Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed reignites age-old dread, a fear soaked thriller, debuting Oct 2025 on major streaming services

A haunting paranormal horror tale from screenwriter / director Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an forgotten horror when passersby become vehicles in a malevolent ordeal. Streaming on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking chronicle of overcoming and old world terror that will revolutionize genre cinema this cool-weather season. Created by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and claustrophobic fearfest follows five strangers who suddenly rise trapped in a remote cabin under the ominous will of Kyra, a haunted figure claimed by a time-worn sacred-era entity. Ready yourself to be enthralled by a motion picture journey that fuses raw fear with legendary tales, hitting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a well-established concept in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is flipped when the forces no longer develop beyond the self, but rather deep within. This embodies the most hidden side of all involved. The result is a emotionally raw emotional conflict where the emotions becomes a relentless face-off between moral forces.


In a wilderness-stricken woodland, five teens find themselves sealed under the fiendish force and infestation of a elusive apparition. As the companions becomes powerless to resist her will, left alone and tracked by entities indescribable, they are forced to endure their greatest panics while the doomsday meter relentlessly moves toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion escalates and relationships erode, coercing each character to question their being and the nature of liberty itself. The danger mount with every minute, delivering a paranormal ride that combines mystical fear with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to explore raw dread, an force beyond recorded history, feeding on soul-level flaws, and wrestling with a force that tests the soul when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra involved tapping into something past sanity. She is unaware until the curse activates, and that transformation is haunting because it is so personal.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for home viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—so that horror lovers globally can be part of this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its first trailer, which has received over six-figure audience.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, extending the thrill to scare fans abroad.


Witness this bone-rattling ride through nightmares. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to uncover these dark realities about mankind.


For teasers, filmmaker commentary, and alerts directly from production, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across media channels and visit the film’s website.





American horror’s Turning Point: the 2025 cycle U.S. Slate braids together ancient-possession motifs, microbudget gut-punches, and IP aftershocks

Across last-stand terror infused with legendary theology through to brand-name continuations paired with acutely observed indies, 2025 looks like the genre’s most multifaceted and tactically planned year for the modern era.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. the big studios lay down anchors with known properties, simultaneously OTT services load up the fall with emerging auteurs and mythic dread. In the indie lane, indie storytellers is propelled by the momentum of 2024’s record festival wave. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, distinctly in 2025, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are intentional, thus 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: High-craft horror returns

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s schedule begins the calendar with a bold swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, but a sharp contemporary setting. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. arriving mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. From director Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

As summer winds down, the Warner lot bows the concluding entry from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson returns, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: old school creep, trauma as narrative engine, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This time, the stakes are raised, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The follow up digs further into canon, broadens the animatronic terror cast, speaking to teens and older millennials. It lands in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streamer Exclusives: No Budget, No Problem

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a two hander body horror spiral featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale starring Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Conceived and directed by 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. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is a smart play. No bloated canon. No canon weight. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

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.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Series Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. 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, led by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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 currents go mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror swings back
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

The Road Ahead: 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 have to fight for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The upcoming scare Year Ahead: entries, filmmaker-first projects, And A loaded Calendar geared toward goosebumps

Dek: The brand-new horror season lines up from the jump with a January pile-up, subsequently stretches through the warm months, and carrying into the holidays, combining legacy muscle, original angles, and data-minded counterweight. The major players are doubling down on mid-range economics, exclusive theatrical windows first, and social-driven marketing that pivot these films into water-cooler talk.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The horror sector has emerged as the bankable counterweight in studio lineups, a segment that can spike when it clicks and still mitigate the drawdown when it does not. After the 2023 year reminded studio brass that mid-range shockers can command pop culture, 2024 maintained heat with festival-darling auteurs and word-of-mouth wins. The carry flowed into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and premium-leaning entries confirmed there is capacity for multiple flavors, from ongoing IP entries to standalone ideas that travel well. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a programming that appears tightly organized across companies, with intentional bunching, a spread of brand names and first-time concepts, and a renewed stance on theatrical windows that power the aftermarket on PVOD and platforms.

Marketers add the category now functions as a schedule utility on the rollout map. The genre can roll out on open real estate, yield a clean hook for spots and social clips, and over-index with fans that arrive on Thursday nights and stick through the second frame if the offering hits. On the heels of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 plan signals faith in that model. The calendar commences with a weighty January window, then targets spring into early summer for genre counterpoints, while saving space for a autumn push that connects to late October and past Halloween. The gridline also features the continuing integration of boutique distributors and platforms that can platform and widen, create conversation, and move wide at the precise moment.

A companion trend is IP cultivation across ongoing universes and classic IP. The studios are not just releasing another next film. They are looking to package lineage with a sense of event, whether that is a typeface approach that suggests a re-angled tone or a lead change that ties a upcoming film to a foundational era. At the concurrently, the directors behind the high-profile originals are doubling down on in-camera technique, in-camera effects and site-specific worlds. That interplay hands 2026 a lively combination of known notes and invention, which is the formula for international play.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount sets the tone early with two headline plays that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the lead, signaling it as both a baton pass and a DNA-forward character study. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the artistic posture announces a classic-referencing campaign without retreading the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. The studio is likely to mount a drive fueled by legacy iconography, initial cast looks, and a two-beat trailer plan hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will foreground. As a summer counter-slot, this one will pursue broad awareness through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format fitting quick adjustments to whatever defines pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three unique plays. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is straightforward, melancholic, and premise-first: a grieving man adopts an intelligent companion that grows into a harmful mate. The date sets it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s promo team likely to bring back strange in-person beats and short-cut promos that melds affection and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a public title to become an attention spike closer to the opening teaser. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele projects are sold as filmmaker events, with a hinting teaser and a later creative that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date creates space for Universal to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has consistently shown that a gritty, on-set effects led execution can feel cinematic on a mid-range budget. Expect a viscera-heavy summer horror charge that spotlights overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio rolls out two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, preserving a reliable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is positioning as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both diehards and first-timers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build campaign pieces around narrative world, and monster aesthetics, elements that can stoke format premiums and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror built on immersive craft and historical speech, this time set against lycan click site legends. The imprint has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is positive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Windowing plans in 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s slate flow to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a structure that optimizes both first-week urgency and platform bumps in the later phase. Prime Video stitches together catalogue additions with worldwide buys and limited cinema engagements when the data points to it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in archive usage, using timely promos, genre hubs, and programmed rows to extend momentum on 2026 genre cume. Netflix retains agility about original films and festival grabs, dating horror entries near their drops and positioning as event drops launches with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a tiered of selective theatrical runs and short jumps to platform that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has indicated interest to secure select projects with top-tier auteurs or star-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for monthly activity when the genre conversation spikes.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 corridor with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is simple: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, upgraded for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has indicated a traditional cinema play for the title, an good sign for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the late stretch.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then using the holiday dates to expand. That positioning has delivered for elevated genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception supports. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using limited theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By count, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness household recognition. The challenge, as ever, is fatigue. The standing approach is to sell each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is underscoring core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French-accented approach from a ascendant talent. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the assembly is recognizable enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and preview-night crowds.

Comparable trends from recent years announce the model. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that maintained windows did not stop a day-and-date experiment from performing when the brand was powerful. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror popped in PLF. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they change perspective and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries weblink on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, creates space for marketing to link the films through cast and motif and to hold creative in the market without pause points.

Behind-the-camera trends

The director conversations behind the year’s horror hint at a continued turn toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that spotlights aura and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft coverage before rolling out a mood teaser that leans on mood over plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and generates shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta recalibration that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature craft and set design, which play well in booth activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel compelling. Look for trailers that highlight fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that benefit on big speakers.

Month-by-month map

January is stacked. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid headline IP. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the spread of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth endures.

Pre-summer months prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Shoulder season into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a shoulder season window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a tease-and-hold strategy and limited pre-release reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and holiday card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s intelligent companion shifts into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

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

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her difficult boss work to survive on a isolated island as the control balance flips and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 under wraps in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to terror, grounded in Cronin’s physical craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. 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 residential haunting chiller that explores the horror of a child’s inconsistent perspective. Rating: rating pending. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that needles today’s horror trends and true crime fascinations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 bursts, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a another family tethered to past horrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A reboot designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for true survival horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: TBD. Production: ongoing. 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 ancient menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a big-screen run before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three workable forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that eased or migrated in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on repeatable beats from test screenings, precision scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

The slot calculus is real. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will stack across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 dark-horse hunt 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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, sound field, and camera work that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand heft where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, keep secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.