Age-old Horror Ascends in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling shocker, landing October 2025 across global platforms

A hair-raising mystic nightmare movie from cinematographer / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an prehistoric force when passersby become subjects in a malevolent ordeal. Hitting screens on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing portrayal of endurance and forgotten curse that will resculpt the fear genre this Halloween season. Directed by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and shadowy feature follows five lost souls who come to isolated in a off-grid hideaway under the ominous will of Kyra, a troubled woman claimed by a timeless religious nightmare. Brace yourself to be enthralled by a screen-based ride that unites bodily fright with arcane tradition, debuting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a recurring element in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is flipped when the beings no longer develop beyond the self, but rather from deep inside. This embodies the malevolent dimension of each of them. The result is a harrowing moral showdown where the narrative becomes a brutal clash between right and wrong.


In a abandoned landscape, five teens find themselves imprisoned under the fiendish influence and possession of a unidentified spirit. As the group becomes unresisting to resist her command, detached and tracked by powers mind-shattering, they are cornered to encounter their core terrors while the final hour without pity ticks onward toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion amplifies and connections break, urging each figure to rethink their being and the principle of decision-making itself. The intensity rise with every tick, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that merges ghostly evil with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to draw upon instinctual horror, an darkness beyond time, manipulating emotional vulnerability, and highlighting a being that strips down our being when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra was about accessing something rooted in terror. She is clueless until the takeover begins, and that turn is harrowing because it is so intimate.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be released for public screening beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—offering users from coast to coast can enjoy this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its release of trailer #1, which has collected over a viral response.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, delivering the story to scare fans abroad.


Be sure to catch this visceral ride through nightmares. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to dive into these evil-rooted truths about human nature.


For sneak peeks, director cuts, and updates from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across platforms and visit the official movie site.





Modern horror’s decisive shift: 2025 across markets U.S. release slate melds ancient-possession motifs, microbudget gut-punches, and Franchise Rumbles

Moving from grit-forward survival fare rooted in primordial scripture and onward to brand-name continuations alongside incisive indie visions, 2025 appears poised to be the most dimensioned combined with strategic year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. top-tier distributors hold down the year with franchise anchors, concurrently premium streamers load up the fall with first-wave breakthroughs plus scriptural shivers. On the festival side, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is riding the afterglow from a record 2024 festival run. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the other windows are mapped with care. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, but this year, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are surgical, which means 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

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

The top end is active. If 2024 set the base, 2025 presses the advantage.

the Universal camp leads off the quarter with a marquee bet: a contemporary Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, but a sharp contemporary setting. From director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. Booked into mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Directed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside 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. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

As summer eases, the WB camp releases the last chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Although the framework is familiar, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson returns, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: retrograde shiver, trauma as text, and eerie supernatural logic. The ante is higher this round, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The continuation widens the legend, grows the animatronic horror lineup, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It lands in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Platform Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a room scale body horror descent featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, 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. Absent a posted platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Next comes Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused 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.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is canny scheduling. No bloated mythology. No brand fatigue. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

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

Long Running Lines: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits 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.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Dials to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror resurges
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Forecast: 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 must fight for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The new fright slate: continuations, new stories, in tandem with A Crowded Calendar Built For nightmares

Dek The brand-new horror slate crowds right away with a January logjam, subsequently unfolds through summer corridors, and far into the holiday stretch, mixing legacy muscle, inventive spins, and tactical alternatives. Studio marketers and platforms are focusing on smart costs, theatrical exclusivity first, and influencer-ready assets that frame horror entries into cross-demo moments.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The genre has turned into the most reliable release in release strategies, a corner that can accelerate when it connects and still protect the liability when it under-delivers. After 2023 signaled to executives that efficiently budgeted fright engines can dominate mainstream conversation, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with filmmaker-forward plays and word-of-mouth wins. The carry fed into 2025, where re-entries and arthouse crossovers underscored there is space for a spectrum, from returning installments to original one-offs that scale internationally. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a roster that appears tightly organized across the industry, with planned clusters, a mix of known properties and novel angles, and a refocused attention on cinema windows that power the aftermarket on premium digital and OTT platforms.

Marketers add the space now slots in as a utility player on the release plan. The genre can roll out on almost any weekend, yield a quick sell for promo reels and social clips, and overperform with moviegoers that respond on first-look nights and stay strong through the follow-up frame if the picture lands. In the wake of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 setup telegraphs confidence in that model. The slate commences with a loaded January block, then uses spring and early summer for balance, while carving room for a fall run that extends to Halloween and into the next week. The schedule also shows the increasing integration of specialized labels and OTT outlets that can stage a platform run, create conversation, and scale up at the right moment.

Another broad trend is brand strategy across shared universes and established properties. The companies are not just mounting another chapter. They are working to present ongoing narrative with a premium feel, whether that is a graphic identity that flags a re-angled tone or a cast configuration that bridges a new entry to a initial period. At the alongside this, the creative teams behind the headline-grabbing originals are embracing hands-on technique, makeup and prosthetics and specific settings. That mix produces the 2026 slate a strong blend of known notes and invention, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

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

Paramount establishes early momentum with two prominent entries that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the focus, positioning the film as both a passing of the torch and a foundation-forward character-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the authorial approach telegraphs a fan-service aware mode without retreading the last two entries’ sisters thread. The studio is likely to mount a drive driven by signature symbols, character spotlights, and a two-beat trailer plan hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, news directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will double down on. As a summer relief option, this one will chase general-audience talk through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick turns to whatever owns the social talk that spring.

Universal has three unique strategies. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is crisp, heartbroken, and commercial: a grieving man implements an machine companion that shifts into a deadly partner. The date places it at the front of a stacked January, with the marketing arm likely to recreate eerie street stunts and bite-size content that blurs attachment and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a branding reveal to become an fan moment closer to the first trailer. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. The filmmaker’s films are framed as filmmaker events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a subsequent trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The late-month date lets the studio to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use 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 is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has demonstrated that a gnarly, prosthetic-heavy execution can feel top-tier on a controlled budget. Look for a gore-forward summer horror blast that spotlights offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio deploys two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, carrying a bankable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what Sony is selling as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both fans and first-timers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build promo materials around lore, and creature effects, elements that can fuel format premiums and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by minute detail and linguistic texture, this time orbiting lycan myth. Focus’s team has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a bold stance in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is glowing.

Digital platform strategies

Windowing plans in 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s releases feed copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a ladder that elevates both first-week urgency and sign-up momentum in the post-theatrical. Prime Video blends outside acquisitions with global pickups and short theatrical plays when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library engagement, using curated hubs, horror hubs, and staff picks to increase tail value on aggregate take. Netflix stays opportunistic about in-house releases and festival acquisitions, dating horror entries near launch and turning into events drops with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a dual-phase of selective theatrical runs and quick platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a discrete basis. The platform has signaled readiness to buy select projects with name filmmakers or star-driven packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly activity when the genre conversation builds.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 slate with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is clean: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, elevated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the autumn stretch.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, marshalling the project through select festivals if the cut is ready, then using the Christmas window to scale. That positioning has paid off for craft-driven horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception supports. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using mini theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their community.

Brands and originals

By number, 2026 skews toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap legacy awareness. The caveat, as ever, is overexposure. The go-to fix is to package each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is underscoring character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French sensibility from a new voice. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects deliver oxygen. 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, puts Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the bundle is familiar enough to drive advance ticketing and preview-night turnout.

The last three-year set help explain the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that preserved streaming windows did not prevent a simultaneous release test from paying off when the brand was compelling. In 2024, art-forward horror popped in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they rotate perspective and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds 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 thread films through cast and motif and to keep assets in-market without doldrums.

How the films are being made

The creative meetings behind the year’s horror foreshadow a continued lean toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that spotlights atmosphere and fear rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in long-lead features and department features before rolling out a atmospheric tease that elevates tone over story, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and gathers shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta-horror reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will live or die on monster realization and design, which favor booth activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel essential. Look for trailers that foreground hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that shine in top rooms.

Calendar cadence

January is jammed. 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 tonal palate cleanser amid larger brand plays. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the palette of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth holds.

Q1 into Q2 stage summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

August and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited advance reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card redemption.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s AI 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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back 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 finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: mood-led 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 prickly boss battle to survive on a isolated island as the pecking order inverts and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 in the vault in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to dread, shaped by Cronin’s tactile craft and creeping 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 residential haunting story that threads the dread through a minor’s flickering personal vantage. Rating: not yet rated. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, click to read more with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A parody reboot that targets contemporary horror memes and true crime fascinations. Rating: pending. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites bursts, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: cameras rolling 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: to be announced. Logline: The Further opens again, with a young family linked to lingering terrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A fresh restart designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival-first horror over action spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: not yet rated. Production: moving forward. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

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 bone-deep menace. Rating: TBA. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why 2026, why now

Three grounded forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that slowed or re-sequenced in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming drops. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine social-ready stingers from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Calendar math also matters. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, making room for genre entries that can lead a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will compete across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

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 expanded PLF presence 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 value-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first shock 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, soundcraft, 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 Robust 2026 On Deck

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand equity where it matters, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the Source job is simple, cut crisp trailers, guard the secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.