Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up primordial evil, a nerve shredding chiller, premiering Oct 2025 on major streaming services

An blood-curdling ghostly thriller from author / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an primeval curse when newcomers become tokens in a supernatural ceremony. Airings begin on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful account of resistance and prehistoric entity that will alter horror this scare season. Helmed by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and claustrophobic motion picture follows five teens who come to isolated in a unreachable lodge under the oppressive dominion of Kyra, a female presence overtaken by a prehistoric ancient fiend. Ready yourself to be ensnared by a big screen adventure that melds primitive horror with legendary tales, dropping on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a mainstay pillar in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is challenged when the beings no longer arise externally, but rather within themselves. This marks the deepest aspect of the protagonists. The result is a enthralling emotional conflict where the drama becomes a perpetual fight between good and evil.


In a wilderness-stricken terrain, five souls find themselves cornered under the dark control and curse of a haunted spirit. As the characters becomes unable to fight her manipulation, cut off and hunted by entities beyond comprehension, they are obligated to confront their inner demons while the final hour coldly pushes forward toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety rises and ties disintegrate, pressuring each survivor to evaluate their self and the idea of personal agency itself. The pressure magnify with every breath, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that weaves together supernatural terror with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to dig into raw dread, an force born of forgotten ages, manipulating inner turmoil, and exposing a evil that strips down our being when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra demanded embodying something more primal than sorrow. She is uninformed until the curse activates, and that transformation is shocking because it is so close.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for audience access beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing subscribers everywhere can enjoy this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its release of trailer #1, which has collected over notable views.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, presenting the nightmare to fans of fear everywhere.


Make sure to see this mind-warping exploration of dread. Enter *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to explore these unholy truths about the mind.


For teasers, director cuts, and press updates directly from production, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across platforms and visit the movie’s homepage.





Today’s horror decisive shift: 2025 in focus domestic schedule interlaces biblical-possession ideas, art-house nightmares, plus franchise surges

Moving from life-or-death fear saturated with mythic scripture through to franchise returns and pointed art-house angles, 2025 looks like the most stratified along with calculated campaign year in ten years.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. Major studios stabilize the year with known properties, concurrently streaming platforms saturate the fall with new voices as well as legend-coded dread. On the independent axis, festival-forward creators is buoyed by the afterglow from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Since Halloween is the prized date, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, however this time, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are disciplined, as a result 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige fear returns

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s distribution arm leads off the quarter with a big gambit: a refreshed Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, instead in a current-day frame. Directed by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. timed for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Steered by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

When summer fades, Warner’s schedule launches the swan song from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. While the template is known, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: nostalgic menace, trauma as narrative engine, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This run ups the stakes, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, builds out the animatronic fear crew, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It hits in December, cornering year end horror.

Streamer Exclusives: No Budget, No Problem

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Guided 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 should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a close quarters body horror study led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, 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. Even without a formal platform date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable starring Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped 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 overstuffed canon. No brand fatigue. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

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

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

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, with Francis Lawrence directing, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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

Signals and Trends

Mythic lanes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror swings back
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Laurels convert to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Near Term Outlook: Fall stack and winter swing card

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The forthcoming 2026 fright cycle: entries, universe starters, as well as A stacked Calendar engineered for goosebumps

Dek The current genre calendar crams from the jump with a January traffic jam, then carries through the summer months, and running into the year-end corridor, blending franchise firepower, creative pitches, and savvy release strategy. Distributors with platforms are committing to right-sized spends, cinema-first plans, and platform-native promos that frame horror entries into mainstream chatter.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

This space has emerged as the sturdy move in annual schedules, a lane that can accelerate when it connects and still buffer the floor when it underperforms. After 2023 reminded top brass that low-to-mid budget shockers can steer audience talk, the following year extended the rally with signature-voice projects and quiet over-performers. The trend moved into the 2025 frame, where revivals and filmmaker-prestige bets proved there is a lane for many shades, from brand follow-ups to original one-offs that play globally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a programming that presents tight coordination across the field, with clear date clusters, a combination of established brands and fresh ideas, and a re-energized strategy on cinema windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium on-demand and OTT platforms.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now acts as a flex slot on the grid. The genre can premiere on open real estate, generate a grabby hook for spots and reels, and over-index with audiences that lean in on Thursday nights and maintain momentum through the week two if the release connects. Emerging from a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 configuration reflects certainty in that approach. The year rolls out with a crowded January lineup, then targets spring into early summer for contrast, while leaving room for a September to October window that reaches into late October and past the holiday. The arrangement also includes the greater integration of specialized labels and OTT outlets that can nurture a platform play, build word of mouth, and broaden at the proper time.

A notable top-line trend is brand curation across shared IP webs and legacy franchises. Studio teams are not just releasing another return. They are shaping as lore continuity with a occasion, whether that is a art treatment that announces a recalibrated tone or a casting choice that reconnects a new entry to a foundational era. At the same time, the writer-directors behind the most anticipated originals are celebrating in-camera technique, on-set effects and location-forward worlds. That interplay delivers the 2026 slate a robust balance of known notes and novelty, which is why the genre exports well.

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

Paramount opens strong with two prominent releases that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the front, setting it up as both a handoff and a foundation-forward relationship-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the story approach indicates a fan-service aware strategy without replaying the last two entries’ sisters thread. Watch for a push rooted in signature symbols, character previews, and a rollout cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

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 reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will lean on. As a summer alternative, this one will drive wide appeal through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick turns to whatever owns horror talk that spring.

Universal has three clear lanes. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is straightforward, soulful, and high-concept: a grieving man adopts an synthetic partner that unfolds into a murderous partner. The date nudges it to the front of a competition-heavy month, with the studio’s marketing likely to recreate creepy live activations and short reels that hybridizes love and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a official title to become an PR pop closer to the initial promo. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. His projects are sold as filmmaker events, with a opaque teaser and a second beat that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date allows Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press 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 at the center. The franchise has proven that a blood-soaked, practical-effects forward mix can feel prestige on a middle budget. Frame it as a grime-caked summer horror blast that leans into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio books two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, preserving a steady supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is selling as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both loyalists and casuals. The fall slot hands Sony window to build campaign creative around universe detail, and monster design, elements that can fuel premium format interest and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by obsessive craft and period speech, this time orbiting lycan myth. The company has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is positive.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform plans for 2026 run on well-known grooves. The Universal horror run shift to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a sequence that boosts both week-one demand and sign-up momentum in the late-window. Prime Video interleaves third-party pickups with global pickups and targeted theatrical runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library curation, using prominent placements, holiday hubs, and featured rows to sustain interest on the horror cume. Netflix retains agility about internal projects and festival snaps, confirming horror entries with shorter lead times and framing as events arrivals with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a paired of tailored theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that translates talk to trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a discrete basis. The platform has indicated interest to buy select projects with award winners or A-list packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for monthly activity when the genre conversation ramps.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 track with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is clean: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, retooled for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is navigate here expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late stretch.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, curating the rollout through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the Christmas corridor to widen. That positioning has paid off for prestige horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception encourages. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using targeted theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By volume, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use name recognition. The concern, as ever, is overexposure. The go-to fix is to present each entry as a new angle. Paramount is foregrounding character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French sensibility from a fresh helmer. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and talent-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the deal build is steady enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Rolling three-year comps announce the playbook. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that kept streaming intact did not stop a hybrid test from succeeding when the brand was potent. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror popped in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they change perspective and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, enables marketing to relate entries through character and theme and to maintain a flow of assets without hiatuses.

Behind-the-camera trends

The craft conversations behind this slate indicate a continued lean toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that elevates aura and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and era-true language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft coverage before rolling out a preview that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and sparks shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta inflection that centers an original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature and environment design, which work nicely for convention floor stunts and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel primary. Look for trailers that elevate precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that benefit on big speakers.

How the year maps out

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 somber counterpoint amid big-brand pushes. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the variety of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth sustains.

Post-January through spring tee up summer. Scream 7 opens February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into 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 playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Late summer 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 steps in after September 18, a early fall window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a peekaboo tease plan and limited pre-release reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and card redemption.

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 challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s essence. 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 widowed man’s machine mate becomes something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete 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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: aura-driven 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 demanding boss try to survive on a remote island as the power balance of power inverts and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to fright, anchored by Cronin’s material craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 domestic haunting story that routes the horror through a young child’s unreliable POV. Rating: not yet rated. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A comic send-up that targets hot-button genre motifs and true-crime obsessions. Rating: not yet rated. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 surges, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on location 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: TBD. Logline: The Further opens again, with a unlucky family lashed to returning horrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A reboot designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-driven horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: pending. Production: active. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 raw menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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

Why the moment is 2026

Three nuts-and-bolts forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that paused or recalendared in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly 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 drops. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work clippable moments from test screenings, select scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can control a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will share space across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, 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 sleeper chase 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 use those gaps. 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. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, efficient screen counts, 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 grain, sonics, and picture that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Shapes Up Strong

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is IP strength where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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, deliver taut trailers, hold the mystery, and let the frights sell the seats.