Mythic Terror Reawakens within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked horror thriller, rolling out October 2025 across top streamers

This unnerving paranormal suspense story from writer / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an forgotten force when strangers become proxies in a malevolent maze. Releasing this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching depiction of perseverance and primordial malevolence that will reimagine horror this fall. Created by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and claustrophobic tale follows five figures who find themselves stranded in a hidden dwelling under the malevolent command of Kyra, a female presence possessed by a ancient sacred-era entity. Get ready to be seized by a narrative ride that melds gut-punch terror with mythic lore, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a enduring theme in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is turned on its head when the beings no longer descend from beyond, but rather from their core. This suggests the most sinister dimension of each of them. The result is a intense inner struggle where the conflict becomes a unforgiving push-pull between divinity and wickedness.


In a remote landscape, five friends find themselves confined under the ghastly control and domination of a haunted woman. As the youths becomes defenseless to escape her rule, marooned and stalked by powers mind-shattering, they are thrust to reckon with their greatest panics while the clock without pause ticks toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia builds and relationships crack, requiring each individual to evaluate their self and the philosophy of autonomy itself. The intensity magnify with every second, delivering a cinematic nightmare that intertwines mystical fear with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to channel basic terror, an presence that predates humanity, emerging via soul-level flaws, and exposing a darkness that dismantles free will when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra required summoning something beyond human emotion. She is innocent until the demon emerges, and that evolution is eerie because it is so private.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for streaming beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—giving fans anywhere can experience this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its original promo, which has pulled in over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, giving access to the movie to lovers of terror across nations.


Tune in for this visceral descent into hell. Face *Young & Cursed* this launch day to uncover these terrifying truths about the mind.


For sneak peeks, on-set glimpses, and social posts from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your socials and visit the movie portal.





Today’s horror Turning Point: the year 2025 U.S. calendar braids together primeval-possession lore, microbudget gut-punches, in parallel with IP aftershocks

Beginning with fight-to-live nightmare stories grounded in near-Eastern lore all the way to franchise returns and sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is shaping up as horror’s most layered combined with intentionally scheduled year in a decade.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio powerhouses lock in tentpoles by way of signature titles, at the same time OTT services crowd the fall with new perspectives and scriptural shivers. On the festival side, festival-forward creators is catching the tailwinds of a record-setting 2024 festival season. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, but this year, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are surgical, so 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige terror resurfaces

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal Pictures leads off the quarter with a headline swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, but a crisp modern milieu. Guided by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. arriving mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Led by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Initial heat flags it as potent.

When summer tapers, the Warner Bros. banner delivers the closing chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Despite a known recipe, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: period tinged dread, trauma as text, with spooky supernatural reasoning. Here the stakes rise, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, thickens the animatronic pantheon, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It posts in December, locking down the winter tail.

Digital Originals: Economy, maximum dread

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a body horror chamber piece pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide 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 led by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against 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.

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.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is a calculated bet. No overstuffed canon. No sequel clutter. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Heritage Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, steered by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Trends Worth Watching

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror retakes ground
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

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. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The approaching fear lineup: next chapters, non-franchise titles, and also A hectic Calendar Built For frights

Dek: The incoming terror slate stacks from the jump with a January glut, then unfolds through June and July, and running into the late-year period, fusing brand equity, original angles, and shrewd offsets. Studio marketers and platforms are relying on mid-range economics, theatrical leads, and buzz-forward plans that shape the slate’s entries into national conversation.

The landscape of horror in 2026

This category has emerged as the predictable option in release plans, a vertical that can break out when it resonates and still buffer the drawdown when it underperforms. After the 2023 year showed strategy teams that responsibly budgeted pictures can own audience talk, the following year maintained heat with visionary-driven titles and surprise hits. The carry pushed into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and elevated films underscored there is demand for a spectrum, from franchise continuations to director-led originals that play globally. The takeaway for 2026 is a slate that appears tightly organized across distributors, with defined corridors, a harmony of brand names and new pitches, and a sharpened focus on theatrical windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium video on demand and OTT platforms.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now serves as a versatile piece on the slate. Horror can premiere on a wide range of weekends, offer a clean hook for promo reels and UGC-friendly snippets, and outpace with patrons that appear on opening previews and stick through the second weekend if the offering lands. Post a work stoppage lag, the 2026 setup signals belief in that logic. The slate rolls out with a heavy January block, then taps spring and early summer for contrast, while clearing room for a late-year stretch that stretches into the Halloween frame and afterwards. The schedule also shows the ongoing integration of specialty distributors and streamers that can platform a title, ignite recommendations, and go nationwide at the strategic time.

A further high-level trend is IP stewardship across brand ecosystems and established properties. The studios are not just mounting another installment. They are setting up brand continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a art treatment that signals a refreshed voice or a casting move that bridges a latest entry to a original cycle. At the concurrently, the filmmakers behind the headline-grabbing originals are returning to practical craft, physical gags and site-specific worlds. That interplay gives the 2026 slate a confident blend of trust and invention, which is the formula for international play.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount opens strong with two big-ticket bets that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the core, positioning the film as both a lineage transfer and a classic-mode character-focused installment. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the tonal posture signals a classic-referencing strategy without looping the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. A campaign is expected rooted in brand visuals, character spotlights, and a promo sequence arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

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 joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will play up. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will hunt wide appeal through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format supporting quick adjustments to whatever leads horror talk that spring.

Universal has three specific releases. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is elegant, melancholic, and high-concept: a grieving man purchases an synthetic partner that grows into a lethal partner. The date nudges it to the front of a packed window, with the marketing arm likely to reprise creepy live activations and bite-size content that interweaves longing and chill.

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

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. The filmmaker’s films are sold as creative events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a next wave of trailers that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot opens a lane to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press 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 commands, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has established that a gritty, prosthetic-heavy execution can feel cinematic on a mid-range budget. Expect a grime-caked summer horror blast that maximizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio rolls out two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, sustaining a consistent supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is positioning as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both loyalists and novices. The fall slot affords Sony time to build artifacts around universe detail, and monster design, elements that can fuel PLF interest and fan events.

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

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform windowing in 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s slate move to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a ordering that optimizes both initial urgency and trial spikes in the post-theatrical. Prime Video will mix acquired titles with international acquisitions and select theatrical runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library engagement, using featured rows, genre hubs, and handpicked rows to sustain interest on the 2026 genre total. Netflix keeps flexible about first-party entries and festival buys, dating horror entries tight to release Get More Info and coalescing around arrivals with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a one-two of targeted cinema placements and accelerated 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 pivoting to niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a curated basis. The platform has been willing to board select projects with award winners or star-driven packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation peaks.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 pipeline with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is clean: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, elevated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a cinema-first plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn stretch.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday slot to widen. That positioning has delivered for auteur horror 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 plausible forecast is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception allows. Plan on 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 parallel, using small theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Known brands versus new stories

By weight, 2026 tips toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap brand equity. The trade-off, as ever, is brand erosion. The preferred tactic is to sell each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is emphasizing character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is promising a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a European tilt from a hot helmer. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries provide the air. 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 survival-thriller premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the assembly is steady enough to accelerate early sales and preview-night crowds.

Past-three-year patterns make sense of the strategy. In 2023, a cinema-first model that honored streaming windows did not foreclose a hybrid test from succeeding when the brand was big. In 2024, art-forward horror rose in premium screens. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they change perspective 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 double feature plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, permits marketing to cross-link entries through personae and themes and to sustain campaign assets without extended gaps.

Production craft signals

The shop talk behind this slate signal a continued preference for tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that highlights creep and texture rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in trade spotlights and technical spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and gathers shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta-horror reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature and environment design, which are ideal for booth activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel compelling. Look for trailers that highlight razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that sing on PLF.

How the year maps out

January is packed. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid heftier brand moves. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the tone spread affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Pre-summer months stage summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s 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 lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can win 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.

Late summer into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a early fall window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited disclosures that stress concept over spoilers.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift-card spend.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s synthetic partner grows into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: tone-first 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 hard-edged boss claw to survive on a isolated island as the chain of command reverses and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to fright, anchored by Cronin’s tactile craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting piece that filters its scares through a preteen’s volatile perspective. Rating: TBA. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-crafted and toplined occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A parody reboot that skewers hot-button genre motifs and true-crime crazes. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new household caught in older hauntings. Rating: TBA. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A restart designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-first horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: forthcoming. Production: underway. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and raw menace. Rating: TBA. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why 2026 and why now

Three pragmatic forces shape this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or shifted in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming launches. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work clippable moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will jostle across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where low-to-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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Expect a healthy 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.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, sonics, 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 Promising 2026

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand gravity where needed, auteur intent 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, hold the mystery, and let the frights sell the seats.