Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primeval horror, a hair raising feature, bowing October 2025 on global platforms

An chilling spiritual fright fest from screenwriter / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an primordial fear when passersby become vehicles in a dark game. Available this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving journey of continuance and mythic evil that will remodel fear-driven cinema this autumn. Crafted by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and moody fearfest follows five characters who emerge ensnared in a remote structure under the sinister dominion of Kyra, a female lead inhabited by a two-thousand-year-old Old Testament spirit. Prepare to be absorbed by a audio-visual venture that fuses deep-seated panic with biblical origins, debuting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a iconic concept in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is flipped when the entities no longer originate externally, but rather internally. This represents the malevolent version of the group. The result is a enthralling mental war where the intensity becomes a relentless fight between virtue and vice.


In a forsaken wild, five youths find themselves marooned under the malicious grip and curse of a haunted female figure. As the team becomes defenseless to break her command, severed and attacked by powers ungraspable, they are compelled to reckon with their inner demons while the timeline mercilessly counts down toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety rises and teams fracture, prompting each character to doubt their true nature and the philosophy of volition itself. The pressure magnify with every instant, delivering a fear-soaked story that weaves together ghostly evil with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to tap into deep fear, an power beyond time, emerging via emotional vulnerability, and testing a curse that redefines identity when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra meant channeling something beyond human emotion. She is unseeing until the invasion happens, and that evolution is deeply unsettling because it is so visceral.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for on-demand beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring watchers no matter where they are can get immersed in this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its initial teaser, which has attracted over massive response.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, taking the terror to a worldwide audience.


Be sure to catch this unforgettable descent into darkness. Join *Young & Cursed* this launch day to see these fearful discoveries about human nature.


For featurettes, on-set glimpses, and reveals directly from production, follow @YACFilm across your favorite networks and visit youngandcursed.com.





Today’s horror watershed moment: the 2025 season domestic schedule interlaces ancient-possession motifs, Indie Shockers, set against tentpole growls

Across life-or-death fear infused with legendary theology and stretching into series comebacks alongside keen independent perspectives, 2025 is tracking to be the most textured in tandem with precision-timed year in the past ten years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. leading studios are anchoring the year using marquee IP, as premium streamers load up the fall with unboxed visions in concert with ancestral chills. On the independent axis, the independent cohort is surfing the backdraft of a peak 2024 circuit. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, distinctly in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are intentional, which means 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Elevated fear reclaims ground

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s slate fires the first shot with an audacious swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, but a sharp contemporary setting. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. landing in mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Eli Craig directs starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer winds down, the Warner lot releases the last chapter from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Although the framework is familiar, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: nostalgic menace, trauma as text, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This pass pushes higher, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The return delves further into myth, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, reaching teens and game grownups. It opens in December, locking down the winter tail.

Digital Originals: Economy, maximum dread

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a room scale body horror descent fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It is a clever angle. No bloated mythology. No continuity burden. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy IP: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, with Francis Lawrence directing, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Signals and Trends

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror returns
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Laurels convert to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Forward View: Fall stack and winter swing card

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The oncoming chiller slate: continuations, Originals, as well as A stacked Calendar Built For nightmares

Dek The arriving terror year clusters in short order with a January crush, from there extends through summer corridors, and well into the December corridor, blending IP strength, untold stories, and data-minded offsets. Studios with streamers are leaning into cost discipline, exclusive theatrical windows first, and influencer-ready assets that frame genre titles into mainstream chatter.

Horror momentum into 2026

Horror filmmaking has shown itself to be the predictable release in release strategies, a genre that can grow when it resonates and still protect the exposure when it underperforms. After 2023 reassured leaders that responsibly budgeted scare machines can shape the national conversation, the following year continued the surge with high-profile filmmaker pieces and sleeper breakouts. The trend translated to the 2025 frame, where resurrections and critical darlings demonstrated there is a lane for a spectrum, from continued chapters to one-and-done originals that export nicely. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a calendar that feels more orchestrated than usual across companies, with strategic blocks, a harmony of recognizable IP and first-time concepts, and a sharpened commitment on exclusive windows that enhance post-theatrical value on paid VOD and home platforms.

Schedulers say the horror lane now works like a versatile piece on the release plan. Horror can bow on virtually any date, deliver a clear pitch for previews and short-form placements, and over-index with demo groups that lean in on opening previews and sustain through the second frame if the feature satisfies. After a production delay era, the 2026 setup exhibits conviction in that equation. The year gets underway with a stacked January stretch, then leans on spring and early summer for audience offsets, while making space for a late-year stretch that extends to Halloween and into post-Halloween. The layout also shows the greater integration of specialty distributors and digital platforms that can develop over weeks, build word of mouth, and expand at the precise moment.

A reinforcing pattern is brand strategy across connected story worlds and long-running brands. Major shops are not just producing another installment. They are seeking to position story carry-over with a must-see charge, whether that is a title design that telegraphs a tonal shift or a cast configuration that threads a next entry to a initial period. At the in tandem, the visionaries behind the high-profile originals are prioritizing on-set craft, physical gags and specific settings. That fusion provides 2026 a confident blend of home base and discovery, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

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

Paramount marks the early tempo with two headline pushes that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, signaling it as both a passing of the torch and a back-to-basics character-centered film. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the artistic posture telegraphs a heritage-honoring strategy without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign built on legacy iconography, character previews, and a promo sequence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will spotlight. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will seek broad awareness through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format enabling quick reframes to whatever defines the discourse that spring.

Universal has three specific bets. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is simple, heartbroken, and premise-first: a grieving man installs an digital partner that becomes a harmful mate. The date places it at the front of a stacked January, with the marketing arm likely to bring back odd public stunts and brief clips that hybridizes love and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a final title to become an fan moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele’s releases are sold as event films, with a minimalist tease and a follow-up trailer set that shape mood without giving away the concept. The late-month date gives the studio room to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use 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 leads, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has made clear that a tactile, makeup-driven mix can feel cinematic on a mid-range budget. Look for a splatter summer horror shock that centers foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio rolls out two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, carrying a consistent supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch builds quietly. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is positioning as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both devotees and novices. The fall slot affords Sony time to build marketing units around mythos, and practical creature work, elements that can lift format premiums and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes 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 rooted in historical precision and historical speech, this time orbiting lycan myth. The company has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is glowing.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on tested paths. The Universal horror run land on copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a ladder that fortifies both week-one demand and sub weblink growth in the later window. Prime Video will mix catalogue additions with cross-border buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library pulls, using well-timed internal promotions, seasonal hubs, and curated rows to prolong the run on aggregate take. Netflix keeps flexible about first-party entries and festival wins, dating horror entries near their drops and coalescing around drops with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a staged of selective theatrical runs and swift platform pivots that turns chatter to conversion. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a selective basis. The platform has signaled readiness to invest in select projects with established auteurs or star packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly engagement when the genre conversation heats up.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 arc with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is clear: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, upgraded for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the fall weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, guiding the film through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday corridor to widen. That positioning has served the company well for arthouse horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception allows. Plan 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 jointly, using targeted theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Brands and originals

By number, 2026 favors the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage legacy awareness. The concern, as ever, is brand wear. The workable fix is to market each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is elevating character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is floating a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-tinted vision from a ascendant talent. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the cast-creatives package is recognizable enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Past-three-year patterns clarify the model. In 2023, a exclusive window model that kept streaming intact did not deter a day-date try from performing when the brand was strong. In 2024, art-forward horror exceeded expectations in PLF. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga showed the market 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 presses 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 lensed sequentially, provides the means for marketing to interlace chapters through character web and themes and to leave creative active without dead zones.

Craft and creative trends

The filmmaking conversations behind this year’s genre foreshadow a continued move toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that foregrounds grain and menace rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in deep-dive features and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a preview that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and earns shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta refresh that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on monster aesthetics and world-building, which work nicely for convention activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel primary. Look for trailers that emphasize fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that play in premium auditoriums.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is loaded. 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 brooding contrast amid macro-brand pushes. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the menu of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

Late Q1 and spring load in summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s 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 underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Late summer into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-October slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited teasers that stress concept over spoilers.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can win the holiday when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s digital partner mutates into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: mood-led 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 hard-edged boss fight to survive on a cut-off island as the hierarchy flips and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to dread, anchored by Cronin’s tactile craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting setup that interrogates the dread of a child’s inconsistent read. Rating: pending. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-built and toplined supernatural suspense.

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 satirical comeback that skewers contemporary horror memes and true crime fascinations. Rating: to be announced. Production: cameras due to roll 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 ignites, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a another family snared by past horrors. Rating: TBD. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on classic survival-horror tone over action spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: TBA. Production: ongoing. 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 historical diction and primal menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why this year, why now

Three workable forces drive this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or re-slotted in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and pared-down timelines. 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 surpassed straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest meme-ready beats from test screenings, managed scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can seize a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will compete across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where disciplined-budget news 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a buffet, 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 gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, sound, and imagery 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

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is recognizable IP where it plays, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the gasps sell the seats.