Primordial Horror Stirs in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling chiller, arriving Oct 2025 on leading streamers

One unnerving spiritual thriller from writer / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an timeless nightmare when unknowns become instruments in a cursed maze. Dropping this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish saga of perseverance and ancient evil that will reshape terror storytelling this harvest season. Directed by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and gothic screenplay follows five strangers who wake up confined in a secluded cabin under the hostile rule of Kyra, a female lead overtaken by a prehistoric sacrosanct terror. Anticipate to be ensnared by a motion picture event that merges intense horror with mystical narratives, coming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a time-honored tradition in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is reversed when the dark entities no longer manifest from an outside force, but rather within themselves. This marks the deepest corner of the protagonists. The result is a relentless mental war where the emotions becomes a perpetual clash between righteousness and malevolence.


In a desolate wild, five individuals find themselves contained under the ominous presence and control of a haunted apparition. As the youths becomes unable to break her will, abandoned and stalked by unknowns inconceivable, they are driven to stand before their darkest emotions while the doomsday meter mercilessly moves toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension escalates and associations disintegrate, pressuring each individual to examine their core and the philosophy of free will itself. The consequences climb with every instant, delivering a nightmarish journey that weaves together supernatural terror with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to channel basic terror, an entity that predates humanity, manifesting in human fragility, and wrestling with a spirit that forces self-examination when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra meant channeling something past sanity. She is clueless until the control shifts, and that evolution is terrifying because it is so personal.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for audiences beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—making sure viewers worldwide can witness this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its first trailer, which has earned over massive response.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, bringing the film to international horror buffs.


Experience this heart-stopping voyage through terror. Confront *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to acknowledge these haunting secrets about free will.


For featurettes, set experiences, and reveals via the production team, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your socials and visit our film’s homepage.





U.S. horror’s inflection point: the 2025 cycle domestic schedule melds biblical-possession ideas, underground frights, alongside brand-name tremors

Ranging from survival horror suffused with near-Eastern lore and stretching into series comebacks together with focused festival visions, 2025 is coalescing into horror’s most layered and blueprinted year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. Major studios lock in tentpoles using marquee IP, simultaneously streaming platforms stack the fall with unboxed visions as well as legend-coded dread. Across the art-house lane, the independent cohort is buoyed by the backdraft of a peak 2024 circuit. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the other windows are mapped with care. A fat September–October lane is customary now, distinctly in 2025, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are disciplined, thus 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: High-craft horror returns

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

Universal fires the first shot with a headline swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, instead in a current-day frame. From director Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. timed for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Eli Craig directs anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

By late summer, the WB camp releases the last chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. While the template is known, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

The Black Phone 2 follows. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re engages, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: nostalgic menace, trauma as text, and eerie supernatural logic. This pass pushes higher, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It opens in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Firsts: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While the big screen favors titles you know, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a tight space body horror vignette fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Then there is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is an astute call. No overstuffed canon. No legacy baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Series Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake 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. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Signals and Trends

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror reemerges
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Laurels convert to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Outlook: Fall stack and winter swing card

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields 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.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The oncoming Horror year to come: installments, universe starters, as well as A hectic Calendar optimized for chills

Dek: The fresh terror season packs up front with a January logjam, then flows through peak season, and straight through the year-end corridor, fusing marquee clout, inventive spins, and savvy calendar placement. Studios with streamers are embracing efficient budgets, theatrical leads, and viral-minded pushes that frame genre releases into four-quadrant talking points.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The genre has solidified as the surest release in release plans, a space that can lift when it resonates and still protect the downside when it falls short. After 2023 showed decision-makers that cost-conscious fright engines can shape audience talk, 2024 held pace with festival-darling auteurs and word-of-mouth wins. The carry flowed into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and premium-leaning entries underscored there is space for varied styles, from returning installments to original features that play globally. The net effect for 2026 is a programming that presents tight coordination across players, with clear date clusters, a combination of marquee IP and new packages, and a recommitted commitment on big-screen windows that power the aftermarket on paid VOD and OTT platforms.

Executives say the genre now acts as a wildcard on the distribution slate. The genre can open on virtually any date, supply a easy sell for ad units and TikTok spots, and outstrip with patrons that lean in on previews Thursday and continue through the second weekend if the release fires. In the wake of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 layout telegraphs belief in that setup. The slate kicks off with a stacked January corridor, then plants flags in spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while making space for a fall cadence that stretches into spooky season and into the next week. The map also shows the ongoing integration of indie arms and SVOD players that can platform and widen, spark evangelism, and grow at the strategic time.

A parallel macro theme is brand management across unified worlds and legacy IP. Big banners are not just mounting another sequel. They are trying to present lineage with a headline quality, whether that is a title treatment that suggests a new vibe or a ensemble decision that anchors a next film to a first wave. At the simultaneously, the helmers behind the eagerly awaited originals are favoring in-camera technique, on-set effects and location-forward worlds. That blend yields the 2026 slate a solid mix of familiarity and invention, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount leads early with two big-ticket projects that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the spine, angling it as both a handoff and a back-to-basics character-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach suggests a legacy-leaning campaign without looping the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Anticipate a campaign fueled by franchise iconography, early character teases, and a tiered teaser plan targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

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 reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will lean on. As a summer relief option, this one will pursue general-audience talk through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format allowing quick switches to whatever drives horror talk that spring.

Universal has three unique strategies. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is elegant, heartbroken, and premise-first: a grieving man installs an artificial companion that turns into his comment is here a fatal companion. The date locates it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s team likely to iterate on strange in-person beats and snackable content that interweaves intimacy and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a public title to become an PR pop closer to the teaser. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. His projects are framed as filmmaker events, with a teaser that holds back and a second beat that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date lets the studio to dominate 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, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has shown that a flesh-and-blood, hands-on effects strategy can feel deluxe on a controlled budget. Look for a viscera-heavy summer horror charge that maximizes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio mounts two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, maintaining a bankable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has shifted dates 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 selling as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both core fans and new audiences. The fall slot allows Sony to build campaign pieces around universe detail, and creature design, elements that can drive premium booking interest and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by textural authenticity and linguistic texture, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a bold stance in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is warm.

Where the platforms fit in

Windowing plans in 2026 run on stable tracks. The studio’s horror films shift to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a pacing that expands both first-week urgency and sign-up spikes in the post-theatrical. Prime Video blends outside acquisitions with cross-border buys and select theatrical runs when the data supports it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library engagement, using prominent placements, October hubs, and curated strips to increase tail value on the 2026 genre total. Netflix remains opportunistic about in-house releases and festival wins, timing horror entries tight to release and framing as events releases with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a laddered of tailored theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to purchase select projects with name filmmakers or star packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for monthly activity when the genre conversation spikes.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 sequence with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is tight: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, updated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the October weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the year-end corridor to expand. That positioning has helped for prestige horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception encourages. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using limited runs to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Series vs standalone

By skew, the 2026 slate favors the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on cultural cachet. The risk, as ever, is audience fatigue. The pragmatic answer is to market each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is bringing forward character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-flavored turn from a buzzed-about director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the packaging is comforting enough to generate pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Three-year comps make sense of the model. In 2023, a exclusive window model that held distribution windows did not hamper a day-date move from hitting when the brand was big. In 2024, art-forward horror outperformed in large-format rooms. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they shift POV and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters shot in tandem, builds a path for marketing to thread films through cast and motif and to hold creative in the market without long gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The director conversations behind 2026 horror signal a continued tilt toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that leans on grain and menace rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and medieval diction, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in feature stories and guild coverage before rolling out a first look that leans on mood over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and creates shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta inflection that centers its original star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster realization and design, which match well with convention floor stunts and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel key. Look for trailers that spotlight precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that benefit on big speakers.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is busy. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid larger brand plays. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the spread of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth carries.

Q1 into Q2 build the summer base. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late summer into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a late-September window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a opaque tease strategy and limited advance reveals that lean on concept not plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card burn.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s artificial companion becomes something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads 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: aura-driven adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her severe boss battle to survive on a cut-off island as the power balance of power turns and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. 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 fright, shaped by Cronin’s on-set craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting scenario that channels the fear through a little one’s unsteady personal vantage. Rating: not yet rated. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

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 send-up revival that needles current genre trends and true-crime manias. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 bursts, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: cameras rolling 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: awaiting classification. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A fresh restart designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward true survival horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: to be announced. Production: advancing. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and primordial menace. Rating: TBA. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the moment is 2026

Three pragmatic forces organize this lineup. First, production that eased or migrated in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work repeatable beats from test screenings, managed scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can capture a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will coexist across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can make hay in 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 fit below the $40–$50 million line, 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where modest-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 dark-horse hit 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, 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 image-making 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

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is name recognition where it counts, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, hold the mystery, and let the gasps sell the seats.