Age-old Dread surfaces: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling horror thriller, debuting Oct 2025 across major platforms

A unnerving spectral scare-fest from screenwriter / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an long-buried horror when strangers become tokens in a cursed conflict. Available October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing journey of survival and old world terror that will remodel genre cinema this harvest season. Crafted by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and eerie motion picture follows five unknowns who come to locked in a isolated dwelling under the malignant control of Kyra, a possessed female overtaken by a timeless Old Testament spirit. Get ready to be captivated by a filmic outing that melds raw fear with ancestral stories, debuting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a classic fixture in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is flipped when the forces no longer form externally, but rather inside their minds. This illustrates the most primal element of the victims. The result is a emotionally raw psychological battle where the drama becomes a perpetual push-pull between light and darkness.


In a wilderness-stricken landscape, five adults find themselves cornered under the unholy sway and inhabitation of a uncanny character. As the survivors becomes powerless to deny her grasp, detached and tormented by entities inconceivable, they are forced to stand before their core terrors while the timeline unforgivingly ticks toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear surges and connections break, compelling each cast member to scrutinize their values and the principle of free will itself. The consequences mount with every instant, delivering a paranormal ride that fuses paranormal dread with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to awaken deep fear, an darkness from ancient eras, embedding itself in psychological breaks, and examining a being that challenges autonomy when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra needed manifesting something outside normal anguish. She is in denial until the spirit seizes her, and that shift is gut-wrenching because it is so intimate.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for horror fans beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—providing audiences around the globe can witness this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its first trailer, which has been viewed over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, spreading the horror to horror fans worldwide.


Experience this unforgettable trip into the unknown. Confront *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to experience these terrifying truths about the psyche.


For previews, production insights, and press updates straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across entertainment pages and visit the official website.





Horror’s decisive shift: 2025 in focus U.S. lineup integrates old-world possession, art-house nightmares, set against IP aftershocks

From life-or-death fear suffused with scriptural legend to canon extensions as well as surgical indie voices, 2025 is lining up as horror’s most layered plus calculated campaign year in recent memory.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio powerhouses lay down anchors with established lines, in tandem subscription platforms crowd the fall with emerging auteurs and ancestral chills. In the indie lane, festival-forward creators is catching the echoes of 2024’s record festival wave. As Halloween stays the prime week, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, though in this cycle, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are intentional, hence 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 accelerates.

the Universal banner begins the calendar with a statement play: a refashioned Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, instead in a current-day frame. From director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. timed for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. From director Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer eases, the Warner Bros. banner launches the swan song from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. While the template is known, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re teams, and the tone that worked before is intact: 70s style chill, trauma centered writing, and eerie supernatural logic. The bar is raised this go, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The next entry deepens the tale, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It hits in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Platform Plays: Tight funds, wide impact

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a two hander body horror spiral featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and helmed 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 evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No swollen lore. No IP hangover. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

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

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, from Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror ascends again
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Forward View: Fall pileup, winter curveball

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 grind for attention. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

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 coming 2026 Horror cycle: continuations, Originals, alongside A packed Calendar optimized for frights

Dek The fresh genre calendar stacks at the outset with a January pile-up, subsequently spreads through midyear, and running into the holidays, marrying legacy muscle, creative pitches, and smart counter-scheduling. Studios with streamers are focusing on cost discipline, cinema-first plans, and influencer-ready assets that shape these releases into mainstream chatter.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror marketplace has shown itself to be the predictable counterweight in programming grids, a vertical that can spike when it breaks through and still hedge the downside when it stumbles. After 2023 proved to executives that disciplined-budget pictures can command the discourse, the following year held pace with high-profile filmmaker pieces and sleeper breakouts. The energy rolled into 2025, where revivals and critical darlings proved there is demand for multiple flavors, from continued chapters to filmmaker-driven originals that perform internationally. The end result for the 2026 slate is a calendar that is strikingly coherent across companies, with obvious clusters, a pairing of household franchises and new pitches, and a recommitted priority on box-office windows that power the aftermarket on premium on-demand and home streaming.

Buyers contend the horror lane now operates like a swing piece on the rollout map. Horror can bow on open real estate, generate a grabby hook for trailers and short-form placements, and exceed norms with demo groups that lean in on opening previews and keep coming through the subsequent weekend if the entry hits. Coming out of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 layout exhibits certainty in that playbook. The year gets underway with a heavy January corridor, then leans on spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while clearing room for a fall corridor that pushes into the Halloween corridor and beyond. The grid also reflects the tightening integration of specialty distributors and OTT outlets that can platform and widen, spark evangelism, and broaden at the right moment.

Another broad trend is brand management across brand ecosystems and established properties. Studio teams are not just pushing another installment. They are trying to present threaded continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a title treatment that indicates a tonal shift or a lead change that ties a next entry to a classic era. At the in tandem, the visionaries behind the top original plays are returning to practical craft, on-set effects and concrete locations. That blend yields 2026 a lively combination of home base and newness, which is why the genre exports well.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount defines the early cadence with two high-profile bets that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the front, framing it as both a relay and a heritage-centered character-first story. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the narrative stance telegraphs a fan-service aware angle without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign stacked with heritage visuals, initial cast looks, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm landing toward late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off 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 creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will emphasize. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will go after wide appeal through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format allowing quick redirects to whatever rules the conversation that spring.

Universal has three discrete pushes. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is straightforward, heartbroken, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man adopts an AI companion that mutates into a harmful mate. The date positions it at the front of a stacked January, with the studio’s marketing likely to revisit eerie street stunts and snackable content that fuses attachment and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a proper title to become an headline beat closer to the debut look. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. His projects are positioned as event films, with a teaser with minimal detail and a follow-up trailer set that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The spooky-season slot creates space for Universal to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage 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 steers, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has proven that a blood-soaked, makeup-driven strategy can feel high-value on a tight budget. Position this as a splatter summer horror surge that pushes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio lines up two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, continuing a proven supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is calling a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both franchise faithful and newcomers. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign pieces around canon, and monster design, elements that can increase deluxe auditorium demand and fandom activation.

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 Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in rigorous craft and linguistic texture, this time steeped in lycan lore. The imprint has already locked the day for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is glowing.

Digital platform strategies

Windowing plans in 2026 run on proven patterns. The studio’s horror films flow to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a stair-step that expands both launch urgency and sign-up momentum in the back half. Prime Video blends licensed films with international acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in catalog engagement, using well-timed internal promotions, Halloween hubs, and handpicked rows to extend momentum on overall cume. Netflix keeps options open about internal projects and festival buys, securing horror entries toward the drop and elevating as drops drops with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a paired of tailored theatrical exposure and swift platform pivots that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has been willing to board select projects with top-tier auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for retention when the genre conversation peaks.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 arc with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is direct: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, refined for modern soundscapes and visuals. 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 hinted a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late stretch.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then working the holiday frame to go wider. That positioning has served the company well for director-led genre with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception justifies. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using boutique theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

IP versus fresh ideas

By count, 2026 leans toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage franchise value. The caveat, as ever, is overexposure. The practical approach is to package each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is underscoring character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a continental coloration from a hot helmer. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a survival-thriller premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the package is anchored enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday previews.

Comps from the last three years contextualize the approach. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that maintained windows did not block a parallel release from working when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror popped in premium formats. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they pivot perspective and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to cross-link entries through character spine and themes and to keep assets in-market without long gaps.

How the films are being made

The director conversations behind this slate point to a continued bias toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that leans on atmosphere and fear rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft coverage before rolling out a first look that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at red-band excess, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and gathers shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta-horror reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature and environment design, which work nicely for convention floor stunts and staggered reveals. imp source Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel definitive. Look for trailers that foreground disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that explode in larger rooms.

Month-by-month map

January is busy. 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 somber counterpoint amid larger brand plays. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the spread 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 seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with brand energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Shoulder season into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a transitional slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited previews that stress concept over spoilers.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card redemption.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s intelligent companion becomes something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 hardens 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 journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

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

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to horror, founded on Cronin’s practical effects and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting chiller that pipes the unease through a youth’s uncertain subjective lens. Rating: TBA. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-grade and star-fronted spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A satire sequel that satirizes today’s horror trends and true crime fervors. Rating: TBD. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 global twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new clan snared by residual nightmares. Rating: pending. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A fresh restart designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-driven horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: TBD. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: not yet rated. Production: moving forward. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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 bone-deep menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 in flux, fall expected.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three nuts-and-bolts forces define this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or re-sequenced in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and shorter 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 generated more than straight-to-streaming releases. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, metered scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can seize a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will line up across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, 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 sleeper chase continues in Q1, where modest-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 quiet 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.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, acoustics, and visuals that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Looks Exciting

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is name recognition where it counts, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, guard the secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.