Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens primeval malevolence, a bone chilling horror feature, bowing October 2025 on global platforms

A terrifying spiritual suspense film from narrative craftsman / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an long-buried evil when drifters become victims in a fiendish struggle. Going live this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking journey of resistance and ancient evil that will revolutionize fear-driven cinema this cool-weather season. Created by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and cinematic motion picture follows five individuals who wake up sealed in a far-off cottage under the oppressive control of Kyra, a tormented girl occupied by a biblical-era Old Testament spirit. Steel yourself to be captivated by a screen-based display that blends soul-chilling terror with folklore, hitting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a time-honored narrative in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is challenged when the demons no longer develop from beyond, but rather inside them. This mirrors the grimmest dimension of every character. The result is a bone-chilling moral showdown where the story becomes a intense contest between innocence and sin.


In a haunting backcountry, five souls find themselves caught under the fiendish effect and control of a shadowy character. As the cast becomes submissive to evade her manipulation, marooned and stalked by beings ungraspable, they are pushed to encounter their emotional phantoms while the deathwatch brutally winds toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension swells and ties implode, pushing each individual to contemplate their core and the structure of personal agency itself. The threat mount with every minute, delivering a paranormal ride that merges spiritual fright with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to dig into primitive panic, an malevolence beyond time, embedding itself in our fears, and exposing a entity that challenges autonomy when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra meant evoking something darker than pain. She is unseeing until the invasion happens, and that transformation is harrowing because it is so internal.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for horror fans beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—providing users around the globe can witness this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its initial teaser, which has garnered over notable views.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, spreading the horror to global fright lovers.


Experience this haunted journey into fear. Experience *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to see these nightmarish insights about mankind.


For exclusive trailers, on-set glimpses, and reveals from the creators, follow @YACMovie across platforms and visit our horror hub.





Modern horror’s Turning Point: calendar year 2025 U.S. calendar fuses legend-infused possession, Indie Shockers, alongside series shake-ups

Beginning with last-stand terror saturated with scriptural legend and including legacy revivals set beside focused festival visions, 2025 stands to become the most dimensioned together with intentionally scheduled year since the mid-2010s.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. top-tier distributors bookend the months with familiar IP, concurrently subscription platforms front-load the fall with discovery plays paired with ancient terrors. In the indie lane, the artisan tier is riding the backdraft of 2024’s record festival wave. With Halloween holding the peak, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, and now, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are surgical, therefore 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The top end is active. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s slate lights the fuse with an audacious swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Steered by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. targeting mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Under Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer winds down, Warner’s pipeline delivers the closing chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re engages, and the memorable motifs return: old school creep, trauma as text, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This pass pushes higher, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, grows the animatronic horror lineup, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It books December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Offerings: Tight funds, wide impact

While the big screen favors titles you know, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a room scale body horror descent starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable starring Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. 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.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is a clever angle. No bloated canon. No franchise baggage. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Legacy IP: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. 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.

Trend Lines

Mythic currents go mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror reemerges
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Outlook: Fall saturation and a winter joker

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The upcoming genre calendar year ahead: brand plays, non-franchise titles, and also A Crowded Calendar tailored for chills

Dek The upcoming horror cycle lines up immediately with a January pile-up, thereafter extends through the mid-year, and continuing into the year-end corridor, fusing name recognition, fresh ideas, and tactical counterplay. The major players are doubling down on tight budgets, box-office-first windows, and viral-minded pushes that elevate these offerings into broad-appeal conversations.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror has become the bankable move in studio lineups, a genre that can grow when it performs and still cushion the exposure when it falls short. After the 2023 year demonstrated to buyers that efficiently budgeted fright engines can own cultural conversation, the following year kept the drumbeat going with auteur-driven buzzy films and unexpected risers. The upswing carried into 2025, where returns and critical darlings confirmed there is room for different modes, from returning installments to one-and-done originals that scale internationally. The aggregate for 2026 is a grid that presents tight coordination across the field, with planned clusters, a mix of legacy names and new concepts, and a renewed attention on box-office windows that enhance post-theatrical value on paid VOD and subscription services.

Planners observe the space now serves as a flex slot on the grid. The genre can open on virtually any date, offer a clean hook for previews and TikTok spots, and outpace with moviegoers that respond on first-look nights and hold through the second frame if the feature connects. Emerging from a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 mapping exhibits conviction in that logic. The slate commences with a stacked January block, then taps spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while holding room for a late-year stretch that carries into spooky season and into November. The schedule also highlights the continuing integration of specialty arms and streaming partners that can platform and widen, build word of mouth, and widen at the optimal moment.

A notable top-line trend is IP stewardship across shared IP webs and classic IP. Studios are not just making another sequel. They are trying to present ongoing narrative with a heightened moment, whether that is a title treatment that conveys a refreshed voice or a lead change that anchors a new entry to a foundational era. At the concurrently, the creative teams behind the headline-grabbing originals are leaning into real-world builds, makeup and prosthetics and place-driven backdrops. That convergence hands 2026 a healthy mix of known notes and novelty, which is why the genre exports well.

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

Paramount defines the early cadence with two headline projects that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the focus, steering it as both a passing of the torch and a back-to-basics relationship-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the directional approach indicates a fan-service aware campaign without going over the last two entries’ family thread. Look for a marketing run centered on classic imagery, character previews, and a trailer cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is cinema-first horror via Paramount.

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 joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will play up. As a summer alternative, this one will generate four-quadrant chatter through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick pivots to whatever drives genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three discrete projects. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is clean, somber, and logline-clear: a grieving man activates an virtual partner that evolves into a fatal companion. The date puts it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s promo team likely to reprise off-kilter promo beats and brief clips that interweaves romance and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under temporary titles 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 proper title to become an fan moment closer to the debut look. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele’s releases are branded as director events, with a teaser that holds back and a subsequent trailers that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween runway offers Universal room to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has established that a in-your-face, hands-on effects approach can feel big on a efficient spend. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror blast that centers foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio books two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, carrying a steady supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is marketing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both franchise faithful and novices. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build promo materials around narrative world, and monster aesthetics, elements that can increase premium screens and community activity.

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 follows Eggers’ run of period horror centered on rigorous craft and dialect, this time exploring werewolf lore. The distributor has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is positive.

How the platforms plan to play it

Digital strategies for 2026 run on tested paths. The Universal horror run head to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a ordering that boosts both first-week urgency and trial spikes in the tail. Prime Video will mix licensed titles with world buys and short theatrical plays when the data backs it. Max and Hulu work their edges in archive usage, using well-timed internal promotions, horror hubs, and curated strips to stretch the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps optionality about originals and festival acquisitions, timing horror entries closer to launch and elevating as drops go-lives with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a one-two of tailored theatrical exposure and rapid platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has shown appetite to take on select projects with award winners or headline-cast packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly engagement when the genre conversation swells.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 track with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is clean: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, elevated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has suggested a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an promising marker for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the late-season weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday slot to expand. That positioning has proved effective for director-led genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception warrants. Anticipate 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 partners, using limited runs to kindle evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Franchises versus originals

By share, the 2026 slate favors the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap household recognition. The challenge, as ever, is audience fatigue. The practical approach is to package each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is foregrounding character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a European tilt from a new voice. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and auteur plays supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the configuration is assuring enough to build pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Three-year comps make sense of the model. In 2023, a exclusive window model that held distribution windows did not block a day-date try from succeeding when the brand was compelling. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror punched above its weight in premium large format. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel new when they reorient and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters shot consecutively, allows marketing to link the films through cast and motif and to maintain a flow of assets without hiatuses.

How the films are being made

The craft rooms behind these films point to a continued move toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that underscores texture and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in trade spotlights and technical spotlights before rolling out a teaser that withholds plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and creates shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta recalibration that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature design and production design, which match well with expo activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that underscore fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that sing on PLF.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is loaded. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid heavier IP. The month check over here ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the spread of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth carries.

Post-January through spring tee up summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now enables 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 clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

August and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a bridge slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited previews that elevate concept over story.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift card usage.

One-sentence dossiers

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s AI companion turns into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot 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 comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. 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 struggle to survive on a lonely island as the chain of command reverses and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

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 renewed take that returns the monster to dread, grounded in Cronin’s practical craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting tale that mediates the fear via a youth’s shifting subjective lens. Rating: pending. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A spoof revival that satirizes present-day genre chatter and true crime fascinations. Rating: TBD. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites spreads, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a fresh family lashed to returning horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival-driven horror over action fireworks. Rating: TBA. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: pending. Production: active. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

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-precise speech and elemental menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three More about the author grounded forces inform this lineup. First, production that downshifted or re-sequenced in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic 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 placements. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on shareable moments from test screenings, metered scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

The slot calculus is real. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will line up across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where lower and mid-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 leverage those opportunities. 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 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit 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 somber, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, lean footprints, 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 materiality, sonics, 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.

2026, Ready To Roar

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is IP strength where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the shudders sell the seats.