Mythic Terror awakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding chiller, rolling out October 2025 on global platforms

An bone-chilling ghostly fright fest from storyteller / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an prehistoric fear when unknowns become tokens in a fiendish conflict. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing episode of survival and archaic horror that will revolutionize the horror genre this season. Helmed by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and moody suspense flick follows five figures who snap to ensnared in a isolated cabin under the malignant sway of Kyra, a young woman inhabited by a legendary scriptural evil. Brace yourself to be shaken by a motion picture display that combines bone-deep fear with mystical narratives, coming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a classic fixture in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is inverted when the beings no longer descend from beyond, but rather deep within. This portrays the darkest aspect of the group. The result is a psychologically brutal spiritual tug-of-war where the narrative becomes a merciless conflict between moral forces.


In a bleak wilderness, five souls find themselves confined under the possessive force and possession of a elusive spirit. As the team becomes defenseless to break her influence, stranded and chased by terrors beyond reason, they are forced to wrestle with their deepest fears while the timeline without pity counts down toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia intensifies and partnerships collapse, coercing each protagonist to rethink their identity and the nature of self-determination itself. The consequences climb with every beat, delivering a paranormal ride that combines demonic fright with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to extract primitive panic, an force older than civilization itself, filtering through our weaknesses, and challenging a presence that dismantles free will when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra asked for exploring something outside normal anguish. She is oblivious until the curse activates, and that change is soul-crushing because it is so emotional.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for streaming beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—giving horror lovers around the globe can get immersed in this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its release of trailer #1, which has pulled in over six-figure audience.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, extending the thrill to scare fans abroad.


Mark your calendar for this bone-rattling descent into hell. Experience *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to survive these haunting secrets about human nature.


For cast commentary, extra content, and updates from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your favorite networks and visit our horror hub.





The horror genre’s watershed moment: calendar year 2025 domestic schedule melds primeval-possession lore, art-house nightmares, alongside franchise surges

Across grit-forward survival fare infused with mythic scripture as well as canon extensions plus focused festival visions, 2025 appears poised to be horror’s most layered paired with tactically planned year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. leading studios set cornerstones with known properties, while SVOD players front-load the fall with new perspectives in concert with ancestral chills. On the independent axis, horror’s indie wing is riding the kinetic energy from a record 2024 festival run. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, notably this year, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are targeted, therefore 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: High-craft horror returns

The majors are assertive. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s slate leads off the quarter with a risk-forward move: a contemporary Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, but a crisp modern milieu. With Leigh Whannell at the helm with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. dated for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Guided by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Early reactions hint at fangs.

At summer’s close, Warner’s schedule sets loose the finale of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Though the formula is familiar, 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. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson returns to the helm, and those signature textures resurface: 70s style chill, trauma centered writing, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This time the stakes climb, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, thickens the animatronic pantheon, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It lands in December, pinning the winter close.

Streaming Originals: No Budget, No Problem

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a body horror chamber piece fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

In the mix sits Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative featuring Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of 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 dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is a smart play. No bloated mythology. No IP hangover. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They are more runway than museum.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Series Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, 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.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, from Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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 Worth Watching

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror returns
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Big screen is a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Forward View: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The 2026 spook cycle: continuations, Originals, as well as A stacked Calendar aimed at jolts

Dek: The current horror season builds right away with a January wave, before it runs through summer, and straight through the December corridor, blending name recognition, novel approaches, and calculated counterprogramming. The big buyers and platforms are relying on efficient budgets, cinema-first plans, and short-form initiatives that turn these pictures into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The field has turned into the predictable tool in distribution calendars, a lane that can expand when it resonates and still safeguard the floor when it misses. After the 2023 year signaled to top brass that mid-range scare machines can steer pop culture, the following year held pace with auteur-driven buzzy films and slow-burn breakouts. The carry carried into 2025, where revived properties and elevated films signaled there is space for diverse approaches, from franchise continuations to original features that travel well. The result for 2026 is a schedule that presents tight coordination across companies, with obvious clusters, a blend of known properties and novel angles, and a re-energized eye on box-office windows that feed downstream value on PVOD and streaming.

Executives say the space now performs as a schedule utility on the release plan. Horror can kick off on a wide range of weekends, supply a simple premise for spots and short-form placements, and outstrip with crowds that show up on previews Thursday and return through the sophomore frame if the release delivers. In the wake of a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 pattern indicates confidence in that model. The calendar gets underway with a heavy January block, then leans on spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while leaving room for a autumn stretch that pushes into the Halloween corridor and afterwards. The schedule also includes the deeper integration of boutique distributors and OTT outlets that can build gradually, create conversation, and scale up at the proper time.

Another broad trend is franchise tending across linked properties and heritage properties. Studio teams are not just rolling another chapter. They are working to present story carry-over with a specialness, whether that is a typeface approach that flags a refreshed voice or a star attachment that reconnects a fresh chapter to a original cycle. At the parallel to that, the visionaries behind the marquee originals are doubling down on in-camera technique, real effects and place-driven backdrops. That convergence offers 2026 a strong blend of home base and unexpected turns, which is what works overseas.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount establishes early momentum with two front-of-slate titles that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the lead, signaling it as both a baton pass and a foundation-forward character-centered film. Production is active in Atlanta, and the tonal posture points to a roots-evoking framework without going over the last two entries’ family thread. The studio is likely to mount a drive driven by iconic art, early character teases, and a rollout cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will emphasize. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will go after mainstream recognition through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format permitting quick redirects to whatever owns trend lines that spring.

Universal has three unique projects. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is crisp, heartbroken, and commercial: a grieving man implements an machine companion that becomes a murderous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s team likely to bring back uncanny live moments and short reels that hybridizes devotion and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a title reveal to become an headline beat closer to the debut look. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele’s work are presented as marquee events, with a concept-forward tease and a second wave of trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor affords Universal to lead 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, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has shown that a tactile, practical-first treatment can feel big on a efficient spend. Position this as a viscera-heavy summer horror jolt that spotlights offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio places two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, sustaining a steady supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is framing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both core fans and first-timers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign pieces around canon, and monster design, elements that can accelerate premium screens and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror built on textural authenticity and period language, this time driven by werewolf stories. The distributor has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is supportive.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal titles shift to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a sequence that optimizes both initial urgency and subscriber lifts in the post-theatrical. Prime Video continues to mix library titles with global acquisitions and limited cinema engagements when the data signals it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library curation, using prominent placements, holiday hubs, and featured rows to lengthen the tail on the 2026 genre total. Netflix stays nimble about in-house releases and festival buys, confirming horror entries with shorter lead times and turning into events rollouts with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a two-step of precision releases and swift platform pivots that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a selective basis. The platform has been willing to invest in select projects with established auteurs or marquee packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for platform stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is structuring 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 appeal is direct: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, refined for modern soundscapes and visuals. 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 flagged a theatrical rollout for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late stretch.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, piloting the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then working the holiday corridor to go wider. That positioning has been successful for filmmaker-driven genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception supports. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using targeted theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Legacy titles versus originals

By proportion, 2026 tips toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on marquee value. The watch-out, as ever, is brand erosion. The go-to fix is to position each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is spotlighting character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-flavored turn from a emerging director. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a island survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the configuration is familiar enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

The last three-year set make sense of the plan. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that respected streaming windows did not obstruct a hybrid test from hitting when the brand was compelling. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror hit big in PLF. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they alter lens and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to interlace chapters through character and theme and to keep materials circulating without lulls.

How the films are being made

The production chatter behind this year’s genre foreshadow a continued preference for practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that foregrounds grain and menace rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and medieval diction, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in craft journalism and craft coverage before rolling out a initial teaser that withholds plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and creates shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta pivot that centers an original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on monster aesthetics and world-building, which favor fan-con activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel primary. Look for trailers that elevate pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that sing on PLF.

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 atmospheric change-up amid headline IP. The month buttons 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 stiff, but the variety of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

Q1 into Q2 set up the summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while this website maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Late summer into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event occupies October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited advance reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and 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 rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s artificial companion becomes something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished 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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. 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 demanding boss push to survive on a cut-off island as the pecking order turns and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

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 renewed take that returns the monster to fright, shaped by Cronin’s physical craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting story that frames the panic through a young child’s volatile internal vantage. Rating: TBA. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-scale and A-list fronted occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that skewers contemporary horror memes and true-crime manias. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: fall 2025 production window. 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 ignites, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a fresh family caught in returning horrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A new start designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survivalist horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: forthcoming. Production: active. 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 era-faithful speech and elemental dread. Rating: pending. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. 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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why the moment is 2026

Three hands-on forces inform this lineup. First, production that decelerated or shuffled in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage shareable moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can capture a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will line up across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

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

The stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where modest-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first 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. 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.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a feast, 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 gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, sound, and visuals 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

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is franchise muscle where it helps, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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 job is simple, deliver taut trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the chills sell the seats.