Age-old Evil returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising horror feature, landing Oct 2025 across major platforms

A frightening supernatural fear-driven tale from screenwriter / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an primordial malevolence when newcomers become puppets in a devilish game. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a intense journey of endurance and age-old darkness that will revolutionize terror storytelling this ghoul season. Produced by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and claustrophobic feature follows five teens who emerge stranded in a remote lodge under the menacing control of Kyra, a troubled woman dominated by a time-worn Old Testament spirit. Arm yourself to be seized by a audio-visual ride that combines bone-deep fear with spiritual backstory, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a well-established pillar in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is twisted when the fiends no longer originate from a different plane, but rather inside them. This marks the most sinister layer of the group. The result is a edge-of-seat identity crisis where the suspense becomes a constant face-off between good and evil.


In a remote wilderness, five individuals find themselves confined under the dark dominion and possession of a mysterious apparition. As the group becomes powerless to oppose her power, stranded and followed by terrors beyond comprehension, they are compelled to stand before their emotional phantoms while the timeline without pause moves toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia mounts and alliances dissolve, pressuring each soul to challenge their personhood and the idea of free will itself. The hazard surge with every breath, delivering a chilling narrative that blends spiritual fright with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to draw upon pure dread, an darkness that existed before mankind, manipulating human fragility, and confronting a force that strips down our being when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra needed manifesting something beneath mortal despair. She is innocent until the invasion happens, and that metamorphosis is harrowing because it is so deep.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be available for audiences beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—so that watchers in all regions can get immersed in this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its first preview, which has been viewed over massive response.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, making the film to viewers around the world.


Mark your calendar for this life-altering voyage through terror. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to dive into these ghostly lessons about free will.


For cast commentary, on-set glimpses, and reveals from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across fan hubs and visit the movie’s homepage.





Contemporary horror’s pivotal crossroads: 2025 U.S. Slate integrates myth-forward possession, Indie Shockers, alongside IP aftershocks

Kicking off with survival horror inspired by mythic scripture and extending to IP renewals and incisive indie visions, 2025 is coalescing into the most complex together with calculated campaign year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. leading studios hold down the year with known properties, in tandem SVOD players load up the fall with emerging auteurs alongside ancestral chills. Meanwhile, horror’s indie wing is catching the backdraft of 2024’s record festival wave. Since Halloween is the prized date, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, yet in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are targeted, and 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Premium genre swings back

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s distribution arm starts the year with a risk-forward move: a refreshed Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in an immediate now. Guided by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. dated for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Guided by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Initial heat flags it as potent.

When summer fades, Warner’s pipeline drops the final chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: 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 seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson re teams, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: 70s style chill, trauma as text, and a cold supernatural calculus. This time the stakes climb, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, stretches the animatronic parade, reaching teens and game grownups. It opens in December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Offerings: Tight funds, wide impact

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, an intimate body horror unraveling anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

In the mix sits Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative featuring Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

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 looks like sharp programming. No swollen lore. No continuity burden. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy IP: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

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

Ancient myth goes wide
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

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

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

The Road Ahead: Fall pileup, winter curveball

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 such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The coming 2026 fear slate: entries, non-franchise titles, And A Crowded Calendar geared toward chills

Dek The new horror slate stacks right away with a January bottleneck, following that stretches through the warm months, and far into the year-end corridor, blending brand heft, novel approaches, and well-timed counterweight. Studios and platforms are focusing on lean spends, big-screen-first runs, and shareable marketing that shape the slate’s entries into water-cooler talk.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The horror sector has grown into the predictable release in release plans, a lane that can grow when it lands and still mitigate the drawdown when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year signaled to strategy teams that modestly budgeted genre plays can dominate the zeitgeist, the following year extended the rally with filmmaker-forward plays and stealth successes. The tailwind flowed into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and arthouse crossovers underscored there is space for varied styles, from continued chapters to standalone ideas that export nicely. The sum for the 2026 slate is a calendar that shows rare alignment across distributors, with strategic blocks, a blend of recognizable IP and new pitches, and a reinvigorated focus on theater exclusivity that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium digital and OTT platforms.

Insiders argue the genre now works like a utility player on the slate. Horror can arrive on numerous frames, generate a clean hook for teasers and shorts, and punch above weight with fans that appear on early shows and hold through the week two if the title hits. On the heels of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 mapping signals certainty in that equation. The year rolls out with a crowded January block, then uses spring and early summer for alternate plays, while reserving space for a fall cadence that carries into the fright window and into early November. The layout also reflects the deeper integration of indie arms and home platforms that can platform and widen, ignite recommendations, and expand at the strategic time.

Another broad trend is brand strategy across interlocking continuities and legacy IP. The players are not just pushing another sequel. They are aiming to frame lore continuity with a specialness, whether that is a art treatment that announces a recalibrated tone or a casting choice that links a new installment to a heyday. At the alongside this, the auteurs behind the most watched originals are returning to material texture, practical gags and distinct locales. That combination gives 2026 a strong blend of comfort and unexpected turns, which is why the genre exports well.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount leads early with two high-profile titles that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the lead, positioning the film as both a succession moment and a origin-leaning character study. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the directional approach indicates a memory-charged campaign without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Plan for a rollout built on heritage visuals, intro reveals, and a trailer cadence targeting late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also reawakens 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 creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will emphasize. As a summer alternative, this one will build general-audience talk through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format permitting quick adjustments to whatever defines the social talk that spring.

Universal has three unique strategies. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is crisp, sorrow-tinged, and big-hook: a grieving man onboards an AI companion that turns into a dangerous lover. The date places it at the front of a heavy month, with marketing at Universal likely to bring back eerie street stunts and short-cut promos that threads love and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a title drop to become an marketing beat closer to the initial tease. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. His projects are branded as director events, with a teaser that reveals little and a next wave of trailers that signal tone without plot the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor 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, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has shown that a gritty, in-camera leaning mix can feel prestige on a lean spend. Frame it as a blood-soaked summer horror jolt that centers international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio deploys two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, maintaining a trusty supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has reshuffled 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 ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both devotees and first-timers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build assets around mythos, and practical creature work, elements that can drive deluxe auditorium demand and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in obsessive craft and dialect, this time horror orbiting lycan myth. The specialty arm has already booked the frame for a holiday release, my review here a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is glowing.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform plans for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal titles head to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a sequence that enhances both FOMO and sign-up momentum in the after-window. Prime Video combines licensed titles with global originals and targeted theatrical runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in library curation, using curated hubs, genre hubs, and staff picks to maximize the tail on the horror cume. Netflix plays opportunist about Netflix originals and festival grabs, timing horror entries closer to launch and elevating as drops premieres with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a one-two of limited theatrical footprints and swift platform pivots that turns chatter to conversion. That will be critical 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+ keeps selective horror on a curated basis. The platform has been willing to take on select projects with award winners or star packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for sustained usage when the genre conversation surges.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 lane with two franchise steps. 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 somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, reimagined for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an promising marker for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the back half.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday slot to increase reach. That positioning has helped for elevated genre with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception warrants. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using limited theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their user base.

Franchises versus originals

By skew, the 2026 slate leans toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness cultural cachet. The watch-out, as ever, is overexposure. The operating solution is to brand each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is elevating character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-inflected take from a ascendant talent. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles provide the air. 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 island survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the bundle is assuring enough to build pre-sales and early previews.

Three-year comps make sense of the logic. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that held distribution windows did not obstruct a parallel release from performing when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror punched above its weight in premium large format. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they alter lens and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters shot in tandem, lets marketing to connect the chapters through character arcs and themes and to keep assets alive without long gaps.

Craft and creative trends

The creative meetings behind the upcoming entries foreshadow a continued lean toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that leans on creep and texture rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in craft profiles and artisan spotlights before rolling out a preview that keeps plot minimal, a move that has delivered 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 earns shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta reframe that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will live or die on creature and environment design, which favor booth activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel primary. Look for trailers that emphasize fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that work in PLF.

Calendar cadence

January is busy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid heftier brand moves. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the mix of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth carries.

February through May load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Late summer into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited information drops that trade in concept over detail.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can win the holiday when packaged as auteur prestige 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 clicks critically, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card redemption.

One-sentence dossiers

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s artificial companion turns into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

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 confront a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 hard-edged boss push to survive on a uninhabited island as the control dynamic turns and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

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 from-today rework that returns the monster to fear, grounded in Cronin’s practical effects and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting scenario that mediates the fear via a child’s uncertain personal vantage. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that lampoons modern genre fads and true-crime obsessions. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 global twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further opens again, with a different family linked to returning horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A reboot designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in pure survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: closely held. Rating: not yet rated. Production: underway. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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 language and bone-deep menace. Rating: TBA. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. 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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three workable forces inform this lineup. First, production that downshifted or shuffled in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and leaner 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 exceeded straight-to-streaming drops. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, curated scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Calendar math also matters. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can control a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will trade weekends across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many have a peek at these guys far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The breakout hunt continues in Q1, where disciplined-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to work those windows. January could easily deliver the first unexpected 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.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates 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 chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, efficient placements, 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 tactility, 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

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand gravity where needed, new vision where it lands, 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, produce clean trailers, protect the mystery, and let the screams sell the seats.