Age-old Terror emerges: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding chiller, rolling out Oct 2025 on leading streamers

One frightening paranormal horror tale from writer / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an archaic terror when newcomers become proxies in a diabolical ritual. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing episode of struggle and ancient evil that will revolutionize genre cinema this cool-weather season. Helmed by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and tone-heavy thriller follows five characters who emerge locked in a hidden structure under the menacing grip of Kyra, a possessed female inhabited by a antiquated holy text monster. Arm yourself to be captivated by a big screen adventure that merges soul-chilling terror with folklore, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a legendary concept in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is twisted when the malevolences no longer originate from a different plane, but rather through their own souls. This mirrors the most hidden shade of each of them. The result is a riveting mind game where the story becomes a unyielding conflict between divinity and wickedness.


In a remote outland, five youths find themselves marooned under the fiendish force and possession of a enigmatic being. As the team becomes unable to evade her will, stranded and attacked by creatures mind-shattering, they are obligated to acknowledge their core terrors while the time coldly strikes toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion deepens and friendships erode, demanding each protagonist to contemplate their values and the idea of liberty itself. The tension escalate with every instant, delivering a fear-soaked story that intertwines ghostly evil with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to explore instinctual horror, an power from prehistory, channeling itself through our fears, and wrestling with a curse that threatens selfhood when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra meant evoking something beyond human emotion. She is clueless until the takeover begins, and that shift is eerie because it is so deep.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for horror fans beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing customers from coast to coast can enjoy this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its intro video, which has pulled in over six-figure audience.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, spreading the horror to global fright lovers.


Do not miss this gripping path of possession. Confront *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to confront these ghostly lessons about our species.


For previews, behind-the-scenes content, and reveals from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursed across your socials and visit the official digital haunt.





Horror’s sea change: 2025 across markets stateside slate blends Mythic Possession, festival-born jolts, together with franchise surges

Moving from life-or-death fear suffused with scriptural legend and including returning series set beside surgical indie voices, 2025 appears poised to be horror’s most layered in tandem with tactically planned year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. the big studios hold down the year with familiar IP, as streaming platforms prime the fall with emerging auteurs set against old-world menace. Meanwhile, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is riding the backdraft of a banner 2024 fest year. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, notably this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are precise, which means 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige terror resurfaces

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 set the base, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s slate sets the tone with a risk-forward move: a refreshed Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, instead in a current-day frame. Guided by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. targeting mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Helmed by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

By late summer, the Warner lot bows the concluding entry of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson again directs, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: 70s style chill, trauma as theme, and a cold supernatural calculus. This time, the stakes are raised, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, courting teens and the thirty something base. It arrives in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a sealed box body horror arc pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is destined for a fall landing.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is a smart play. No puffed out backstory. No series drag. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy Brands: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

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.

Trends Worth Watching

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Laurels convert to leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

The Road Ahead: Fall saturation and a winter joker

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

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

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



The oncoming fright cycle: next chapters, filmmaker-first projects, in tandem with A brimming Calendar optimized for nightmares

Dek The arriving scare slate loads from day one with a January logjam, then extends through summer, and deep into the winter holidays, combining series momentum, original angles, and well-timed alternatives. The major players are prioritizing responsible budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and viral-minded pushes that elevate genre releases into all-audience topics.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The horror sector has proven to be the consistent swing in studio slates, a category that can break out when it catches and still buffer the downside when it fails to connect. After 2023 signaled to greenlighters that lean-budget genre plays can steer pop culture, the following year continued the surge with high-profile filmmaker pieces and slow-burn breakouts. The carry fed into 2025, where revivals and critical darlings proved there is a lane for a variety of tones, from brand follow-ups to original features that scale internationally. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a slate that shows rare alignment across companies, with defined corridors, a blend of familiar brands and original hooks, and a refocused emphasis on exclusive windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium rental and OTT platforms.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now works like a flex slot on the slate. Horror can roll out on many corridors, offer a quick sell for teasers and shorts, and outperform with audiences that appear on advance nights and maintain momentum through the subsequent weekend if the title delivers. Exiting a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 setup exhibits confidence in that playbook. The slate rolls out with a thick January lineup, then plants flags in spring and early summer for audience offsets, while making space for a fall corridor that runs into Halloween and past the holiday. The calendar also includes the stronger partnership of arthouse labels and streaming partners that can platform and widen, fuel WOM, and grow at the proper time.

A second macro trend is legacy care across interlocking continuities and storied titles. Distribution groups are not just producing another installment. They are looking to package lore continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a title presentation that announces a tonal shift or a star attachment that links a incoming chapter to a foundational era. At the parallel to that, the auteurs behind the eagerly awaited originals are embracing on-set craft, practical gags and distinct locales. That alloy provides 2026 a confident blend of trust and discovery, which is why the genre exports well.

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

Paramount fires first with two big-ticket moves that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the core, positioning the film as both a succession moment and a classic-mode character-focused installment. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the creative posture hints at a fan-service aware mode without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Look for a marketing run driven by classic imagery, intro reveals, and a tease cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also brings back 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 hook the campaign will spotlight. As a summer counter-slot, this one will build general-audience talk through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format allowing quick pivots to whatever dominates genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three separate bets. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is crisp, tragic, and commercial: a grieving man installs an machine companion that escalates into a fatal companion. The date slots it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s team likely to revisit off-kilter promo beats and snackable content that melds companionship and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a proper title to become an fan moment closer to the initial promo. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. His entries are presented as creative events, with a concept-forward tease and a second wave of trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The pre-Halloween slot allows Universal to dominate 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, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has shown that a blood-soaked, on-set effects led method can feel premium on a lean spend. Position this as a hard-R summer horror jolt that spotlights overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio books two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, keeping a bankable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is billing as a clean-slate approach 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 well-defined brief to serve both players and curious audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build marketing units around canon, and practical creature work, elements that can accelerate premium screens and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions 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 built on immersive craft and language, this time exploring werewolf lore. The imprint has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is favorable.

Platform lanes and windowing

Digital strategies for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s slate head to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a sequence that fortifies both week-one demand and subscriber lifts in the later phase. Prime Video interleaves outside acquisitions with global originals and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data points to it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library engagement, using seasonal hubs, horror hubs, and curated strips to increase tail value on the horror cume. Netflix stays nimble about internal projects and festival pickups, dating horror entries closer to drop and framing as events premieres with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a one-two of limited theatrical footprints and short jumps to platform that translates talk to trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has indicated interest to acquire select projects with name filmmakers or marquee packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for monthly activity when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 slate with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is no-nonsense: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, refined for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a theatrical-first plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then relying on the Christmas window to open out. That positioning has served the company well for prestige horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception warrants. Expect 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 jointly, using limited runs to spark the evangelism that fuels their subs.

Legacy titles versus originals

By tilt, 2026 tilts in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit franchise value. The concern, as ever, is fatigue. The standing approach is to sell each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is spotlighting character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a Francophone tone from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the deal build is comforting enough to spark pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Rolling three-year comps contextualize the logic. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that kept streaming intact did not prevent a day-date move from performing when the brand was compelling. In 2024, precision craft horror exceeded expectations in premium large format. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel new when they angle differently and grow 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 dual-chapter plan, with chapters filmed in sequence, permits marketing to relate entries through protagonists and motifs and to keep assets in-market without lulls.

How the look and feel evolve

The director conversations behind these films signal a continued tilt toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that centers atmosphere and fear rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in long-lead press and department features before rolling out a atmospheric tease that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and drives shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta inflection that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature craft and set design, which match well with fan conventions and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel necessary. Young & Cursed Look for trailers that accent razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that work in PLF.

From winter to holidays

January is busy. Universal’s 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 finishes 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 menu of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

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

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers gnarly 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 rotated off PLF.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil follows September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a slow-reveal plan and limited previews that elevate concept over story.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can play the holidays when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card burn.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s machine mate escalates into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. 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 hard-edged boss claw to survive on a isolated island as the power balance of power upends and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to chill, shaped by Cronin’s practical craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting tale that mediates the fear via a preteen’s flickering inner lens. Rating: to be announced. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A comic send-up that riffs on in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fascinations. Rating: TBA. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 international twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new family bound to lingering terrors. Rating: TBD. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A new start designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in true survival horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: to be announced. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: purposely secretive. 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 time-true diction and elemental menace. Rating: pending. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. 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: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 lands now

Three grounded forces define this lineup. First, production that slowed or recalendared in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine shareable moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Calendar math also matters. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can capture a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will compete across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first surprise 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 have a peek at these guys 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. 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 hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, sound, and visual design that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Promising 2026

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is recognizable IP where it plays, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for 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-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, hold the mystery, and let the scares sell the seats.