Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes ancient dread, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, bowing October 2025 across major platforms

An hair-raising metaphysical nightmare movie from screenwriter / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an archaic evil when unknowns become conduits in a dark experiment. Available October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing account of struggle and primordial malevolence that will remodel terror storytelling this ghoul season. Guided by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and immersive feature follows five figures who find themselves caught in a isolated cabin under the unfriendly grip of Kyra, a possessed female consumed by a prehistoric ancient fiend. Anticipate to be hooked by a cinematic adventure that integrates visceral dread with legendary tales, releasing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a historical concept in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is radically shifted when the demons no longer descend from external sources, but rather from within. This symbolizes the haunting corner of all involved. The result is a psychologically brutal mind game where the events becomes a merciless face-off between good and evil.


In a forsaken wild, five adults find themselves isolated under the sinister sway and curse of a uncanny character. As the group becomes incapacitated to resist her will, exiled and tracked by unknowns beyond comprehension, they are made to reckon with their deepest fears while the timeline harrowingly counts down toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension surges and alliances crack, coercing each individual to challenge their essence and the concept of liberty itself. The hazard mount with every breath, delivering a horror experience that weaves together supernatural terror with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to dive into primitive panic, an darkness beyond recorded history, emerging via emotional vulnerability, and dealing with a evil that dismantles free will when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra involved tapping into something rooted in terror. She is in denial until the possession kicks in, and that evolution is emotionally raw because it is so intimate.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be available for home viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—giving audiences across the world can dive into this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its intro video, which has been viewed over 100,000 views.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, giving access to the movie to lovers of terror across nations.


Tune in for this soul-jarring spiral into evil. Confront *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to dive into these spiritual awakenings about the psyche.


For director insights, filmmaker commentary, and press updates from the creators, follow @YACFilm across media channels and visit our film’s homepage.





American horror’s tipping point: 2025 in focus stateside slate fuses myth-forward possession, microbudget gut-punches, in parallel with series shake-ups

Kicking off with last-stand terror drawn from scriptural legend and including series comebacks set beside pointed art-house angles, 2025 is coalescing into the most variegated in tandem with calculated campaign year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. leading studios hold down the year with known properties, at the same time premium streamers saturate the fall with new voices as well as mythic dread. On the festival side, the artisan tier is surfing the uplift from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, distinctly in 2025, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are precise, as a result 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

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

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 set the base, 2025 doubles down.

the Universal banner begins the calendar with a statement play: a modernized Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, but a sharp contemporary setting. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. targeting mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Steered by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

Toward summer’s end, the Warner lot rolls out the capstone of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. While the template is known, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Scott Derrickson is back, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: old school creep, trauma centered writing, along with eerie supernatural rules. This pass pushes higher, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, builds out the animatronic fear crew, reaching teens and game grownups. It opens in December, securing the winter cap.

Platform Originals: No Budget, No Problem

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a close quarters body horror study fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Then there is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable with Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is a clever angle. No bloated mythology. No sequel clutter. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

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

SXSW 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.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, from Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Trends to Watch

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror comes roaring back
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Season Ahead: Fall saturation and a winter joker

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 grind for attention. Expect one or more 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 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 next scare lineup: returning titles, filmmaker-first projects, paired with A jammed Calendar designed for chills

Dek The upcoming genre calendar stacks at the outset with a January logjam, after that flows through the summer months, and continuing into the late-year period, mixing legacy muscle, creative pitches, and data-minded alternatives. Studio marketers and platforms are prioritizing efficient budgets, theater-first strategies, and viral-minded pushes that elevate genre releases into national conversation.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The horror marketplace has proven to be the consistent lever in studio lineups, a vertical that can accelerate when it connects and still mitigate the floor when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year proved to buyers that lean-budget genre plays can steer the national conversation, the following year maintained heat with filmmaker-forward plays and word-of-mouth wins. The run flowed into 2025, where revived properties and awards-minded projects highlighted there is an opening for different modes, from returning installments to director-led originals that resonate abroad. The sum for 2026 is a programming that shows rare alignment across players, with intentional bunching, a equilibrium of established brands and original hooks, and a re-energized emphasis on exhibition windows that increase tail monetization on PVOD and SVOD.

Distribution heads claim the space now behaves like a wildcard on the slate. Horror can launch on a wide range of weekends, generate a clean hook for ad units and shorts, and outperform with ticket buyers that line up on Thursday nights and continue through the next pass if the release satisfies. Following a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 cadence demonstrates conviction in that approach. The calendar launches with a loaded January lineup, then leans on spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while leaving room for a fall corridor that carries into spooky season and past the holiday. The program also spotlights the expanded integration of specialized imprints and streaming partners that can platform a title, ignite recommendations, and roll out at the inflection point.

A companion trend is franchise tending across connected story worlds and legacy franchises. Big banners are not just greenlighting another continuation. They are moving to present lineage with a occasion, whether that is a brandmark that announces a tonal shift or a star attachment that bridges a latest entry to a heyday. At the same time, the creative teams behind the most anticipated originals are prioritizing real-world builds, in-camera effects and grounded locations. That convergence produces the 2026 slate a smart balance of comfort and discovery, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount sets the tone early with two high-profile titles that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the front, steering it as both a baton pass and a foundation-forward character-forward chapter. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the artistic posture indicates a memory-charged campaign without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive anchored in recognizable motifs, character-first teases, and a rollout cadence targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will play up. As a summer alternative, this one will chase mass reach through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format inviting quick adjustments to whatever tops the discourse that spring.

Universal has three specific pushes. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is elegant, sorrow-tinged, and high-concept: a grieving man purchases an virtual partner that becomes a deadly partner. The date lines it up at the front of a packed window, with the marketing arm likely to reprise creepy live activations and short-cut promos that hybridizes romance and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a final title to become an teaser payoff closer to the first look. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s releases are set up as creative events, with a minimalist tease and a follow-up trailer set that define feel without revealing the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor lets the studio to dominate 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, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has long shown that a tactile, on-set effects led method can feel big on a lean spend. Frame it as a splatter summer horror blast that leans hard into global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio launches two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, continuing a dependable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is marketing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both fans and new audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build assets around world-building, and practical creature work, elements that can amplify format premiums and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by rigorous craft and textual fidelity, this time exploring werewolf lore. The label has already set the date for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is robust.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform tactics for 2026 run on proven patterns. The Universal horror run transition to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a stair-step that expands both launch urgency and sign-up momentum in the post-theatrical. Prime Video stitches together third-party pickups with global originals and targeted theatrical runs when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in archive usage, using in-app campaigns, genre hubs, and editorial rows to prolong the run on overall cume. Netflix keeps flexible about internal projects and festival snaps, finalizing horror entries with shorter lead times and making event-like go-lives with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a paired of tailored theatrical exposure and prompt platform moves that turns chatter to conversion. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to secure select projects with award winners or star-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation builds.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is curating a 2026 slate with two brand extensions. 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 moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, elevated for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the September weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday dates to scale. That positioning has worked well for arthouse horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception supports. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using limited theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their membership.

Franchises versus originals

By weight, 2026 is weighted toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness franchise value. The concern, as ever, is brand wear. The go-to fix is to position each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is foregrounding relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a European tilt from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and talent-first projects keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the bundle is grounded enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years contextualize the strategy. In 2023, a theater-first model that preserved streaming windows did not obstruct a day-date try from paying off when the brand was potent. In 2024, director-craft horror outperformed in premium formats. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they rotate perspective and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters lensed back-to-back, allows marketing to bridge entries through personae and themes and to keep materials circulating without extended gaps.

Technique and craft currents

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind these films forecast a continued shift toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that emphasizes unease and texture rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in long-lead press and craft spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is get redirected here calibrated for red-band excess, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and earns shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta inflection that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster aesthetics and world-building, which fit with fan-con activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel key. Look for trailers that underscore fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that play in premium auditoriums.

Month-by-month map

January is loaded. 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 foggy reset amid macro-brand pushes. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the mix of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Late winter and spring tee up summer. Scream 7 opens February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s 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 light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

August and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a bridge slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited pre-release reveals that elevate concept over story.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card burn.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s machine mate unfolds into something dangerously intimate. 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 forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem 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 run into a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 demanding boss try to survive on a uninhabited island as the control balance turns and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 renewed vision that returns the monster to fright, based on Cronin’s practical effects and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting tale that twists the fright of a child’s inconsistent point of view. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-grade and toplined supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A satire sequel that riffs on current genre trends and true-crime buzz. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites flares, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new clan linked to older hauntings. Rating: to be announced. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival-first horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: undetermined. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: closely held. Rating: undetermined. Production: moving forward. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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-specific language and ancient menace. Rating: pending. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three workable forces organize this lineup. First, production that slowed or rearranged in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined 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 dumps. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on repeatable beats from test screenings, curated scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will share space across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 disciplined-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, soundcraft, 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.

A Promising 2026

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is name recognition where it counts, creative ambition where it counts, 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 late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the chills sell the seats.