Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes antediluvian malevolence, a nightmare fueled horror thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on major streaming services

One chilling supernatural fright fest from storyteller / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an timeless malevolence when passersby become tools in a malevolent experiment. Airings begin October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping story of struggle and old world terror that will reshape the horror genre this harvest season. Visualized by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and moody cinema piece follows five strangers who suddenly rise ensnared in a wilderness-bound house under the oppressive power of Kyra, a cursed figure controlled by a 2,000-year-old biblical demon. Be prepared to be absorbed by a filmic outing that fuses gut-punch terror with folklore, arriving on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demonic control has been a well-established foundation in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is inverted when the malevolences no longer develop from a different plane, but rather through their own souls. This embodies the most sinister element of the cast. The result is a psychologically brutal mental war where the conflict becomes a perpetual clash between divinity and wickedness.


In a unforgiving outland, five characters find themselves trapped under the dark rule and domination of a mysterious female presence. As the group becomes incapable to evade her control, abandoned and preyed upon by terrors unfathomable, they are obligated to reckon with their raw vulnerabilities while the clock ruthlessly edges forward toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease surges and connections break, pushing each individual to rethink their core and the philosophy of personal agency itself. The danger magnify with every second, delivering a paranormal ride that combines occult fear with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to evoke primal fear, an malevolence that existed before mankind, working through emotional vulnerability, and examining a curse that dismantles free will when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra involved tapping into something past sanity. She is oblivious until the possession kicks in, and that evolution is soul-crushing because it is so intimate.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be available for digital release beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—delivering viewers across the world can experience this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its release of trailer #1, which has gathered over a viral response.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, taking the terror to global fright lovers.


Experience this gripping voyage through terror. Experience *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to witness these ghostly lessons about free will.


For cast commentary, production news, and reveals directly from production, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across online outlets and visit the movie portal.





U.S. horror’s tipping point: 2025 for genre fans U.S. release slate melds ancient-possession motifs, indie terrors, in parallel with series shake-ups

Ranging from pressure-cooker survival tales saturated with mythic scripture to installment follow-ups plus cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 looks like the most stratified paired with precision-timed year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. the big studios lock in tentpoles via recognizable brands, simultaneously premium streamers flood the fall with unboxed visions set against archetypal fear. On another front, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is fueled by the momentum from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween stays the prime week, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, however this time, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are surgical, accordingly 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: The Return of Prestige Fear

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal lights the fuse with a big gambit: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Steered by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. arriving mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Guided by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

As summer winds down, the WB camp launches the swan song from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Even with a familiar chassis, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the tone that worked before is intact: old school creep, trauma in the foreground, plus otherworld rules that chill. Here the stakes rise, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The new chapter enriches the lore, stretches the animatronic parade, bridging teens and legacy players. It books December, pinning the winter close.

SVOD Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

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

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a two hander body horror spiral fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. That is a savvy move. No swollen lore. No series drag. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy IP: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, under Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Trends to Watch

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

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

Originals on platforms bite harder
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Outlook: Fall crush plus winter X factor

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The upcoming scare lineup: entries, filmmaker-first projects, paired with A jammed Calendar designed for nightmares

Dek The emerging scare slate crams immediately with a January crush, following that extends through summer corridors, and well into the winter holidays, fusing name recognition, novel approaches, and calculated counterprogramming. The major players are prioritizing efficient budgets, exclusive theatrical windows first, and short-form initiatives that pivot these offerings into water-cooler talk.

How the genre looks for 2026

The field has solidified as the consistent play in studio calendars, a segment that can break out when it connects and still protect the drag when it fails to connect. After 2023 reminded buyers that efficiently budgeted chillers can lead the zeitgeist, the following year continued the surge with director-led heat and surprise hits. The trend moved into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and festival-grade titles underscored there is a market for several lanes, from sequel tracks to non-IP projects that scale internationally. The takeaway for 2026 is a run that feels more orchestrated than usual across the industry, with planned clusters, a mix of known properties and untested plays, and a tightened focus on exclusive windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium on-demand and home streaming.

Executives say the space now performs as a schedule utility on the rollout map. Horror can bow on virtually any date, offer a simple premise for trailers and vertical videos, and outpace with patrons that arrive on Thursday nights and stay strong through the follow-up frame if the film fires. Exiting a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 rhythm shows trust in that model. The calendar launches with a loaded January lineup, then primes spring and early summer for counterweight, while carving room for a October build that connects to All Hallows period and into the next week. The schedule also underscores the continuing integration of indie arms and SVOD players that can stage a platform run, create conversation, and scale up at the strategic time.

A further high-level trend is franchise tending across connected story worlds and legacy franchises. Distribution groups are not just rolling another sequel. They are trying to present brand continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a brandmark that indicates a tonal shift or a star attachment that links a upcoming film to a foundational era. At the same time, the directors behind the most watched originals are celebrating material texture, practical effects and place-driven backdrops. That alloy produces the 2026 slate a healthy mix of familiarity and freshness, which is why the genre exports well.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount opens strong with two big-ticket pushes that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the lead, signaling it as both a cross-generational handoff and a back-to-basics relationship-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the artistic posture points to a classic-referencing angle without going over the last two entries’ sisters thread. Anticipate a campaign fueled by iconic art, character previews, and a two-beat trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will lean on. As a summer contrast play, this one will go after wide buzz through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format making room for quick updates to whatever shapes the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three differentiated entries. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is tight, grief-rooted, and logline-clear: a grieving man installs an machine companion that escalates into a murderous partner. The date slots it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s marketing likely to revisit off-kilter promo beats and snackable content that melds companionship and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a branding reveal to become an PR pop closer to the teaser. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele’s releases are presented as event films, with a hinting teaser and a second wave of trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The Halloween runway gives the studio room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has consistently shown that a tactile, hands-on effects execution can feel top-tier on a disciplined budget. Look for a red-band summer horror surge that pushes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio rolls out two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, holding a bankable supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is framing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both fans and curious audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build materials around setting detail, and monster aesthetics, elements that can accelerate IMAX and PLF uptake and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on minute detail and period language, this time focused on werewolf legend. The company has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is supportive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s genre entries head to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a pacing that boosts both initial urgency and sub growth in the after-window. Prime Video pairs catalogue additions with international acquisitions and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data backs it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in deep cuts, using well-timed internal promotions, horror hubs, and curated strips to sustain interest on the annual genre haul. Netflix plays opportunist about in-house releases and festival buys, timing horror entries near their drops and framing as events arrivals with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a tiered of limited theatrical footprints and short jumps to platform that converts WOM to subscribers. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has indicated interest to take on select projects with acclaimed directors or A-list packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to show bona fides 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 ramps.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 sequence with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is straightforward: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, elevated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has positioned a cinema-first plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the fall weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, curating the rollout through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday dates to widen. That positioning has paid off for filmmaker-driven genre with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception justifies. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using small theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Franchise entries versus originals

By number, 2026 leans in favor of the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use marquee value. The potential drawback, as ever, is viewer burnout. The near-term solution is to position each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is leading with character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a continental coloration from a fresh helmer. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and director-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a survival-thriller premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the deal build is steady enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

The last three-year set help explain the approach. In 2023, a cinema-first model that honored streaming windows did not foreclose a same-day experiment from delivering when the brand was trusted. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror outperformed in large-format rooms. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they rotate perspective and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on 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 shot back-to-back, creates space for marketing to tie installments through cast and motif and to leave creative active without doldrums.

How the films are being made

The craft rooms behind the year’s horror foreshadow a continued lean toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that spotlights grain and menace rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in trade spotlights and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a teaser that withholds plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and gathers shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta inflection that centers its original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature craft and set design, which work nicely for convention activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel necessary. Look for trailers that accent precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that benefit on big speakers.

Calendar cadence

January is stacked. 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 quiet contrast amid larger brand plays. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the variety of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

Early-year through spring tee up summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can thrive 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.

August and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a early fall window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited previews that elevate concept over story.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can play the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card use.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s machine mate becomes something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: aura-driven 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 battle to survive on a far-flung island as the hierarchy reverses and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to nightmare, based on Cronin’s practical effects and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. 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 home-set haunting chiller that pipes the unease through a youth’s unreliable internal vantage. Rating: not yet rated. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that lampoons of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fixations. Rating: TBA. Production: shoot planned 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 surges, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a new family anchored to long-buried horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A reboot designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward true survival horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. see here Rating: undetermined. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: closely held. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and raw menace. Rating: pending. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. 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: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 and why now

Three workable forces drive this lineup. First, production that paused or shuffled in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming releases. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage social-ready stingers from test screenings, managed scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

A fourth factor is programming math. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, freeing space for genre entries that can command a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will coexist across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 surprise-hit pursuit 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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, 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 hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, efficient screen counts, 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 visual texture, aural design, and visual design that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is recognizable IP where it plays, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver 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-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, guard the secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.