Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens primeval horror, a chilling horror thriller, landing October 2025 on global platforms

This blood-curdling unearthly thriller from writer / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an primeval entity when unrelated individuals become tools in a devilish struggle. Streaming October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching chronicle of continuance and forgotten curse that will alter the horror genre this Halloween season. Visualized by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and moody film follows five young adults who are stirred isolated in a far-off house under the dark command of Kyra, a central character inhabited by a biblical-era sacrosanct terror. Anticipate to be ensnared by a motion picture journey that integrates bodily fright with timeless legends, unleashing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a enduring tradition in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is inverted when the malevolences no longer originate from a different plane, but rather internally. This illustrates the shadowy version of the victims. The result is a gripping mind game where the intensity becomes a unyielding fight between righteousness and malevolence.


In a isolated forest, five individuals find themselves marooned under the ghastly sway and possession of a enigmatic female presence. As the ensemble becomes defenseless to fight her power, severed and stalked by creatures unfathomable, they are made to face their inner horrors while the countdown unforgivingly ticks onward toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust swells and alliances fracture, coercing each member to examine their identity and the notion of free will itself. The consequences magnify with every passing moment, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that combines supernatural terror with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to extract core terror, an darkness rooted in antiquity, operating within our fears, and questioning a evil that questions who we are when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra demanded embodying something beneath mortal despair. She is ignorant until the haunting manifests, and that transition is gut-wrenching because it is so intimate.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be released for audience access beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—providing fans internationally can face this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its intro video, which has gathered over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, offering the tale to global fright lovers.


Mark your calendar for this visceral voyage through terror. Explore *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to dive into these chilling revelations about inner darkness.


For previews, special features, and alerts from the cast and crew, follow @YACMovie across media channels and visit our spooky domain.





Horror’s tipping point: the 2025 cycle U.S. calendar interlaces biblical-possession ideas, Indie Shockers, in parallel with IP aftershocks

Moving from grit-forward survival fare drawn from old testament echoes all the way to returning series paired with acutely observed indies, 2025 stands to become the most complex combined with precision-timed year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. the big studios bookend the months with established lines, concurrently SVOD players stack the fall with debut heat alongside ancestral chills. In parallel, independent banners is catching the carry of 2024’s record festival wave. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, but this year, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are precise, and 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: High-craft horror returns

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s schedule begins the calendar with a marquee bet: a reconceived Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in an immediate now. Guided by Leigh Whannell and starring 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. timed for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Led by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

At summer’s close, the Warner lot drops the final chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. While the template is known, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Next is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re boards, and those signature textures resurface: old school creep, trauma driven plotting, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The stakes escalate here, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The new chapter enriches the lore, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, bridging teens and legacy players. It drops in December, cornering year end horror.

SVOD Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a body horror chamber piece anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative led by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

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 a smart play. No swollen lore. No IP hangover. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Legacy IP: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

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

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, led by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Dials to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror swings back
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

The big screen is a trust exercise
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Near Term Outlook: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. 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. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The upcoming genre season: next chapters, Originals, alongside A Crowded Calendar aimed at frights

Dek: The current horror cycle crowds early with a January crush, following that unfolds through summer corridors, and deep into the festive period, braiding brand heft, fresh ideas, and savvy counter-scheduling. Studio marketers and platforms are prioritizing right-sized spends, cinema-first plans, and short-form initiatives that pivot the slate’s entries into national conversation.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The horror marketplace has grown into the dependable swing in programming grids, a vertical that can accelerate when it hits and still mitigate the exposure when it stumbles. After 2023 signaled to greenlighters that low-to-mid budget chillers can own the discourse, the following year kept the drumbeat going with visionary-driven titles and quiet over-performers. The trend rolled into 2025, where reawakened brands and awards-minded projects underscored there is space for different modes, from continued chapters to director-led originals that carry overseas. The net effect for 2026 is a calendar that is strikingly coherent across distributors, with intentional bunching, a equilibrium of brand names and novel angles, and a re-energized emphasis on exclusive windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium digital rental and platforms.

Studio leaders note the category now operates like a versatile piece on the schedule. Horror can premiere on many corridors, supply a simple premise for ad units and shorts, and outperform with fans that turn out on first-look nights and sustain through the week two if the offering works. In the wake of a production delay era, the 2026 rhythm signals faith in that setup. The slate starts with a weighty January run, then uses spring and early summer for contrast, while clearing room for a fall run that runs into holiday-adjacent weekends and into the next week. The gridline also spotlights the expanded integration of specialized imprints and SVOD players that can stage a platform run, generate chatter, and broaden at the timely point.

Another broad trend is franchise tending across unified worlds and long-running brands. Studios are not just mounting another chapter. They are looking to package lineage with a headline quality, whether that is a typeface approach that telegraphs a new vibe or a lead change that ties a next entry to a classic era. At the concurrently, the directors behind the most anticipated originals are prioritizing on-set craft, makeup and prosthetics and concrete locations. That blend yields 2026 a solid mix of brand comfort and invention, which is the formula for international play.

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

Paramount leads early with two big-ticket moves that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the focus, signaling it as both a passing of the torch and a rootsy relationship-driven entry. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the creative stance hints at a roots-evoking treatment without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push stacked with franchise iconography, character-first teases, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will spotlight. As a summer relief option, this one will drive broad awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format inviting quick switches to whatever owns pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three differentiated releases. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is efficient, loss-driven, and premise-first: a grieving man onboards an machine companion that mutates into a harmful mate. The date locates it at the front of a heavy month, with the marketing arm likely to replay viral uncanny stunts and snackable content that melds romance and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a official title to become an headline beat closer to the early tease. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. His entries are positioned as filmmaker events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a second wave of trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date allows Universal to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has made clear that a blood-soaked, practical-effects forward approach can feel elevated on a efficient spend. Look for a gore-forward summer horror hit that pushes foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio places two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, continuing a trusty supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is billing as a new 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 directive to serve both diehards and novices. The fall slot lets Sony to build promo materials around setting detail, and monster aesthetics, elements that can lift format premiums and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror driven by meticulous craft and dialect, this time exploring werewolf lore. The specialty arm has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is supportive.

How the platforms plan to play it

Windowing plans in 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s slate move to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a cadence that amplifies both FOMO and sign-up momentum in the tail. Prime Video blends third-party pickups with global acquisitions and select theatrical runs when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in archive usage, using prominent placements, October hubs, and collection rows to extend momentum on lifetime take. Netflix stays opportunistic about Netflix originals and festival acquisitions, finalizing horror entries toward the drop and turning into events launches with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a dual-phase of limited theatrical footprints and prompt platform moves that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a curated basis. The platform has indicated interest to board select projects with award winners or star-driven packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation peaks.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 track with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is clear: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, elevated for modern soundscapes and visuals. 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 telegraphed a theatrical-first plan for the title, an good sign for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the September weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, stewarding the film through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday slot to open out. That positioning has delivered for prestige horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception warrants. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using limited theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their community.

Legacy titles versus originals

By proportion, 2026 skews toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage name recognition. The potential drawback, as ever, is overexposure. The standing approach is to frame each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is foregrounding character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a continental coloration from a new voice. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries deliver 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 in a survival chiller premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the team and cast is known enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Three-year comps make sense of the strategy. In 2023, a cinema-first model that kept streaming intact did not block a simultaneous release test from hitting when the brand was big. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror punched above its weight in premium formats. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they change perspective and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds 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 relationships and themes and to keep assets in-market without dead zones.

Craft and creative trends

The craft rooms behind this year’s genre telegraph a continued shift toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a his comment is here stance that echoes the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that foregrounds atmosphere and fear rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and medieval diction, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in craft profiles and guild coverage before rolling out a tease that elevates tone over story, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and generates shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta pivot that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature design and production design, which fit with convention floor stunts and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel irresistible. Look for trailers that highlight razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that land in big rooms.

Release calendar overview

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 moody palate cleanser amid marquee brands. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker 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 enables clean play for each if word of mouth carries.

Winter into spring load in summer. Scream 7 opens February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

August and September into October leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a early fall window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a peekaboo tease plan and limited advance reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can win the holiday when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

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 meet a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s DNA. 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 AI companion shifts into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: mood-led adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her hard-edged boss fight to survive on a rugged island as the control dynamic swivels and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to dread, rooted in Cronin’s hands-on craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 tale that explores the unease of a child’s unreliable perspective. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that satirizes today’s horror trends and true-crime manias. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 detonates, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a another family bound to older hauntings. Rating: undetermined. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A fresh restart designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward true survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: TBA. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: to be announced. Production: continuing. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on time-true diction and bone-deep menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

Wolf Creek: Legacy weblink (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why this year, why now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces define this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or shifted in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine shareable moments from test screenings, precision scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Calendar math also matters. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will share space across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where lower and mid-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 maximize those pockets. 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. 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.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo 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 chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, tight deployments, 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, audio design, and imagery 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 Promising 2026

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is franchise muscle where it helps, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, keep secrets, and let the gasps sell the seats.