Ancient Dread emerges: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding feature, rolling out October 2025 on major streaming services

This blood-curdling otherworldly suspense story from screenwriter / director Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an primeval malevolence when strangers become tools in a supernatural trial. Going live this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving chronicle of struggle and primeval wickedness that will transform terror storytelling this season. Realized by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and cinematic cinema piece follows five figures who suddenly rise imprisoned in a isolated wooden structure under the malignant control of Kyra, a haunted figure possessed by a timeless Old Testament spirit. Steel yourself to be drawn in by a theatrical experience that integrates soul-chilling terror with folklore, debuting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a historical concept in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is subverted when the dark entities no longer emerge from elsewhere, but rather deep within. This embodies the grimmest aspect of the protagonists. The result is a enthralling identity crisis where the emotions becomes a ongoing confrontation between righteousness and malevolence.


In a desolate woodland, five figures find themselves trapped under the ominous force and inhabitation of a mysterious entity. As the group becomes powerless to withstand her command, cut off and attacked by presences unfathomable, they are made to acknowledge their worst nightmares while the final hour unforgivingly draws closer toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread builds and links erode, pushing each member to reflect on their values and the notion of conscious will itself. The intensity escalate with every second, delivering a chilling narrative that integrates demonic fright with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to dive into raw dread, an evil beyond recorded history, filtering through our weaknesses, and highlighting a presence that threatens selfhood when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra was about accessing something beyond human emotion. She is innocent until the haunting manifests, and that conversion is deeply unsettling because it is so intimate.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for on-demand beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—offering viewers anywhere can enjoy this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its intro video, which has earned over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, bringing the film to scare fans abroad.


Mark your calendar for this gripping journey into fear. Experience *Young & Cursed* this launch day to explore these dark realities about the psyche.


For bonus footage, on-set glimpses, and updates straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across your favorite networks and visit the movie portal.





U.S. horror’s decisive shift: the year 2025 U.S. calendar blends legend-infused possession, festival-born jolts, and Franchise Rumbles

Kicking off with survival horror suffused with biblical myth and extending to series comebacks as well as keen independent perspectives, 2025 appears poised to be the most stratified combined with tactically planned year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. major banners are anchoring the year using marquee IP, in parallel OTT services prime the fall with emerging auteurs together with old-world menace. Across the art-house lane, horror’s indie wing is riding the tailwinds from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are intentional, so 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

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

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s pipeline fires the first shot with a headline swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in an immediate now. Led by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. Slated for mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Guided by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer wanes, Warner Bros. releases the last chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. While the template is known, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson is back, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: period tinged dread, trauma as narrative engine, and eerie supernatural logic. The stakes escalate here, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The next entry deepens the tale, stretches the animatronic parade, speaking to teens and older millennials. It drops in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streaming Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a close quarters body horror study led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Then there is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Conceived and directed 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. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is an astute call. No puffed out backstory. No series drag. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Long Running Lines: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, from Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Trends Worth Watching

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine 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
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival Hype Equals Market 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 cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Season Ahead: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The next fear calendar year ahead: Sequels, non-franchise titles, as well as A busy Calendar designed for screams

Dek: The brand-new genre calendar loads immediately with a January crush, and then carries through the summer months, and running into the year-end corridor, weaving brand equity, untold stories, and smart counterplay. Studios and streamers are embracing responsible budgets, theater-first strategies, and short-form initiatives that frame these films into all-audience topics.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

Horror has become the most reliable release in studio lineups, a pillar that can surge when it performs and still cushion the floor when it underperforms. After the 2023 year reminded buyers that cost-conscious chillers can dominate the discourse, 2024 continued the surge with filmmaker-forward plays and unexpected risers. The tailwind extended into the 2025 frame, where revivals and arthouse crossovers made clear there is capacity for different modes, from franchise continuations to non-IP projects that play globally. The sum for the 2026 slate is a slate that reads highly synchronized across distributors, with planned clusters, a balance of brand names and fresh ideas, and a tightened focus on exhibition windows that feed downstream value on premium home window and home streaming.

Planners observe the space now performs as a schedule utility on the rollout map. Horror can roll out on open real estate, furnish a clear pitch for trailers and platform-native cuts, and punch above weight with audiences that come out on preview nights and stay strong through the week two if the entry works. In the wake of a production delay era, the 2026 rhythm signals faith in that equation. The slate begins with a front-loaded January band, then targets spring into early summer for audience offsets, while saving space for a October build that flows toward the Halloween corridor and beyond. The schedule also reflects the ongoing integration of indie arms and SVOD players that can stage a platform run, generate chatter, and broaden at the optimal moment.

A companion trend is series management across interlocking continuities and veteran brands. Big banners are not just rolling another entry. They are seeking to position story carry-over with a must-see charge, whether that is a logo package that flags a new vibe or a lead change that connects a latest entry to a heyday. At the parallel to that, the visionaries behind the high-profile originals are prioritizing tactile craft, practical gags and distinct locales. That alloy gives 2026 a vital pairing of comfort and freshness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount plants an early flag with two centerpiece pushes that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the focus, signaling it as both a succession moment and a rootsy character piece. Production is active in Atlanta, and the directional approach telegraphs a legacy-leaning approach without looping the last two entries’ family thread. Watch for a push anchored in legacy iconography, character previews, and a tiered teaser plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are 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 stress. As a summer alternative, this one will go after large awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format fitting quick updates to whatever leads trend lines that spring.

Universal has three clear strategies. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is elegant, grief-rooted, and logline-clear: a grieving man adopts an virtual partner that shifts into a harmful mate. The date nudges it to the front of a competition-heavy month, with the marketing arm likely to echo creepy live activations and micro spots that fuses romance and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a public title to become an marketing beat closer to the early tease. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele projects are framed as event films, with a teaser with minimal detail and a next wave of trailers that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The spooky-season slot creates space for Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work 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 heads, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has long shown that a flesh-and-blood, in-camera leaning strategy can feel big on a efficient spend. Position this as a viscera-heavy summer horror blast that emphasizes 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 brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, continuing a evergreen supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is framing as a new have a peek at this web-site foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both core fans and fresh viewers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build promo materials around lore, and creature effects, elements that can fuel format premiums and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

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 sustains Eggers’ run of period horror driven by meticulous craft and linguistic texture, this time engaging werewolf myth. The imprint has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is enthusiastic.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform windowing in 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal titles transition to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a pacing that expands both week-one demand and trial spikes in the downstream. Prime Video blends library titles with international acquisitions and select theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library curation, using featured rows, spooky hubs, and featured rows to prolong the run on aggregate take. Netflix stays nimble about originals and festival snaps, timing horror entries on shorter runways and making event-like drops with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a laddered of precision releases and rapid platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a situational basis. The platform has shown appetite to secure select projects with prestige directors or celebrity-led packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation builds.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 pipeline with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is uncomplicated: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, reimagined for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a theatrical-first plan for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the September weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through festival season if the cut is ready, then using the holiday dates to broaden. That positioning has proved effective for prestige horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception prompts. Be ready for 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 boutique theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their user base.

Franchises versus originals

By tilt, 2026 skews toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on legacy awareness. The watch-out, as ever, is overexposure. The preferred tactic is to market each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is bringing forward character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-flavored turn from a hot helmer. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the deal build is known enough to accelerate early sales and early previews.

The last three-year set help explain the approach. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that kept clean windows did not prevent a parallel release from working when the brand was robust. In 2024, art-forward horror over-performed in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they angle differently and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, lets marketing to thread films through protagonists and motifs and to keep assets alive without long gaps.

Technique and craft currents

The filmmaking conversations behind the upcoming entries suggest a continued turn toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that leans on atmosphere and fear rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for textured sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft features before rolling out a preview that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and generates shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta pivot that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster aesthetics and world-building, which play well in con floor moments and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel primary. Look for trailers that elevate precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that explode in larger rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is full. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid bigger brand plays. The month finishes 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 formidable, but the palette of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth persists.

Late Q1 and spring seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Shoulder season into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a late-September window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a opaque tease strategy and limited disclosures that favor idea over plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card redemption.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s digital partner evolves into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: gothic-game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her severe boss work to survive on a cut-off island as the power dynamic flips and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. 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 kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to fear, driven by Cronin’s on-set craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting setup that leverages the panic of a child’s fragile perspective. Rating: TBD. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-scale and toplined occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A parody return that satirizes of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fixations. Rating: awaiting classification. 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 surges, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a new clan tethered to lingering terrors. Rating: pending. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A reboot designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survivalist horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: TBA. Production: continuing. 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 antique diction and elemental dread. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three operational forces drive this lineup. First, production that slowed or shuffled in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage shareable moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can lead a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will share space across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 midrange-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 sleeper overperformer 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.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, 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 hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, efficient screen counts, 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, sonics, and visual design 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

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is recognizable IP where it plays, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, hold the mystery, and let the screams sell the seats.