Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a spine tingling feature, rolling out October 2025 across premium platforms

One eerie ghostly fear-driven tale from creator / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an ancient nightmare when unrelated individuals become instruments in a devilish struggle. Hitting screens on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching episode of endurance and old world terror that will redefine genre cinema this October. Crafted by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and shadowy screenplay follows five characters who come to ensnared in a hidden lodge under the aggressive will of Kyra, a mysterious girl claimed by a millennia-old Old Testament spirit. Get ready to be hooked by a motion picture adventure that combines visceral dread with timeless legends, unleashing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a well-established fixture in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is reimagined when the presences no longer develop externally, but rather deep within. This represents the haunting facet of all involved. The result is a intense psychological battle where the emotions becomes a constant confrontation between heaven and hell.


In a barren natural abyss, five teens find themselves cornered under the unholy rule and haunting of a mysterious female presence. As the victims becomes defenseless to escape her grasp, abandoned and stalked by beings beyond reason, they are made to face their darkest emotions while the seconds relentlessly moves toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension builds and bonds shatter, driving each individual to examine their true nature and the idea of independent thought itself. The tension climb with every second, delivering a horror experience that integrates demonic fright with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to tap into pure dread, an entity before modern man, manipulating emotional vulnerability, and examining a curse that challenges autonomy when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra asked for exploring something past sanity. She is clueless until the curse activates, and that change is gut-wrenching because it is so intimate.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for on-demand beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing fans globally can get immersed in this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its original promo, which has received over a viral response.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, making the film to lovers of terror across nations.


Make sure to see this haunted voyage through terror. Face *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to see these ghostly lessons about free will.


For cast commentary, making-of footage, and reveals straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your favorite networks and visit the movie’s homepage.





U.S. horror’s major pivot: the 2025 cycle U.S. calendar weaves ancient-possession motifs, independent shockers, together with brand-name tremors

From last-stand terror rooted in old testament echoes through to series comebacks alongside focused festival visions, 2025 is coalescing into the genre’s most multifaceted in tandem with precision-timed year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. studio majors lay down anchors with established lines, in tandem streaming platforms saturate the fall with unboxed visions paired with mythic dread. At the same time, independent banners is propelled by the backdraft from a record 2024 festival run. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, yet in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are exacting, so 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige terror resurfaces

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s pipeline lights the fuse with a marquee bet: a refashioned Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in a modern-day environment. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. Slated for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. From director Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer eases, the WB camp launches the swan song from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson resumes command, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: throwback unease, trauma as narrative engine, plus otherworld rules that chill. This time, the stakes are raised, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The follow up digs further into canon, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, reaching teens and game grownups. It lands in December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Firsts: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold case horror anthology stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a close quarters body horror study led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

In the mix sits Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative with Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

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

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. 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.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is an astute call. No bloated mythology. No IP hangover. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

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 lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Long Running Lines: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, guided by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

What to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror resurges
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Laurels convert to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn density and winter pivot

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 must claw for air. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

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 oncoming chiller cycle: returning titles, new stories, And A loaded Calendar geared toward Scares

Dek The emerging genre slate crowds up front with a January pile-up, after that rolls through summer, and running into the year-end corridor, braiding series momentum, fresh ideas, and savvy calendar placement. Studios and platforms are focusing on mid-range economics, exclusive theatrical windows first, and influencer-ready assets that position the slate’s entries into mainstream chatter.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The genre has emerged as the bankable counterweight in studio slates, a category that can scale when it performs and still limit the drawdown when it misses. After 2023 re-taught decision-makers that mid-range genre plays can lead the zeitgeist, the following year extended the rally with signature-voice projects and slow-burn breakouts. The trend carried into 2025, where revivals and critical darlings signaled there is an opening for several lanes, from ongoing IP entries to non-IP projects that travel well. The sum for the 2026 slate is a roster that looks unusually coordinated across studios, with purposeful groupings, a spread of legacy names and original hooks, and a renewed commitment on exclusive windows that fuel later windows on premium digital and digital services.

Studio leaders note the horror lane now serves as a flex slot on the schedule. The genre can kick off on numerous frames, offer a tight logline for previews and UGC-friendly snippets, and over-index with ticket buyers that arrive on preview nights and stick through the sophomore frame if the movie lands. After a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 rhythm demonstrates faith in that logic. The calendar kicks off with a weighty January window, then leans on spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while clearing room for a September to October window that extends to All Hallows period and into November. The arrangement also reflects the increasing integration of specialized imprints and streamers that can launch in limited release, build word of mouth, and roll out at the strategic time.

A second macro trend is series management across linked properties and legacy franchises. The players are not just pushing another chapter. They are moving to present connection with a occasion, whether that is a brandmark that broadcasts a re-angled tone or a talent selection that threads a next film to a classic era. At the concurrently, the helmers behind the most anticipated originals are embracing on-set craft, practical effects and place-driven backdrops. That blend produces 2026 a confident blend of familiarity and novelty, which is how the genre sells abroad.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount opens strong with two prominent releases that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the heart, framing it as both a handoff and a heritage-centered character-focused installment. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the tonal posture suggests a throwback-friendly bent without going over the last two entries’ family thread. Watch for a push centered on legacy iconography, initial cast looks, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm slated for late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will feature. As a summer contrast play, this one will generate mass reach through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format inviting quick updates to whatever owns the discourse that spring.

Universal has three clear bets. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is tidy, tragic, and big-hook: a grieving man purchases an digital partner that becomes a harmful mate. The date puts it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to replay eerie street stunts and short-cut promos that blurs attachment and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a public title to become an event moment closer to the initial tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. The filmmaker’s films are treated as signature events, with a mystery-first teaser and a later creative that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The Halloween runway opens a lane to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has consistently shown that a visceral, hands-on effects aesthetic can feel high-value on a efficient spend. Position this as a grime-caked summer horror shock that embraces overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio lines up two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, continuing a dependable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is presenting as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both core fans and curious audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build artifacts around mythos, and creature builds, elements that can amplify IMAX and PLF uptake and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by historical precision and language, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is glowing.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Digital strategies for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s slate head to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a ladder that amplifies both first-week urgency and viewer acquisition in the later window. Prime Video stitches together licensed films with global pickups and brief theater runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library pulls, using seasonal hubs, Halloween hubs, and curated strips to lengthen the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix plays opportunist about originals and festival snaps, timing horror entries on shorter runways and staging as events releases with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a paired of precision theatrical plays and prompt platform moves that translates talk to trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a discrete basis. The platform has been willing to buy select projects with recognized filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly engagement when the genre conversation builds.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 corridor with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is tight: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, upgraded for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the autumn weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then working the Christmas corridor to increase reach. That positioning has been successful for elevated genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception drives. 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 jointly, using select theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their paid base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By weight, the 2026 slate leans toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on cultural cachet. The question, as ever, is brand erosion. The workable fix is to sell each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is spotlighting character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a continental coloration from a new voice. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the packaging is grounded enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Rolling three-year comps outline the plan. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that preserved streaming windows did not stop a hybrid test from winning when the brand was trusted. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror popped in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they reframe POV and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Young & Cursed Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, lets marketing to link the films through character spine and themes and to sustain campaign assets without hiatuses.

Craft and creative trends

The production chatter behind this slate telegraph a continued tilt toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that spotlights grain and menace rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in craft profiles and technical spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and gathers shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta-horror reset that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on monster work and world-building, which favor expo activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel irresistible. Look for trailers that elevate pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that work in PLF.

Calendar cadence

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 foggy reset amid macro-brand pushes. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the range of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth endures.

Early-year through spring tee up summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now supports 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 underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Shoulder season into fall leans recognizable. 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 transitional slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a opaque tease strategy and limited information drops that stress concept over spoilers.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and holiday gift-card burn.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s digital partner mutates into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

28 Years Later: The useful reference Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Source 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 emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

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

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her tough boss scramble to survive on a uninhabited island as the chain of command reverses and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to fear, driven by Cronin’s physical craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 in-home haunting setup that mediates the fear via a kid’s flickering perspective. Rating: TBD. Production: picture-locked. 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 involved creatively again. Logline: {A satire sequel that lampoons of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime crazes. Rating: TBD. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites spreads, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further extends again, with a fresh family entangled with past horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A new start designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survivalist horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: forthcoming. Production: moving forward. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and raw menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 and why now

Three grounded forces frame this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or shuffled in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming drops. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on shareable moments from test screenings, managed scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

There is also the slotting calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will share space across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, 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 flow and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns 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 chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, optimized 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 materiality, 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 intact. There is brand heft where it matters, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, keep the secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.