Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts ancient terror, a spine tingling horror feature, bowing October 2025 on global platforms

This blood-curdling ghostly nightmare movie from scriptwriter / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an long-buried fear when unfamiliar people become tools in a hellish game. Streaming this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving tale of endurance and old world terror that will remodel genre cinema this scare season. Visualized by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and emotionally thick fearfest follows five people who find themselves imprisoned in a remote hideaway under the malevolent control of Kyra, a female lead occupied by a biblical-era religious nightmare. Be prepared to be shaken by a visual adventure that weaves together raw fear with spiritual backstory, coming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a historical concept in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is radically shifted when the malevolences no longer arise from a different plane, but rather inside their minds. This echoes the most hidden part of the group. The result is a emotionally raw identity crisis where the intensity becomes a brutal tug-of-war between good and evil.


In a haunting landscape, five characters find themselves caught under the unholy rule and control of a enigmatic character. As the youths becomes submissive to fight her control, left alone and targeted by unknowns inconceivable, they are obligated to reckon with their inner horrors while the timeline without pause winds toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety intensifies and partnerships collapse, compelling each figure to examine their values and the nature of liberty itself. The stakes magnify with every heartbeat, delivering a scare-fueled ride that combines demonic fright with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to dive into pure dread, an presence born of forgotten ages, embedding itself in emotional vulnerability, and confronting a presence that strips down our being when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra was about accessing something past sanity. She is blind until the takeover begins, and that conversion is eerie because it is so intimate.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for streaming beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—providing customers anywhere can get immersed in this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its original clip, which has received over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, exporting the fear to international horror buffs.


Mark your calendar for this soul-jarring trip into the unknown. Confront *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to acknowledge these terrifying truths about mankind.


For sneak peeks, behind-the-scenes content, and announcements from behind the lens, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across fan hubs and visit our film’s homepage.





Contemporary horror’s inflection point: 2025 U.S. Slate melds legend-infused possession, microbudget gut-punches, together with brand-name tremors

Running from grit-forward survival fare infused with biblical myth and onward to brand-name continuations and acutely observed indies, 2025 appears poised to be horror’s most layered along with strategic year of the last decade.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. Top studios plant stakes across the year by way of signature titles, in parallel OTT services saturate the fall with debut heat and mythic dread. On the independent axis, the artisan tier is fueled by the kinetic energy from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Since Halloween is the prized date, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, notably this year, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are disciplined, hence 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige terror resurfaces

The top end is active. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s schedule lights the fuse with a confident swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, instead in a current-day frame. Led by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. Slated for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. From director Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early reactions hint at fangs.

When summer tapers, Warner Bros. Pictures unveils the final movement within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Despite a known recipe, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the memorable motifs return: retrograde shiver, trauma in the foreground, with spooky supernatural reasoning. Here the stakes rise, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The new chapter enriches the lore, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It posts in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Offerings: Economy, maximum dread

While theaters lean on names and sequels, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a sealed box body horror arc led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story with Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is a calculated bet. No overstuffed canon. No franchise baggage. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

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.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Lines: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

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

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, led by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

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

Key Trends

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror comes roaring back
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Big screen is a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

What’s Next: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The approaching chiller slate: continuations, Originals, in tandem with A busy Calendar designed for goosebumps

Dek: The brand-new genre calendar loads immediately with a January traffic jam, then extends through summer corridors, and straight through the late-year period, balancing series momentum, original angles, and calculated alternatives. The major players are prioritizing cost discipline, big-screen-first runs, and social-fueled campaigns that position these pictures into water-cooler talk.

How the genre looks for 2026

This space has emerged as the dependable tool in distribution calendars, a segment that can scale when it hits and still limit the liability when it under-delivers. After 2023 reassured leaders that responsibly budgeted scare machines can galvanize audience talk, 2024 carried the beat with visionary-driven titles and surprise hits. The upswing carried into 2025, where reboots and festival-grade titles proved there is demand for multiple flavors, from ongoing IP entries to original features that travel well. The result for the 2026 slate is a calendar that presents tight coordination across the industry, with planned clusters, a equilibrium of recognizable IP and first-time concepts, and a re-energized priority on big-screen windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on PVOD and OTT platforms.

Insiders argue the space now operates like a fill-in ace on the grid. Horror can kick off on nearly any frame, supply a sharp concept for previews and reels, and outpace with demo groups that arrive on advance nights and sustain through the second frame if the entry lands. On the heels of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 layout demonstrates assurance in that equation. The slate kicks off with a crowded January lineup, then leans on spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while saving space for a autumn push that connects to late October and past the holiday. The layout also illustrates the deeper integration of boutique distributors and home platforms that can grow from platform, grow buzz, and expand at the optimal moment.

A parallel macro theme is franchise tending across linked properties and classic IP. The companies are not just turning out another sequel. They are setting up lore continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a graphic identity that signals a new vibe or a lead change that links a incoming chapter to a initial period. At the in tandem, the visionaries behind the high-profile originals are doubling down on on-set craft, physical gags and specific settings. That mix provides the 2026 slate a lively combination of brand comfort and surprise, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount establishes early momentum with two prominent plays that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the spine, angling it as both a passing of the torch and a back-to-basics character-driven entry. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach announces a heritage-honoring strategy without recycling the last two entries’ sisters storyline. The studio is likely to mount a drive rooted in heritage visuals, early character teases, and a rollout cadence landing toward late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also reawakens 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 on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will lean on. As a summer counter-slot, this one will generate mass reach through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format allowing quick adjustments to whatever owns the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three distinct entries. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is clean, melancholic, and big-hook: a grieving man adopts an virtual partner that evolves into a fatal companion. The date lines it up at the front of a crowded corridor, with marketing at Universal likely to echo off-kilter promo beats and short reels that interlaces romance and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as 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 public title to become Check This Out an fan moment closer to the early tease. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. His projects are set up as marquee events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a second beat that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The spooky-season slot allows Universal to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has shown that a gritty, hands-on effects execution can feel prestige on a middle budget. Expect a red-band summer horror surge that leans hard into overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio books two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, keeping a consistent supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is calling a reimagined restart 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 mission to serve both players and newcomers. The fall slot allows Sony to build marketing units around lore, and monster craft, elements that can amplify IMAX and PLF uptake and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in textural authenticity and historical speech, this time focused on werewolf legend. The distributor has already locked the day for a holiday release, a bold stance in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is supportive.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s releases feed copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a cadence that boosts both initial urgency and trial spikes in the later window. Prime Video interleaves outside acquisitions with global pickups and small theatrical windows when the data backs it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in archive usage, using in-app campaigns, spooky hubs, and staff picks to maximize the tail on the 2026 genre total. Netflix keeps flexible about Netflix originals and festival grabs, timing horror entries closer to drop and turning into events debuts with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a one-two of focused cinema runs and short jumps to platform that turns chatter to conversion. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a curated basis. The platform has been willing to pick up select projects with accomplished filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for platform stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 slate 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 appeal is clear: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, modernized for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the back half.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, piloting the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday frame to broaden. That positioning has shown results for elevated genre with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception supports. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using small theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By volume, the 2026 slate skews toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap cultural cachet. The potential drawback, as ever, is overexposure. The pragmatic answer is to brand each entry as a new angle. Paramount is spotlighting character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a Francophone tone from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and visionary-led titles keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the packaging is recognizable enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and Thursday previews.

Three-year comps illuminate the playbook. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that kept clean windows did not stop a simultaneous release test from paying off when the brand was trusted. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror outperformed in PLF. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they reorient and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to 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 two-film strategy, with chapters shot back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to relate entries through protagonists and motifs and to leave creative active without long breaks.

Production craft signals

The filmmaking conversations behind this slate hint at a continued move toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that elevates creep and texture rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and technical spotlights before rolling out a preview that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and drives shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta refresh that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster aesthetics and world-building, which favor convention floor stunts and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel definitive. Look for trailers that emphasize disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that benefit on big speakers.

How the year maps out

January is stacked. 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 foggy reset amid heavier IP. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the mix of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth persists.

Post-January through spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

August into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a transitional slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited teasers that trade in concept over detail.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and holiday card usage.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s intelligent companion unfolds into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection 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 collide with a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 work to survive on a remote island as the hierarchy flips and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to fright, grounded in Cronin’s hands-on craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting piece that routes the horror through a youth’s shifting subjective lens. Rating: forthcoming. Production: fully shot. Positioning: major-studio and toplined occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A genre lampoon that riffs on current genre trends and true crime fascinations. Rating: undetermined. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites spreads, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new household entangled with residual nightmares. Rating: TBA. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on classic survival-horror tone over action spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: undetermined. Production: underway. 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 antique diction and primordial menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. 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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026 lands now

Three grounded forces drive this lineup. First, production that slowed or shifted in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and pared-down timelines. 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 generated more than straight-to-streaming launches. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine shareable moments from test screenings, precision scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

There is also the slotting calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, freeing space for genre entries that can lead a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will jostle across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. 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.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The sleeper-hit hunt 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 capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, right-sized allotments, 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 tactility, aural design, and image-making 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 Robust 2026 On Deck

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is IP strength where it matters, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, protect the mystery, and let the chills sell the seats.