Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primeval horror, a nerve shredding chiller, streaming October 2025 on major streaming services

An hair-raising supernatural scare-fest from storyteller / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an long-buried entity when foreigners become instruments in a fiendish maze. Available October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a intense episode of struggle and mythic evil that will remodel horror this October. Crafted by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and atmospheric story follows five figures who suddenly rise caught in a remote cottage under the malignant manipulation of Kyra, a female lead controlled by a time-worn sacrosanct terror. Anticipate to be captivated by a cinematic venture that integrates primitive horror with legendary tales, debuting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a historical concept in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is inverted when the presences no longer develop externally, but rather through their own souls. This portrays the most sinister facet of all involved. The result is a harrowing cognitive warzone where the tension becomes a soul-crushing tug-of-war between virtue and vice.


In a desolate terrain, five adults find themselves caught under the malevolent grip and possession of a secretive spirit. As the ensemble becomes incapacitated to resist her influence, detached and attacked by unknowns unfathomable, they are driven to endure their emotional phantoms while the seconds unceasingly runs out toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety builds and relationships dissolve, pushing each individual to challenge their self and the notion of free will itself. The cost intensify with every heartbeat, delivering a scare-fueled ride that connects paranormal dread with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to tap into deep fear, an presence born of forgotten ages, embedding itself in psychological breaks, and dealing with a curse that erodes the self when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra was about accessing something beyond human emotion. She is uninformed until the control shifts, and that metamorphosis is gut-wrenching because it is so close.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for home viewing beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing streamers from coast to coast can survive this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its original clip, which has earned over a viral response.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, presenting the nightmare to fans of fear everywhere.


Do not miss this gripping voyage through terror. Join *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to witness these chilling revelations about the psyche.


For sneak peeks, director cuts, and reveals from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across entertainment pages and visit the movie’s homepage.





Today’s horror pivotal crossroads: 2025 U.S. lineup integrates old-world possession, microbudget gut-punches, alongside Franchise Rumbles

Ranging from fight-to-live nightmare stories suffused with near-Eastern lore all the way to franchise returns plus cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is shaping up as the most variegated as well as tactically planned year since the mid-2010s.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. major banners stabilize the year with franchise anchors, simultaneously subscription platforms load up the fall with new perspectives plus scriptural shivers. On the independent axis, festival-forward creators is buoyed by the backdraft from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and now, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are calculated, which means 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige fear returns

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

Universal’s schedule sets the tone with a headline swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in a clear present-tense world. With Leigh Whannell at the helm with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. targeting mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Guided by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

At summer’s close, Warner Bros. Pictures sets loose the finale of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

After that, The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re teams, and the memorable motifs return: old school creep, trauma explicitly handled, and a cold supernatural calculus. The stakes escalate here, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The follow up digs further into canon, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, courting teens and the thirty something base. It bows in December, cornering year end horror.

Platform Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

As theatrical skews franchise first, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a sealed box body horror arc with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story with Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled 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 chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within 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 looks like sharp programming. No bloated mythology. No legacy baggage. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Series Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, with Francis Lawrence directing, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Trends to Watch

Mythic dread mainstreams
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

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

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Forecast: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The forthcoming 2026 spook cycle: entries, fresh concepts, in tandem with A packed Calendar Built For Scares

Dek The upcoming terror calendar crowds at the outset with a January crush, from there spreads through the summer months, and well into the December corridor, balancing brand heft, fresh ideas, and well-timed calendar placement. Studios with streamers are committing to smart costs, theater-first strategies, and short-form initiatives that convert these pictures into water-cooler talk.

How the genre looks for 2026

This space has emerged as the predictable release in programming grids, a corner that can spike when it clicks and still limit the drawdown when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year showed strategy teams that mid-range chillers can own cultural conversation, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with festival-darling auteurs and unexpected risers. The trend pushed into 2025, where re-entries and awards-minded projects made clear there is a lane for many shades, from sequel tracks to standalone ideas that export nicely. The result for the 2026 slate is a schedule that looks unusually coordinated across the field, with strategic blocks, a pairing of established brands and new packages, and a revived commitment on box-office windows that increase tail monetization on premium video on demand and SVOD.

Insiders argue the space now slots in as a plug-and-play option on the calendar. Horror can launch on most weekends, provide a grabby hook for trailers and shorts, and overperform with viewers that show up on opening previews and sustain through the second frame if the feature hits. Emerging from a production delay era, the 2026 setup indicates assurance in that dynamic. The calendar commences with a busy January stretch, then targets spring into early summer for audience offsets, while holding room for a autumn stretch that pushes into the Halloween frame and past the holiday. The calendar also illustrates the continuing integration of specialty arms and digital platforms that can build gradually, ignite recommendations, and move wide at the strategic time.

A notable top-line trend is brand strategy across shared universes and classic IP. Major shops are not just producing another follow-up. They are aiming to frame connection with a headline quality, whether that is a brandmark that conveys a fresh attitude or a ensemble decision that links a fresh chapter to a heyday. At the parallel to that, the writer-directors behind the headline-grabbing originals are leaning into real-world builds, on-set effects and place-driven backdrops. That interplay yields 2026 a confident blend of assurance and newness, which is how the genre sells abroad.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount marks the early tempo with two headline projects that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the core, setting it up as both a relay and a heritage-centered character-centered film. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the authorial approach points to a roots-evoking bent without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign built on franchise iconography, character spotlights, and a staggered trailer plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will lean on. As a summer relief option, this one will seek mass reach through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format inviting quick pivots to check over here whatever leads pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three specific bets. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is clean, loss-driven, and high-concept: a grieving man activates an synthetic partner that unfolds into a murderous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s campaign likely to revisit uncanny-valley stunts and micro spots that interlaces affection and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a proper title to become an headline beat closer to the debut look. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. His projects are marketed as signature events, with a teaser that reveals little and a subsequent trailers that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The Halloween runway offers Universal room to maximize 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, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has made clear that a visceral, in-camera leaning style can feel cinematic on a middle budget. Frame it as a blood-soaked summer horror jolt that maximizes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio deploys two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, preserving a news bankable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears 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 players and novices. The fall slot gives Sony time to build materials around narrative world, and monster aesthetics, elements that can amplify PLF interest and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in rigorous craft and period language, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is strong.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal titles land on copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a pacing that boosts both premiere heat and subscriber lifts in the back half. Prime Video continues to mix library titles with worldwide entries and targeted theatrical runs when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in library pulls, using prominent placements, spooky hubs, and handpicked rows to prolong the run on the horror cume. Netflix keeps flexible about in-house releases and festival pickups, slotting horror entries near launch and framing as events drops with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a one-two of selective theatrical runs and quick platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has been willing to acquire select projects with name filmmakers or A-list packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation surges.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 track with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is direct: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, refined for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a cinema-first plan for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the October weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then leveraging the Christmas corridor to broaden. That positioning has been successful for director-led genre 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 often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception merits. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using limited theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their audience.

Brands and originals

By share, 2026 leans toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage franchise value. The caveat, as ever, is diminishing returns. The practical approach is to frame each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is emphasizing character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is promising a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French sensibility from a buzzed-about director. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and filmmaker-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, casts Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the bundle is assuring enough to accelerate early sales and preview-night crowds.

Three-year comps make sense of the approach. In 2023, a theater-first model that kept clean windows did not hamper a day-date try from succeeding when the brand was powerful. In 2024, auteur craft horror exceeded expectations in premium large format. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they rotate perspective and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, enables marketing to relate entries through personae and themes and to keep assets alive without doldrums.

Creative tendencies and craft

The creative meetings behind the year’s horror signal a continued lean toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that leans on unease and texture rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft features before rolling out a tone piece that keeps plot minimal, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at practical nastiness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and creates shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta reframe that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster realization and design, which are ideal for convention activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel definitive. Look for trailers that highlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that sing on PLF.

The schedule at a glance

January is heavy. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid marquee brands. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the range of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

Post-January through spring prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can hit 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 cycled through PLF.

End of summer through fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited plot reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card burn.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks 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 heartbroken man’s machine mate turns into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography 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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: atmospheric game 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 scramble to survive on a isolated island as the pecking order reverses and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to horror, built on Cronin’s practical effects and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting tale that teases the horror of a child’s inconsistent perspective. Rating: not yet rated. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed and celebrity-led occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A send-up revival that teases hot-button genre motifs and true crime fervors. Rating: TBD. 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 spreads, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a new clan tethered to lingering terrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A fresh restart designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on true survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: closely held. Rating: to be announced. Production: ongoing. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on historical diction and raw menace. Rating: TBA. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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

Why this year, why now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces frame this lineup. First, production that downshifted or re-slotted in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and tighter 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 beaten straight-to-streaming releases. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify repeatable beats from test screenings, controlled scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Calendar math also matters. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will coexist across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other Source window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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 low-to-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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, 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 beat and breadth. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, 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 sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

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

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand power where it counts, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, protect the mystery, and let the scares sell the seats.