs, character spotlights, and a tiered teaser plan landing toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical through 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 back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will double down on. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will go after four-quadrant chatter through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick shifts to whatever owns genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three specific projects. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is elegant, heartbroken, and big-hook: a grieving man activates an AI companion that unfolds into a perilous partner. The date sets it at the front of a heavy month, with the studio’s marketing likely to recreate strange in-person beats and snackable content that threads affection and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a final title to become an attention spike closer to the first look. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele projects are treated as marquee events, with a opaque teaser and a second trailer wave that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The Halloween runway creates space for Universal to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work 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 guides, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a gritty, hands-on effects approach can feel big on a controlled budget. Look for a red-band summer horror rush that pushes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio books two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, holding this contact form a proven supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what the studio is marketing as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both fans and first-timers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build campaign creative around mythos, and creature design, elements that can accelerate format premiums and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on meticulous craft and period language, this time circling werewolf lore. The distributor has already locked the day for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is favorable.

Platform lanes and windowing

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s releases shift to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a structure that amplifies both opening-weekend urgency and trial spikes in the late-window. Prime Video combines licensed films with world buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library curation, using curated hubs, fright rows, and curated rows to sustain interest on overall cume. Netflix remains opportunistic about internal projects and festival additions, confirming horror entries closer to drop and eventizing drops with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a paired of targeted cinema placements and swift platform pivots that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has been willing to board select projects with top-tier auteurs or name-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation intensifies.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is curating a 2026 arc with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is tight: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, modernized for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a theatrical rollout for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the fall weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, curating the rollout through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then using the holiday dates to scale. That positioning has worked well for arthouse horror 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 regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception allows. Watch for 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 tandem, using boutique theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subs.

Balance of brands and originals

By count, the 2026 slate leans toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use franchise value. The concern, as ever, is overexposure. The practical approach is to package each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is foregrounding character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-inflected take from a emerging director. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and director-first projects keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a crash-survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the cast-creatives package is known enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Rolling three-year comps make sense of the model. In 2023, a exclusive window model that held distribution windows did not prevent a simultaneous release test from thriving when the brand was potent. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror punched above its weight in premium formats. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they pivot 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 paired-chapter approach, with chapters filmed consecutively, builds a path for marketing to thread films through character spine and themes and to sustain campaign assets without long gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The director conversations behind this year’s genre indicate a continued preference for material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The my company Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns have a peek at these guys with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that highlights unease and texture rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for textured sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft coverage before rolling out a first look that leans on mood over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at gross-out texture, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and drives shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta pivot that centers its original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature craft and set design, which lend themselves to con floor moments and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel necessary. Look for trailers that spotlight pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that benefit on big speakers.

Release calendar overview

January is busy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid heavier IP. The month ends 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 formidable, but the menu of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

February through May build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

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

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card use.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s algorithmic partner becomes something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked 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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes 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: Complete with theatrical path. 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 push to survive on a lonely island as the power balance swivels and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to nightmare, anchored by Cronin’s tactile craft and suffocating 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 family-home haunting story that frames the panic through a child’s unreliable POV. Rating: TBA. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven spectral 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 send-up revival that skewers today’s horror trends and true-crime obsessions. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. 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 overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: cameras rolling 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 anchored to old terrors. Rating: pending. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A reboot designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: undetermined. 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: awaiting confirmation. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: TBA. Production: moving forward. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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 historical diction and elemental fear. Rating: to be announced. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the moment is 2026

Three hands-on forces organize this lineup. First, production that slowed or re-slotted in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming landings. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work repeatable beats from test screenings, controlled scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, offering breathing room for genre entries that can command a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will cluster 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 exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the ideal band. 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where disciplined-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 work those windows. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience rhythm across the year

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 leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse 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 detail, acoustics, and framing 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, Lined Up To Scare

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand heft where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, 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, edit tight trailers, lock the reveals, and let the shocks sell the seats.