Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes antediluvian malevolence, a nightmare fueled horror thriller, debuting Oct 2025 on leading streamers

An frightening metaphysical terror film from writer / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an prehistoric entity when passersby become proxies in a malevolent struggle. Premiering October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing depiction of resistance and primeval wickedness that will reimagine fear-driven cinema this harvest season. Crafted by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and gothic film follows five individuals who come to confined in a remote cabin under the ominous manipulation of Kyra, a central character inhabited by a biblical-era scriptural evil. Get ready to be enthralled by a cinematic journey that blends gut-punch terror with arcane tradition, unleashing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a time-honored fixture in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is reimagined when the presences no longer emerge from a different plane, but rather inside them. This mirrors the malevolent corner of the cast. The result is a psychologically brutal psychological battle where the suspense becomes a constant contest between heaven and hell.


In a isolated no-man's-land, five individuals find themselves imprisoned under the ominous grip and infestation of a obscure being. As the cast becomes unresisting to combat her grasp, stranded and hunted by creatures impossible to understand, they are compelled to stand before their emotional phantoms while the timeline ruthlessly edges forward toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread escalates and associations disintegrate, coercing each individual to contemplate their essence and the foundation of conscious will itself. The stakes amplify with every tick, delivering a terror ride that intertwines occult fear with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to draw upon elemental fright, an curse from prehistory, feeding on emotional vulnerability, and challenging a being that forces self-examination when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra meant evoking something beyond human emotion. She is ignorant until the takeover begins, and that evolution is harrowing because it is so intimate.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for audience access beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring watchers internationally can survive this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its first trailer, which has attracted over notable views.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, giving access to the movie to global fright lovers.


Be sure to catch this mind-warping trip into the unknown. Experience *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to face these ghostly lessons about the mind.


For sneak peeks, special features, and updates from behind the lens, follow @YACFilm across Instagram and Twitter and visit youngandcursed.com.





Current horror’s watershed moment: the year 2025 U.S. lineup melds myth-forward possession, independent shockers, paired with returning-series thunder

Ranging from fight-to-live nightmare stories steeped in legendary theology all the way to IP renewals plus focused festival visions, 2025 is emerging as the richest paired with calculated campaign year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. Major studios lay down anchors using marquee IP, while premium streamers stack the fall with first-wave breakthroughs and legend-coded dread. Meanwhile, indie storytellers is fueled by the momentum from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. With Halloween holding the peak, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, distinctly in 2025, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are targeted, accordingly 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: High-craft horror returns

The top end is active. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal Pictures starts the year with a big gambit: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in an immediate now. Guided by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. dated for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Guided by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Early reactions hint at fangs.

By late summer, Warner’s schedule drops the final chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Though the outline is tried, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re engages, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: 70s style chill, trauma as theme, plus otherworld rules that chill. This pass pushes higher, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, bridging teens and legacy players. It lands in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Offerings: Small budgets, sharp fangs

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a body horror duet pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, 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 chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one reaches back to 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.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is canny scheduling. No heavy handed lore. No sequel clutter. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, steered by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

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

Key Trends

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror swings back
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Forecast: Fall pileup, winter curveball

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. 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 brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The next genre season: installments, new stories, in tandem with A stacked Calendar tailored for jolts

Dek The emerging scare slate packs immediately with a January traffic jam, from there rolls through the mid-year, and continuing into the winter holidays, combining legacy muscle, creative pitches, and well-timed alternatives. Studios with streamers are focusing on right-sized spends, theatrical-first rollouts, and buzz-forward plans that pivot horror entries into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The field has emerged as the predictable swing in studio slates, a segment that can grow when it performs and still safeguard the risk when it does not. After 2023 reminded top brass that mid-range horror vehicles can steer pop culture, the following year held pace with auteur-driven buzzy films and slow-burn breakouts. The carry pushed into the 2025 frame, where revivals and premium-leaning entries signaled there is capacity for a spectrum, from franchise continuations to non-IP projects that scale internationally. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a calendar that seems notably aligned across the major shops, with clear date clusters, a mix of known properties and novel angles, and a reinvigorated eye on box-office windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium digital and streaming.

Distribution heads claim the category now acts as a swing piece on the calendar. The genre can arrive on most weekends, offer a clean hook for marketing and reels, and lead with viewers that lean in on opening previews and hold through the subsequent weekend if the title delivers. Exiting a work stoppage lag, the 2026 setup telegraphs certainty in that model. The calendar gets underway with a heavy January window, then exploits spring through early summer for counterweight, while clearing room for a fall corridor that carries into All Hallows period and into November. The arrangement also features the increasing integration of indie distributors and streamers that can launch in limited release, grow buzz, and expand at the optimal moment.

Another broad trend is brand management across connected story worlds and legacy IP. Studio teams are not just releasing another next film. They are looking to package connection with a sense of event, whether that is a typeface approach that suggests a tonal shift or a lead change that links a fresh chapter to a initial period. At the alongside this, the creative teams behind the most buzzed-about originals are championing practical craft, real effects and location-forward worlds. That alloy affords the 2026 slate a smart balance of recognition and surprise, which is what works overseas.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount opens strong with two front-of-slate titles that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the spine, signaling it as both a lineage transfer and a classic-mode character-focused installment. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the creative posture indicates a throwback-friendly strategy without looping the last two entries’ sisters thread. Look for a marketing run stacked with iconic art, character previews, and a tiered teaser plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will foreground. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will chase four-quadrant chatter through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format supporting quick pivots to whatever drives the discourse that spring.

Universal has three unique lanes. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged have a peek here spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is tidy, loss-driven, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man sets up an synthetic partner that turns into a deadly partner. The date sets it at the front of a stacked January, with the studio’s marketing likely to iterate on uncanny live moments and brief clips that mixes attachment and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a final title to become an headline beat closer to the initial promo. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele’s work are branded as director events, with a hinting teaser and a second beat that shape mood without giving away the concept. The prime October weekend offers Universal room to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has shown that a visceral, on-set effects led execution can feel elevated on a mid-range budget. Frame it as a blood-soaked summer horror shock that spotlights global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio lines up two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, preserving a reliable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is marketing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both franchise faithful and novices. The fall slot gives Sony time to build assets around lore, and creature work, elements that can lift large-format demand and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in minute detail and language, this time engaging werewolf myth. The label has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is positive.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s releases move to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a cadence that optimizes both debut momentum and sign-up momentum in the later window. Prime Video balances outside acquisitions with global originals and select theatrical runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in back-catalog play, using curated hubs, October hubs, and staff picks to prolong the run on the horror cume. Netflix remains opportunistic about Netflix films and festival deals, scheduling horror entries with shorter lead times and framing as events drops with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a one-two of selective theatrical runs and speedy platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a curated basis. The platform has signaled readiness to invest in select projects with award winners or celebrity-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for monthly engagement when the genre conversation spikes.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 lane 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 uncomplicated: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, refined for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a theatrical-first plan for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the October weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, managing the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then leveraging the December frame to open out. That positioning has helped for auteur 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 often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception allows. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using limited runs to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Balance of brands and originals

By volume, the 2026 slate favors the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness household recognition. The challenge, as ever, is viewer burnout. The preferred tactic is to present each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is emphasizing relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-tinted vision from a buzzed-about director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and director-driven titles bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the team and cast is known enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Three-year comps outline the plan. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that observed windows did not obstruct a dual release from winning when the brand was powerful. In 2024, precision craft horror outperformed in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel new when they change perspective and raise the stakes. That last point Young & Cursed is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to tie installments through character and theme and to hold creative in the market without long gaps.

Production craft signals

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind this year’s genre point to a continued shift toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that foregrounds grain and menace rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in feature stories and artisan spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and generates shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a self-aware reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature work and production design, which align with convention activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel definitive. Look for trailers that spotlight disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in big rooms.

How the year maps out

January is loaded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid big-brand pushes. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the spread of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth sustains.

Late winter and spring build the summer base. Scream 7 lands February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy restores 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 divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-October slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a peekaboo tease plan and limited plot reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and holiday card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genetic code. 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 becomes something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie 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 face a changing 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 severe boss battle to survive on a rugged island as the control dynamic turns and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to dread, based on Cronin’s material craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting narrative that threads the dread through a kid’s shifting POV. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven spectral suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A send-up revival that targets hot-button genre motifs and true-crime crazes. Rating: undetermined. Production: principal photography set 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 bursts, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a another family linked to residual nightmares. Rating: not yet rated. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: pending. Logline: A reboot designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survivalist horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: undetermined. Production: underway. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and elemental fear. Rating: TBD. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the moment is 2026

Three nuts-and-bolts forces structure this lineup. First, production that paused or reshuffled in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and pared-down 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 out-earned straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate turnkey scare beats from test screenings, curated scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

There is also the slotting calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, making room for genre entries that can control a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will jostle across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where lean-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 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. 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.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, 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 fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, optimized 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 materiality, sound, 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 Is Well Positioned

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is IP strength where it matters, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing 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-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, guard the secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.