Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes antediluvian malevolence, a chilling supernatural thriller, landing Oct 2025 on global platforms

One eerie paranormal suspense film from screenwriter / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an timeless curse when foreigners become vehicles in a cursed ordeal. Debuting this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking chronicle of overcoming and primeval wickedness that will reshape fear-driven cinema this fall. Crafted by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and gothic feature follows five unknowns who snap to stuck in a remote cabin under the malignant dominion of Kyra, a female presence inhabited by a 2,000-year-old scriptural evil. Get ready to be ensnared by a immersive adventure that unites soul-chilling terror with biblical origins, landing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a long-standing pillar in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is radically shifted when the beings no longer descend externally, but rather through their own souls. This echoes the darkest aspect of each of them. The result is a bone-chilling spiritual tug-of-war where the events becomes a unyielding face-off between virtue and vice.


In a abandoned no-man's-land, five youths find themselves caught under the possessive influence and haunting of a secretive entity. As the youths becomes paralyzed to break her grasp, cut off and attacked by terrors indescribable, they are required to acknowledge their inner demons while the final hour relentlessly pushes forward toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety intensifies and associations shatter, demanding each survivor to evaluate their character and the nature of independent thought itself. The threat intensify with every beat, delivering a frightening tale that integrates paranormal dread with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to channel basic terror, an entity before modern man, channeling itself through psychological breaks, and dealing with a presence that dismantles free will when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra was about accessing something beyond human emotion. She is uninformed until the entity awakens, and that metamorphosis is bone-chilling because it is so visceral.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be available for streaming beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—giving households from coast to coast can survive this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its original promo, which has pulled in over massive response.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, taking the terror to global fright lovers.


Be sure to catch this bone-rattling path of possession. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to witness these unholy truths about the soul.


For exclusive trailers, on-set glimpses, and promotions from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursed across media channels and visit the official movie site.





Horror’s inflection point: calendar year 2025 stateside slate integrates archetypal-possession themes, art-house nightmares, paired with series shake-ups

Spanning survivor-centric dread grounded in near-Eastern lore and including brand-name continuations plus pointed art-house angles, 2025 looks like the most variegated in tandem with strategic year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. top-tier distributors lay down anchors with franchise anchors, at the same time subscription platforms load up the fall with unboxed visions set against scriptural shivers. In parallel, the artisan tier is surfing the momentum from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, distinctly in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are surgical, thus 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: The Return of Prestige Fear

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 set the base, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s distribution arm starts the year with an audacious swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, inside today’s landscape. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. Booked into mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Eli Craig directs starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

Toward summer’s end, the Warner Bros. banner bows the concluding entry inside its trusty horror universe: 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 with a familiar chassis, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: nostalgic menace, trauma as text, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This pass pushes higher, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The follow up digs further into canon, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, bridging teens and legacy players. It books December, cornering year end horror.

SVOD Originals: Economy, maximum dread

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a two hander body horror spiral starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, 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. Even without a formal platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It is canny scheduling. No overinflated mythology. No series drag. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

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

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

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Franchise Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, from Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

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.

Dials to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror ascends again
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

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

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. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The new Horror year to come: next chapters, original films, together with A packed Calendar aimed at screams

Dek The emerging horror season crowds up front with a January glut, after that unfolds through the summer months, and carrying into the holiday frame, balancing IP strength, new concepts, and well-timed counterprogramming. The major players are focusing on mid-range economics, theatrical leads, and social-driven marketing that frame horror entries into national conversation.

Horror momentum into 2026

This category has shown itself to be the bankable counterweight in annual schedules, a corner that can expand when it resonates and still safeguard the floor when it under-delivers. After 2023 reconfirmed for decision-makers that lean-budget horror vehicles can drive the national conversation, the following year held pace with high-profile filmmaker pieces and stealth successes. The head of steam flowed into 2025, where reboots and filmmaker-prestige bets underscored there is capacity for several lanes, from sequel tracks to director-led originals that carry overseas. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a grid that seems notably aligned across the industry, with purposeful groupings, a harmony of familiar brands and novel angles, and a reinvigorated attention on cinema windows that power the aftermarket on premium video on demand and home platforms.

Distribution heads claim the space now performs as a utility player on the rollout map. Horror can premiere on nearly any frame, deliver a grabby hook for promo reels and social clips, and over-index with patrons that show up on previews Thursday and continue through the second frame if the title fires. After a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 configuration demonstrates conviction in that approach. The calendar rolls out with a thick January window, then plants flags in spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while reserving space for a September to October window that flows toward the fright window and into November. The schedule also reflects the greater integration of specialty arms and subscription services that can develop over weeks, fuel WOM, and go nationwide at the inflection point.

A reinforcing pattern is IP cultivation across linked properties and long-running brands. Studio teams are not just releasing another next film. They are aiming to frame continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a art treatment that telegraphs a reframed mood or a casting choice that threads a fresh chapter to a first wave. At the alongside this, the visionaries behind the high-profile originals are leaning into material texture, special makeup and location-forward worlds. That mix affords the 2026 slate a vital pairing of trust and surprise, which is why the genre exports well.

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

Paramount marks the early tempo with two front-of-slate moves that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, framing it as both a handoff and a rootsy relationship-driven entry. Production is active in Atlanta, and the creative stance indicates a classic-referencing strategy without recycling the last two entries’ sisters thread. Count on a promo wave leaning on classic imagery, character previews, and a tiered teaser plan targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will stress. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will hunt mass reach through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format fitting quick shifts to whatever drives pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three clear releases. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is straightforward, somber, and commercial: a grieving man purchases an intelligent companion that escalates into a murderous partner. The date slots it at the front of a stacked January, with the studio’s marketing likely to reprise strange in-person beats and brief clips that blurs affection and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a official title to become an event moment closer to the debut look. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. The filmmaker’s films are treated as signature events, with a minimalist tease and a second beat that shape mood without giving away the concept. The spooky-season slot opens a lane to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has established that a gritty, makeup-driven execution can feel elevated on a middle budget. Position this as a red-band summer horror hit that leans into international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio books two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, maintaining a evergreen supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is calling a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both fans and new audiences. The fall slot allows Sony to build campaign pieces around universe detail, and monster aesthetics, elements that can amplify premium screens and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by meticulous craft and textual fidelity, this time engaging werewolf myth. The label has already set the date for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is positive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Digital strategies for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal titles land on copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a stair-step that expands both FOMO and sign-up spikes in the back half. Prime Video combines licensed content with worldwide entries and limited runs in theaters when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu work their edges in catalog engagement, using curated hubs, genre hubs, and editorial rows to prolong the run on lifetime his comment is here take. Netflix remains opportunistic about originals and festival deals, finalizing horror entries near their drops and turning into events go-lives with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a staged of targeted cinema placements and prompt platform moves that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown appetite to pick up select projects with prestige directors or star packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation intensifies.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 lane with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is no-nonsense: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, reimagined 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 suggested a cinema-first plan for the title, an good sign for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the autumn stretch.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then relying on the Christmas window to open out. That positioning has worked well for arthouse horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception supports. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using boutique theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their membership.

Balance of brands and originals

By tilt, 2026 is weighted toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage legacy awareness. The question, as ever, is staleness. The preferred tactic is to brand each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is underscoring character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a Francophone tone from a rising filmmaker. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the package is comforting enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday previews.

Recent comps announce the approach. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that kept streaming intact did not preclude a parallel release from hitting when the brand was powerful. In 2024, auteur craft horror outperformed in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel new when they shift POV and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward 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 filmed in sequence, gives leeway to marketing to bridge entries through character and theme and to keep assets in-market without hiatuses.

How the films are being made

The craft rooms behind the year’s horror signal a continued turn toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that centers tone and tension rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the grimmest 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 cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in craft journalism and department features before rolling out a preview 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 set up for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and generates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta-horror reset that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature design and production design, which play well in fan conventions and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel definitive. Look for trailers that emphasize disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that land in big rooms.

Release calendar overview

January is loaded. 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 quiet contrast amid macro-brand pushes. The month buttons 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 meaningful, but the tonal variety gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth sustains.

Post-January through spring set up the summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

August and September into October leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-October slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event occupies October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a slow-reveal plan and limited information drops that favor idea over plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift card usage.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s AI companion mutates into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 struggle to survive on a uninhabited island as the control balance inverts and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to terror, grounded in Cronin’s hands-on craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting chiller that filters its scares through a little one’s flickering subjective lens. Rating: rating pending. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A parody return that riffs on in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime buzz. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming slated 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 bursts, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further extends again, with a young family tethered to ancient dread. Rating: to be announced. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A restart designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: TBA. Production: in progress. 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 time-true diction and bone-deep menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a cinema-first path before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three practical forces inform this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or recalendared in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and shorter schedules. 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 outpaced straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify repeatable beats from test screenings, managed scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will line up across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 sleeper-hit hunt 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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, 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 keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, sound, 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 Strong 2026 Horizon

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is IP strength where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver 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-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, guard the secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.