Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed reignites primeval horror, a pulse pounding shocker, premiering Oct 2025 across top streaming platforms

One spine-tingling unearthly suspense film from scriptwriter / director Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an age-old entity when outsiders become instruments in a dark struggle. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping account of overcoming and archaic horror that will remodel scare flicks this ghoul season. Helmed by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and claustrophobic suspense flick follows five young adults who regain consciousness trapped in a hidden cottage under the malignant manipulation of Kyra, a tormented girl claimed by a prehistoric sacrosanct terror. Anticipate to be gripped by a immersive outing that melds gut-punch terror with mythic lore, landing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a time-honored fixture in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is reimagined when the beings no longer descend from beyond, but rather deep within. This portrays the most sinister shade of these individuals. The result is a edge-of-seat spiritual tug-of-war where the suspense becomes a ongoing conflict between moral forces.


In a desolate wild, five characters find themselves contained under the fiendish grip and control of a elusive figure. As the ensemble becomes submissive to deny her command, exiled and tracked by terrors beyond reason, they are compelled to stand before their worst nightmares while the seconds mercilessly winds toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread surges and alliances collapse, forcing each participant to doubt their character and the nature of volition itself. The stakes climb with every fleeting time, delivering a scare-fueled ride that marries mystical fear with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to awaken elemental fright, an entity before modern man, channeling itself through inner turmoil, and questioning a spirit that redefines identity when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra was centered on something outside normal anguish. She is unaware until the entity awakens, and that evolution is shocking because it is so personal.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for digital release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—making sure viewers no matter where they are can get immersed in this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its first preview, which has garnered over notable views.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, exporting the fear to horror fans worldwide.


Avoid skipping this unforgettable journey into fear. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to explore these terrifying truths about our species.


For behind-the-scenes access, set experiences, and announcements from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your favorite networks and visit youngandcursed.com.





U.S. horror’s sea change: 2025 U.S. calendar melds biblical-possession ideas, signature indie scares, plus IP aftershocks

Across pressure-cooker survival tales grounded in primordial scripture and stretching into installment follow-ups and surgical indie voices, 2025 appears poised to be the richest paired with intentionally scheduled year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. Major studios lay down anchors by way of signature titles, even as streaming platforms saturate the fall with discovery plays and old-world menace. Meanwhile, indie storytellers is catching the carry from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Since Halloween is the prized date, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, distinctly in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are intentional, as a result 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Premium dread reemerges

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s pipeline begins the calendar with a marquee bet: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, instead in a current-day frame. Under director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. set for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Under Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer wanes, Warner’s pipeline bows the concluding entry from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. While the template is known, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

After that, The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: 70s style chill, trauma foregrounded, along with eerie supernatural rules. This pass pushes higher, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, thickens the animatronic pantheon, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It posts in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streaming Offerings: Tight funds, wide impact

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Also notable is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable with Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but 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.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is canny scheduling. No bloated canon. No canon weight. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy Lines: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, with Francis Lawrence directing, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

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.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic currents go mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror comes roaring back
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Forward View: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The forthcoming 2026 spook cycle: next chapters, new stories, And A stacked Calendar optimized for chills

Dek The emerging scare slate packs in short order with a January crush, following that extends through summer corridors, and deep into the holidays, fusing name recognition, novel approaches, and tactical counterprogramming. Studio marketers and platforms are focusing on cost discipline, cinema-first plans, and influencer-ready assets that shape these releases into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The field has emerged as the most reliable release in programming grids, a space that can break out when it resonates and still safeguard the exposure when it stumbles. After 2023 reassured greenlighters that low-to-mid budget pictures can lead mainstream conversation, 2024 carried the beat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and slow-burn breakouts. The head of steam translated to the 2025 frame, where resurrections and critical darlings highlighted there is space for several lanes, from series extensions to one-and-done originals that perform internationally. The upshot for 2026 is a slate that presents tight coordination across players, with clear date clusters, a blend of known properties and first-time concepts, and a refocused stance on exclusive windows that power the aftermarket on paid VOD and subscription services.

Planners observe the space now serves as a flex slot on the programming map. Horror can arrive on numerous frames, yield a clean hook for previews and social clips, and overperform with crowds that turn out on early shows and return through the next weekend if the film works. Coming out of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 pattern demonstrates trust in that approach. The slate launches with a stacked January run, then leans on spring and early summer for alternate plays, while keeping space for a autumn push that carries into the Halloween corridor and past the holiday. The calendar also highlights the ongoing integration of specialty arms and SVOD players that can develop over weeks, grow buzz, and move wide at the sweet spot.

A parallel macro theme is series management across shared universes and long-running brands. The players are not just mounting another continuation. They are setting up ongoing narrative with a sense of event, whether that is a graphic identity that conveys a reframed mood or a star attachment that connects a latest entry to a heyday. At the alongside this, the filmmakers behind the most buzzed-about originals are celebrating practical craft, physical gags and concrete locations. That fusion delivers 2026 a lively combination of brand comfort and invention, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount marks the early tempo with two prominent titles that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the front, steering it as both a lineage transfer and a foundation-forward character-forward chapter. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance conveys a nostalgia-forward campaign without covering again the last two entries’ sibling arc. Plan for a rollout driven by signature symbols, initial cast looks, and a tiered teaser plan targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also brings back 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 as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will stress. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will hunt wide appeal through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format supporting quick adjustments to whatever tops the discourse that spring.

Universal has three specific pushes. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is tight, sorrow-tinged, and easily pitched: a grieving man activates an intelligent companion that unfolds into a dangerous lover. The date places it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s campaign likely to replay strange in-person beats and micro spots that interlaces longing and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a title reveal to become an headline beat closer to the debut look. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele titles are treated as marquee events, with a hinting teaser and a follow-up trailer set that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The late-month date lets the studio to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate 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 is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has established that a tactile, practical-effects forward aesthetic can feel deluxe on a middle budget. Expect a splatter summer horror jolt that embraces overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio sets two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, holding a trusty supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is positioning as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both core fans and casuals. The fall slot affords Sony time to build promo materials around narrative world, and creature work, elements that can amplify premium booking interest and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in minute detail and dialect, this time driven by werewolf stories. The company has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is favorable.

How the platforms plan to play it

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s horror titles head to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a cadence that elevates both FOMO and trial spikes in the after-window. Prime Video balances outside acquisitions with world buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data signals it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in library engagement, using well-timed internal promotions, holiday hubs, and curated strips to lengthen the tail on 2026 genre cume. Netflix stays nimble about Netflix films and festival pickups, timing horror entries on shorter runways and turning into events drops with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a dual-phase of precision theatrical plays and speedy platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has signaled readiness to take on select projects with top-tier auteurs or star packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for sustained usage when the genre conversation swells.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 corridor with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is clean: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, recalibrated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has signaled a traditional cinema play for the title, an good sign for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the autumn weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the Christmas corridor to increase reach. That positioning has served the company well for filmmaker-first horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception drives. 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 as partners, using limited runs to jump-start evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Franchises versus originals

By proportion, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use brand equity. The watch-out, as ever, is fatigue. The go-to fix is to pitch each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is bringing forward character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-tinted vision from a emerging director. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the assembly is grounded enough to generate pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Recent-year comps announce the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that observed windows did not foreclose a day-date move from winning when the brand was big. In 2024, auteur craft horror hit big in premium large format. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they pivot perspective and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends 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 filmed in sequence, provides the means for marketing to link the films through character spine and themes and to sustain campaign assets without dead zones.

Technique and craft currents

The craft conversations behind the upcoming entries signal a continued lean toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that leans on atmosphere and fear rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for textured sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in long-lead features and technical spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and generates shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta pivot that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature craft and set design, which match well with con floor moments and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel necessary. Look for trailers that emphasize pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that land in premium houses.

Release calendar overview

January is crowded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid bigger brand plays. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the palette of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth sticks.

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

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

August into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a peekaboo tease plan and limited advance reveals that center concept over reveals.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift card usage.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s machine mate mutates into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back 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 journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her tough boss claw to survive on a remote island as the power balance inverts and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

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 contemporary retelling that returns the monster to chill, anchored by Cronin’s hands-on craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting story that leverages the unease of a child’s unreliable perspective. Rating: to be announced. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A satire sequel that satirizes today’s horror trends and true crime fervors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 surges, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further extends again, with a young family linked to older hauntings. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: pending. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival-first horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: pending. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: to be announced. Production: continuing. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on historical diction and bone-deep menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the moment is 2026

Three grounded forces shape this lineup. First, production that decelerated or rearranged in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and leaner 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 surpassed straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify clippable moments from test screenings, precision scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

The slot calculus is real. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can lead a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout of imp source 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 tempo and variety. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, 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 keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, acoustics, 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 Robust 2026 On Deck

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand heft where it matters, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of 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-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, guard the secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.