Ancient Dread Surfaces within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked supernatural thriller, rolling out October 2025 across global platforms

One blood-curdling spectral fright fest from creator / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an mythic horror when guests become victims in a diabolical struggle. Airings begin on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, the YouTube platform, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping portrayal of perseverance and forgotten curse that will reconstruct fear-driven cinema this cool-weather season. Brought to life by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and cinematic film follows five figures who emerge imprisoned in a far-off cabin under the oppressive command of Kyra, a young woman inhabited by a biblical-era biblical force. Ready yourself to be drawn in by a motion picture spectacle that integrates raw fear with timeless legends, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a recurring concept in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is challenged when the dark entities no longer arise from elsewhere, but rather inside them. This illustrates the darkest version of all involved. The result is a intense psychological battle where the narrative becomes a merciless confrontation between virtue and vice.


In a barren outland, five souls find themselves caught under the fiendish grip and grasp of a obscure entity. As the survivors becomes incapable to evade her control, marooned and hunted by creatures inconceivable, they are confronted to face their inner demons while the doomsday meter unceasingly edges forward toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion grows and ties crack, pressuring each figure to question their identity and the foundation of self-determination itself. The threat accelerate with every fleeting time, delivering a fear-soaked story that blends otherworldly suspense with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to tap into primitive panic, an force before modern man, embedding itself in human fragility, and testing a evil that questions who we are when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra was centered on something past sanity. She is insensitive until the spirit seizes her, and that turn is haunting because it is so visceral.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be available for public screening beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—making sure fans worldwide can be part of this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its release of trailer #1, which has received over 100K plays.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, presenting the nightmare to international horror buffs.


Avoid skipping this haunted voyage through terror. Face *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to acknowledge these chilling revelations about free will.


For featurettes, behind-the-scenes content, and reveals from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursed across fan hubs and visit our film’s homepage.





Current horror’s Turning Point: 2025 U.S. Slate Mixes ancient-possession motifs, festival-born jolts, alongside series shake-ups

Moving from survivor-centric dread suffused with biblical myth as well as installment follow-ups together with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is tracking to be horror’s most layered combined with blueprinted year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. studio powerhouses bookend the months with established lines, at the same time OTT services load up the fall with new perspectives as well as legend-coded dread. On the independent axis, the art-house flank is propelled by the afterglow from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, yet in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are intentional, so 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Premium genre swings back

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s schedule kicks off the frame with a statement play: a contemporary Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in a modern-day environment. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. Slated for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Steered by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

When summer tapers, Warner Bros. launches the swan song of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re teams, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: nostalgic menace, trauma in the foreground, and a cold supernatural calculus. Here the stakes rise, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The follow up digs further into canon, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, courting teens and the thirty something base. It posts in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Platform Plays: Economy, maximum dread

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a room scale body horror descent including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

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

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is an astute call. No heavy handed lore. No franchise baggage. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

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 hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

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

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, led by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. If packaged well, it could track like 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

Myth turns mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

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

Platform originals gain bite
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Projection: Autumn density and winter pivot

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The next genre season: follow-ups, universe starters, alongside A packed Calendar Built For chills

Dek The upcoming genre calendar stacks at the outset with a January pile-up, after that flows through the summer months, and continuing into the holiday stretch, mixing IP strength, untold stories, and data-minded alternatives. The major players are prioritizing right-sized spends, theatrical exclusivity first, and platform-native promos that transform these pictures into national conversation.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

Horror has solidified as the surest release in release plans, a space that can surge when it resonates and still insulate the exposure when it underperforms. After 2023 re-taught top brass that efficiently budgeted entries can galvanize the zeitgeist, the following year kept the drumbeat going with auteur-driven buzzy films and quiet over-performers. The tailwind rolled into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and premium-leaning entries confirmed there is capacity for a variety of tones, from franchise continuations to filmmaker-driven originals that translate worldwide. The sum for the 2026 slate is a run that reads highly synchronized across studios, with planned clusters, a pairing of marquee IP and new packages, and a recommitted stance on cinema windows that feed downstream value on premium digital rental and streaming.

Schedulers say the category now functions as a flex slot on the release plan. The genre can roll out on virtually any date, furnish a quick sell for trailers and social clips, and exceed norms with fans that appear on previews Thursday and maintain momentum through the next weekend if the release hits. In the wake of a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 setup reflects conviction in that dynamic. The slate launches with a busy January window, then exploits spring through early summer for genre counterpoints, while carving room for a October build that carries into the Halloween frame and into November. The gridline also includes the continuing integration of indie distributors and digital platforms that can launch in limited release, fuel WOM, and broaden at the proper time.

A further high-level trend is brand strategy across linked properties and legacy franchises. The companies are not just rolling another sequel. They are seeking to position lore continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a graphic identity that indicates a new vibe or a casting move that links a new installment to a first wave. At the concurrently, the writer-directors behind the most anticipated originals are embracing practical craft, in-camera effects and location-forward worlds. That pairing hands the 2026 slate a vital pairing of home base and freshness, which is the formula for international play.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount defines the early cadence with two spotlight bets that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the lead, presenting it as both a passing of the torch and a classic-mode character-driven entry. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach hints at a memory-charged framework without retreading the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. A campaign is expected have a peek at these guys centered on franchise iconography, intro reveals, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will foreground. As a summer contrast play, this one will generate wide buzz through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick adjustments to whatever drives the discourse that spring.

Universal has three specific plays. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is tidy, melancholic, and concept-forward: a grieving man onboards an machine companion that grows into a dangerous lover. The date positions it at the front of a packed window, with the Universal machine likely to revisit uncanny live moments and quick hits that threads affection and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a title reveal to become an fan moment closer to the first trailer. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele’s work are marketed as signature events, with a hinting teaser and a second beat that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The pre-Halloween slot affords Universal to take 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, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has established that a raw, makeup-driven strategy can feel prestige on a lean spend. Position this as a splatter summer horror surge that leans hard into international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio mounts two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, holding a dependable supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is billing as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both longtime followers and new audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign pieces around universe detail, and practical creature work, elements that can drive large-format demand and convention buzz.

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 continues Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in minute detail and language, this time focused on werewolf legend. The specialty arm has already set the date for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is enthusiastic.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform plans for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s slate feed copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a tiered path that elevates both premiere heat and subscriber lifts in the back half. Prime Video combines library titles with international acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data backs it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in back-catalog play, using featured rows, fright rows, and featured rows to maximize the tail on aggregate take. Netflix retains agility about first-party entries and festival additions, finalizing horror entries with shorter lead times and framing as events debuts with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a staged of tailored theatrical exposure and prompt platform moves that converts WOM to subscribers. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a discrete basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to board select projects with accomplished filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for platform stickiness when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 sequence with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is tight: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, elevated for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the late-season weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, managing the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday frame to scale. That positioning has served the company well for prestige horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception justifies. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using limited runs to prime evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By count, the 2026 slate favors the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on legacy awareness. The concern, as ever, is brand erosion. The workable fix is to sell each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is centering character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-tinted vision from a fresh helmer. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the packaging is comforting enough to accelerate early sales and preview-night crowds.

Past-three-year patterns contextualize the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that observed windows did not deter a day-date move from succeeding when the brand was sticky. In 2024, auteur craft horror punched above its weight in premium large format. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they alter lens and increase ambition. 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 two-film strategy, with chapters shot consecutively, allows marketing to cross-link entries through protagonists and motifs and to keep assets alive without doldrums.

How the films are being made

The creative meetings behind this slate telegraph a continued bias toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that foregrounds atmosphere and fear rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in trade spotlights and artisan spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and gathers shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta recalibration that centers its original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature execution and sets, which play well in fan-con activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel definitive. Look for trailers that elevate pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that explode in larger rooms.

Annual flow

January is full. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid heftier brand moves. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the menu of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth persists.

Q1 into Q2 seed summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

August and September into October leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited advance reveals that center concept over reveals.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card use.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s synthetic partner turns into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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

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 stumble upon a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: gothic-game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her tough boss claw to survive on a remote island as the chain of command upends and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

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 dread, rooted in Cronin’s practical craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting setup that routes the horror through a kid’s uncertain subjective view. Rating: pending. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A parody return that lampoons present-day genre chatter and true crime fascinations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 breaks out, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a young family anchored to older hauntings. Rating: TBA. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A reboot designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on pure survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: TBA. Production: advancing. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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 primordial menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three workable forces frame this lineup. First, production that decelerated or re-sequenced in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming drops. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage turnkey scare beats from test screenings, managed scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will trade weekends 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 benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 underdog chase 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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a banquet, February Get More Info delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch 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 keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, sound field, and framing 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.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is recognizable IP where it plays, distinct vision 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, hold the mystery, and let the scares sell the seats.