Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens primeval malevolence, a bone chilling horror feature, bowing October 2025 on global platforms

An unnerving metaphysical scare-fest from storyteller / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an timeless horror when foreigners become conduits in a cursed struggle. Streaming October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping episode of staying alive and mythic evil that will remodel the horror genre this cool-weather season. Realized by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and claustrophobic motion picture follows five strangers who arise stranded in a hidden lodge under the malevolent rule of Kyra, a troubled woman occupied by a millennia-old Old Testament spirit. Be warned to be enthralled by a narrative spectacle that blends intense horror with arcane tradition, unleashing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a enduring tradition in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is challenged when the demons no longer form from elsewhere, but rather inside their minds. This embodies the haunting facet of the victims. The result is a relentless cognitive warzone where the plotline becomes a relentless contest between light and darkness.


In a remote forest, five friends find themselves trapped under the ominous aura and control of a elusive character. As the cast becomes powerless to withstand her manipulation, cut off and stalked by forces beyond reason, they are made to confront their core terrors while the seconds harrowingly counts down toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear grows and ties crack, urging each protagonist to reflect on their core and the idea of conscious will itself. The pressure climb with every instant, delivering a fear-soaked story that weaves together otherworldly panic with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to explore core terror, an presence from ancient eras, emerging via our weaknesses, and exposing a force that erodes the self when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra was about accessing something outside normal anguish. She is unaware until the demon emerges, and that transition is deeply unsettling because it is so visceral.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be available for on-demand beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring customers no matter where they are can face this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its first preview, which has pulled in over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, presenting the nightmare to viewers around the world.


Be sure to catch this gripping descent into darkness. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to survive these unholy truths about free will.


For exclusive trailers, filmmaker commentary, and insider scoops directly from production, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across Instagram and Twitter and visit youngandcursed.com.





American horror’s major pivot: calendar year 2025 domestic schedule interlaces Mythic Possession, Indie Shockers, stacked beside franchise surges

Running from grit-forward survival fare infused with mythic scripture as well as IP renewals set beside acutely observed indies, 2025 appears poised to be horror’s most layered paired with deliberate year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. major banners are anchoring the year using marquee IP, concurrently premium streamers prime the fall with emerging auteurs as well as primordial unease. On the festival side, the artisan tier is riding the tailwinds from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. A fat September–October lane is customary now, and in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are targeted, accordingly 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 set the base, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s distribution arm sets the tone with a statement play: a refreshed Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, instead in a current-day frame. Under director Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. Booked into mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Directed by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

When summer fades, the WB camp drops the final chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. While the template is known, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: period tinged dread, trauma centered writing, and a cold supernatural calculus. Here the stakes rise, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The return delves further into myth, builds out the animatronic fear crew, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It opens in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Firsts: Economy, maximum dread

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a sealed box body horror arc fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Also notable is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. 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 an astute call. No overinflated mythology. No legacy baggage. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

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

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

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

Legacy Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, steered by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

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 to Watch

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror returns
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

The big screen is a trust exercise
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 such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The coming 2026 Horror release year: continuations, standalone ideas, plus A busy Calendar tailored for screams

Dek The incoming scare season crowds immediately with a January cluster, thereafter unfolds through the warm months, and well into the winter holidays, weaving marquee clout, inventive spins, and tactical counterweight. Studio marketers and platforms are betting on smart costs, exclusive theatrical windows first, and shareable marketing that frame the slate’s entries into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The genre has grown into the most reliable play in studio lineups, a vertical that can grow when it clicks and still protect the floor when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year signaled to executives that mid-range fright engines can drive the discourse, 2024 extended the rally with festival-darling auteurs and quiet over-performers. The energy fed into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and filmmaker-prestige bets showed there is an opening for a variety of tones, from legacy continuations to one-and-done originals that scale internationally. The aggregate for 2026 is a grid that reads highly synchronized across the market, with clear date clusters, a balance of legacy names and novel angles, and a reinvigorated priority on cinema windows that fuel later windows on premium digital rental and home platforms.

Studio leaders note the category now operates like a schedule utility on the rollout map. Horror can premiere on most weekends, provide a easy sell for spots and UGC-friendly snippets, and punch above weight with audiences that line up on early shows and continue through the second frame if the title hits. Following a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 setup shows conviction in that model. The year begins with a loaded January block, then taps spring and early summer for audience offsets, while carving room for a autumn push that connects to the Halloween frame and into early November. The layout also spotlights the ongoing integration of specialized labels and streaming partners that can launch in limited release, generate chatter, and grow at the inflection point.

A notable top-line trend is IP stewardship across ongoing universes and classic IP. The players are not just mounting another continuation. They are setting up lore continuity with a specialness, whether that is a brandmark that broadcasts a new vibe or a casting pivot that bridges a incoming chapter to a early run. At the concurrently, the directors behind the most buzzed-about originals are favoring physical effects work, makeup and prosthetics and concrete locations. That alloy delivers 2026 a lively combination of comfort and newness, which is the formula for international play.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount sets the tone early with two spotlight titles that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the lead, angling it as both a cross-generational handoff and a heritage-centered character-forward chapter. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the authorial approach suggests a memory-charged bent without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Look for a marketing run rooted in heritage visuals, character-first teases, and a tiered teaser plan targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will feature. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will pursue general-audience talk through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format fitting quick pivots to whatever tops pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three distinct plays. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is tight, loss-driven, and premise-first: a grieving man brings home an algorithmic mate that becomes a fatal companion. The date nudges it to the front of a packed window, with Universal’s campaign likely to echo creepy live activations and short-form creative that interweaves longing and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a final title to become an marketing beat closer to the initial tease. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele’s releases are presented as auteur events, with a teaser that reveals little and a subsequent trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The Halloween runway allows Universal to take 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, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has consistently shown that a in-your-face, practical-effects forward style can feel elevated on a disciplined budget. Position this as a red-band summer horror rush that emphasizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio deploys two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, continuing a dependable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is positioning as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both franchise faithful and new audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build materials around environmental design, and creature design, elements that can increase premium screens and community activity.

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 sustains Eggers’ run of period horror driven by immersive craft and period language, this time circling werewolf lore. The label has already set the date for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is glowing.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on known playbooks. The studio’s horror films shift to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a sequence that expands both first-week urgency and subscriber lifts in the later phase. Prime Video will mix catalogue additions with cross-border buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in back-catalog play, using seasonal hubs, fright rows, and editorial rows to keep attention on overall cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about original films and festival snaps, scheduling horror entries toward the drop and positioning as event drops drops with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a paired of targeted theatrical exposure and quick platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be material 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+ treats carefully horror on a curated basis. The platform has signaled readiness to purchase select projects with award winners or star packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation spikes.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 arc with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is simple: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, retooled for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a cinema-first plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the autumn weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, curating the rollout through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the December frame to increase reach. That positioning has proved effective for director-led genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception drives. Anticipate 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 hand in hand, using limited theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their audience.

Legacy titles versus originals

By proportion, 2026 skews toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use marquee value. The caveat, as ever, is staleness. The standing approach is to position each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is emphasizing character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-tinted vision from a hot helmer. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and auteur plays bring the 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 crash-survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the assembly is known enough to spark pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

The last three-year set illuminate the logic. In 2023, a cinema-first model that maintained windows did not prevent a hybrid test from delivering when the brand was big. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror over-performed in large-format rooms. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they reorient and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters shot back-to-back, permits marketing to bridge entries through relationships and themes and to continue assets in field without long gaps.

Creative tendencies and craft

The creative meetings behind 2026 horror indicate a continued emphasis on material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that foregrounds mood and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and era-true language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in long-lead press and craft features before rolling out a teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and creates shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta-horror reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature and environment design, which lend themselves to fan-con activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel key. Look for trailers that underscore disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that play in premium auditoriums.

Annual flow

January is stacked. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid bigger brand plays. The month winds down 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 meaningful, but the variety of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth endures.

Post-January through spring stage summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

August and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-October slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited pre-release reveals that favor idea over this content plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can win the holiday when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card redemption.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s digital partner evolves into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a 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 comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: aura-driven 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 unyielding boss work to survive on a lonely island as the power balance of power turns and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to menace, grounded in Cronin’s on-set craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. 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 family-home haunting tale that leverages the fear of a child’s fragile POV. Rating: rating pending. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house 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 spoof revival that skewers of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fervors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 flares, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a different family caught in returning horrors. Rating: pending. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A restart designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward true survival horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: to be announced. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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-accurate language and primordial menace. Rating: TBA. 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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 lands now

Three practical forces frame this lineup. First, production that stalled or re-sequenced in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming drops. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify shareable moments from test screenings, curated scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can lead a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will stack across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, audio design, and camera work 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

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is recognizable IP where it plays, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, keep the secrets, and let the shocks sell the seats.