Antediluvian Evil Stirs in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising thriller, arriving October 2025 on leading streamers

One haunting spectral suspense film from creator / director Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an primordial dread when guests become puppets in a devilish trial. Dropping October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing narrative of perseverance and ancient evil that will reshape the fear genre this October. Guided by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and shadowy screenplay follows five young adults who are stirred locked in a wilderness-bound shelter under the oppressive sway of Kyra, a possessed female inhabited by a time-worn sacrosanct terror. Steel yourself to be hooked by a immersive outing that melds intense horror with biblical origins, landing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a time-honored fixture in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is flipped when the presences no longer form beyond the self, but rather from deep inside. This suggests the darkest facet of each of them. The result is a enthralling mental war where the events becomes a unyielding clash between virtue and vice.


In a isolated landscape, five young people find themselves caught under the fiendish control and domination of a uncanny female presence. As the characters becomes vulnerable to deny her dominion, stranded and preyed upon by forces ungraspable, they are forced to reckon with their emotional phantoms while the seconds unceasingly ticks onward toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia amplifies and relationships fracture, pressuring each person to reflect on their being and the structure of liberty itself. The risk magnify with every short lapse, delivering a nightmarish journey that intertwines otherworldly panic with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to dive into instinctual horror, an evil from ancient eras, feeding on our weaknesses, and examining a force that redefines identity when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra was about accessing something far beyond human desperation. She is insensitive until the invasion happens, and that change is haunting because it is so personal.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for streaming beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—giving horror lovers around the globe can watch this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its release of trailer #1, which has gathered over 100K plays.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, offering the tale to global fright lovers.


Witness this life-altering descent into darkness. Experience *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to witness these ghostly lessons about human nature.


For director insights, on-set glimpses, and announcements from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across your favorite networks and visit our spooky domain.





U.S. horror’s tipping point: the 2025 season U.S. release slate interlaces old-world possession, festival-born jolts, plus Franchise Rumbles

Ranging from survivor-centric dread drawn from ancient scripture all the way to legacy revivals as well as surgical indie voices, 2025 is tracking to be the most variegated plus calculated campaign year since the mid-2010s.

Call it full, but it is also focused. studio powerhouses bookend the months by way of signature titles, concurrently digital services prime the fall with first-wave breakthroughs plus scriptural shivers. On another front, the independent cohort is buoyed by the tailwinds of a record-setting 2024 festival season. With Halloween holding the peak, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, and now, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are calculated, accordingly 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Premium dread reemerges

The top end is active. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal banner sets the tone with a big gambit: a refashioned Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in an immediate now. From director Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. set for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Led by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

When summer tapers, the WB camp unveils the final movement of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. While the template is known, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson resumes command, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: nostalgic menace, trauma driven plotting, and a cold supernatural calculus. The stakes escalate here, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The continuation widens the legend, stretches the animatronic parade, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It hits in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a two hander body horror spiral featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Another headline entry 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 piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is canny scheduling. No bloated canon. No canon weight. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Franchise Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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

What to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror ascends again
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn density and winter pivot

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

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 hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The next scare year to come: installments, fresh concepts, plus A stacked Calendar designed for frights

Dek The arriving horror calendar crams up front with a January glut, subsequently spreads through peak season, and far into the holiday stretch, marrying marquee clout, fresh ideas, and strategic calendar placement. The major players are committing to responsible budgets, theatrical-first rollouts, and buzz-forward plans that position these pictures into mainstream chatter.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The genre has solidified as the surest move in distribution calendars, a lane that can surge when it clicks and still limit the drawdown when it fails to connect. After 2023 reassured studio brass that disciplined-budget entries can drive the national conversation, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with buzzy auteur projects and unexpected risers. The tailwind translated to the 2025 frame, where returns and festival-grade titles underscored there is a market for diverse approaches, from ongoing IP entries to one-and-done originals that play globally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a programming that is strikingly coherent across distributors, with intentional bunching, a spread of brand names and first-time concepts, and a revived emphasis on cinema windows that power the aftermarket on premium digital and streaming.

Studio leaders note the genre now acts as a wildcard on the schedule. The genre can roll out on almost any weekend, yield a quick sell for promo reels and vertical videos, and lead with ticket buyers that come out on advance nights and continue through the next weekend if the feature satisfies. After a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 layout indicates assurance in that logic. The slate starts with a thick January schedule, then uses spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while saving space for a fall cadence that runs into All Hallows period and afterwards. The grid also underscores the deeper integration of arthouse labels and home platforms that can stage a platform run, stoke social talk, and go nationwide at the right moment.

A parallel macro theme is series management across shared IP webs and legacy franchises. Distribution groups are not just rolling another entry. They are seeking to position lineage with a premium feel, whether that is a brandmark that conveys a fresh attitude or a casting pivot that links a upcoming film to a early run. At the same time, the auteurs behind the eagerly awaited originals are leaning into real-world builds, physical gags and specific settings. That fusion gives 2026 a strong blend of known notes and surprise, which is why the genre exports well.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount fires first with two spotlight projects that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the focus, angling it as both a lineage transfer and a foundation-forward character-driven entry. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance telegraphs a classic-referencing bent without looping the last two entries’ sisters thread. The studio is likely to mount a drive leaning on recognizable motifs, character-first teases, and a trailer cadence aimed at late fall. Distribution is theatrical through 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 reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will play up. As a counterweight in summer, this one will chase wide appeal through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format allowing quick reframes to whatever dominates genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three defined entries. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is efficient, tragic, and logline-clear: a grieving man implements an machine companion that shifts into a lethal partner. The have a peek at these guys date places it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to recreate eerie street stunts and bite-size content that mixes companionship and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a name unveil to become an marketing beat closer to the first look. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele projects are marketed as auteur events, with a concept-forward tease and a follow-up trailer set that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot lets the studio to command 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, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has demonstrated that a visceral, on-set effects led execution can feel big on a controlled budget. Expect a gore-forward summer horror jolt that centers worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio rolls out two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, maintaining a trusty supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is describing as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both longtime followers and newcomers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build artifacts around mythos, and monster craft, elements that can fuel format premiums and fan events.

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 advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by rigorous craft and historical speech, this time focused on werewolf legend. Focus’s team has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streaming windows and tactics

Digital strategies for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s genre entries flow to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a ordering that optimizes both premiere heat and sub growth in the tail. Prime Video balances licensed films with international acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in library pulls, using seasonal hubs, seasonal hubs, and featured rows to extend momentum on 2026 genre cume. Netflix stays nimble about Netflix films and festival buys, confirming horror entries with shorter lead times and elevating as drops releases with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a dual-phase of precision theatrical plays and prompt platform moves that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has shown appetite to purchase select projects with accomplished filmmakers or A-list packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for monthly activity when the genre conversation peaks.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 pipeline with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is tight: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, modernized for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the September weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, shepherding the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday corridor to broaden. That positioning has served the company well for arthouse horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception encourages. 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 in parallel, using targeted theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Known brands versus new stories

By proportion, the 2026 slate skews toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap franchise value. The watch-out, as ever, is diminishing returns. The preferred tactic is to brand each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is elevating character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a Francophone tone from a hot helmer. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and director-driven titles add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the packaging is grounded enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and preview-night turnout.

Three-year comps help explain the template. In 2023, a exclusive check over here theatrical model that maintained windows did not obstruct a parallel release from paying off when the brand was big. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror surged in premium large format. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they angle differently and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters shot back-to-back, creates space for marketing to thread films through character arcs and themes and to leave creative active without doldrums.

Creative tendencies and craft

The director conversations behind this year’s genre indicate a continued preference for in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that emphasizes mood and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in deep-dive features and technical spotlights before rolling out a teaser that withholds plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and drives shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta-horror reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will live or die on monster realization and design, which favor con floor moments and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel essential. Look for trailers that foreground hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that shine in top rooms.

Calendar cadence

January is packed. 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 moody palate cleanser amid big-brand pushes. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via weblink 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the palette of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Early-year through spring prime the summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now sustains 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 divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

End of summer through fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a mystery-first teaser plan and limited previews that center concept over reveals.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card burn.

Title briefs within the narrative

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s virtual companion unfolds into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed 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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem 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 travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: ambience-forward adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her prickly boss struggle to survive on a cut-off island as the power balance of power reverses and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to menace, shaped by Cronin’s practical effects and suffocating 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 preteen’s uncertain personal vantage. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-crafted and marquee-led ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that lampoons contemporary horror memes and true crime fixations. Rating: undetermined. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. 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 flares, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further opens again, with a another family entangled with older hauntings. Rating: TBA. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A new start designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on pure survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: TBA. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: pending. Production: active. 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-specific language and primal menace. Rating: TBA. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three grounded forces drive this lineup. First, production that eased or shuffled in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming launches. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on meme-ready beats from test screenings, managed scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will stack across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where value-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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. 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 somber, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, soundcraft, and picture that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Looks Exciting

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand equity where it matters, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, lock the reveals, and let the screams sell the seats.