Antediluvian Horror Emerges within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nightmare fueled feature, premiering Oct 2025 on top streaming platforms

One terrifying occult thriller from writer / director Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an forgotten entity when foreigners become conduits in a devilish experiment. Premiering this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful narrative of survival and mythic evil that will revolutionize genre cinema this autumn. Helmed by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and shadowy tale follows five lost souls who regain consciousness locked in a off-grid structure under the ominous will of Kyra, a young woman claimed by a biblical-era scriptural evil. Ready yourself to be immersed by a visual event that intertwines gut-punch terror with biblical origins, dropping on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a iconic trope in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is subverted when the presences no longer emerge outside their bodies, but rather inside them. This mirrors the haunting layer of the players. The result is a gripping psychological battle where the drama becomes a relentless push-pull between light and darkness.


In a barren no-man's-land, five figures find themselves imprisoned under the dark effect and infestation of a obscure female presence. As the companions becomes unable to oppose her rule, left alone and hunted by spirits inconceivable, they are confronted to face their greatest panics while the countdown brutally winds toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension builds and connections break, urging each protagonist to examine their self and the structure of liberty itself. The threat climb with every beat, delivering a frightening tale that harmonizes otherworldly panic with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to dig into core terror, an evil that existed before mankind, influencing our weaknesses, and confronting a force that tests the soul when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra involved tapping into something far beyond human desperation. She is clueless until the takeover begins, and that pivot is terrifying because it is so deep.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for worldwide release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—making sure users anywhere can engage with this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its release of trailer #1, which has pulled in over 100,000 views.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, giving access to the movie to a global viewership.


Experience this bone-rattling descent into darkness. Explore *Young & Cursed* this launch day to dive into these fearful discoveries about human nature.


For featurettes, behind-the-scenes content, and reveals from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your favorite networks and visit our horror hub.





Horror’s inflection point: 2025 U.S. rollouts melds legend-infused possession, signature indie scares, stacked beside IP aftershocks

Spanning pressure-cooker survival tales inspired by scriptural legend all the way to franchise returns together with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is shaping up as the most dimensioned as well as calculated campaign year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. studio majors bookend the months with established lines, even as subscription platforms saturate the fall with first-wave breakthroughs and ancient terrors. On the festival side, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is riding the tailwinds from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A fat September–October lane is customary now, and in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are targeted, accordingly 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s pipeline lights the fuse with a headline swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, inside today’s landscape. From director Leigh Whannell and toplined by 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. landing in mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Under Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer winds down, Warner’s schedule unveils the final movement inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson is back, and the tone that worked before is intact: retro dread, trauma as narrative engine, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The stakes escalate here, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, speaking to teens and older millennials. It opens in December, securing the winter cap.

SVOD Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a two hander body horror spiral featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. From writer director 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. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is a smart play. No overweight mythology. No continuity burden. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Long Running Lines: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to 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

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

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.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Outlook: Fall stack and winter swing card

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The new chiller slate: next chapters, original films, as well as A stacked Calendar tailored for chills

Dek The new terror slate crams early with a January logjam, subsequently stretches through peak season, and well into the December corridor, blending name recognition, inventive spins, and data-minded counter-scheduling. Studios and streamers are committing to smart costs, theatrical-first rollouts, and shareable marketing that position these pictures into national conversation.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The genre has emerged as the sturdy move in annual schedules, a lane that can expand when it resonates and still cushion the risk when it does not. After the 2023 year re-taught decision-makers that modestly budgeted chillers can own mainstream conversation, 2024 carried the beat with director-led heat and sleeper breakouts. The carry fed into the 2025 frame, where returns and filmmaker-prestige bets showed there is appetite for many shades, from franchise continuations to original one-offs that carry overseas. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a run that feels more orchestrated than usual across distributors, with mapped-out bands, a harmony of legacy names and novel angles, and a reinvigorated eye on theater exclusivity that increase tail monetization on premium digital rental and home platforms.

Buyers contend the space now behaves like a flex slot on the calendar. Horror can launch on open real estate, furnish a simple premise for promo reels and shorts, and outperform with fans that arrive on Thursday previews and return through the subsequent weekend if the picture satisfies. Coming out of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 mapping telegraphs comfort in that dynamic. The year starts with a loaded January window, then targets spring into early summer for alternate plays, while carving room for a fall run that extends to the fright window and afterwards. The grid also highlights the expanded integration of specialized labels and digital platforms that can nurture a platform play, fuel WOM, and roll out at the sweet spot.

A second macro trend is brand management across connected story worlds and heritage properties. Studios are not just releasing another return. They are moving to present brand continuity with a specialness, whether that is a title design that signals a new vibe or a lead change that links a incoming chapter to a early run. At the very same time, the writer-directors behind the top original plays are embracing in-camera technique, makeup and prosthetics and concrete locations. That pairing affords the 2026 slate a robust balance of home base and invention, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount defines the early cadence with two headline releases that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the heart, framing it as both a relay and a back-to-basics character piece. Production is active in Atlanta, and the authorial approach conveys a heritage-honoring angle without recycling the last two entries’ sisters thread. The studio is likely to mount a drive driven by classic imagery, intro reveals, and a promo sequence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

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 set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will emphasize. As a counterweight in summer, this one will build wide appeal through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick updates to whatever shapes the social talk that spring.

Universal has three discrete bets. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is clean, soulful, and big-hook: a grieving man brings home an digital partner that shifts into a harmful mate. The date positions it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s marketing likely to mirror off-kilter promo beats and snackable content that melds attachment and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a name unveil to become an attention spike closer to the opening teaser. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. His entries are framed as creative events, with a teaser that reveals little and a next wave of trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween runway gives the studio room to lead 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 helms, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has consistently shown that a tactile, hands-on effects method can feel big on a controlled budget. Expect a hard-R summer horror hit that leans into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio sets two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, carrying a steady supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is billing as a from-the-ground-up reboot 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 explicit mandate to serve both franchise faithful and general audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build artifacts around universe detail, and creature design, elements that can boost large-format demand and cosplayer momentum.

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 extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on meticulous craft and language, this time orbiting lycan myth. The distributor has already set the date for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is positive.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s slate window into copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a pacing that boosts both premiere heat and sign-up spikes in the later phase. Prime Video will mix outside acquisitions with global pickups and short theatrical plays when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in back-catalog play, Check This Out using featured rows, fright rows, and featured rows to stretch the tail on the 2026 genre total. Netflix plays opportunist about first-party entries and festival additions, slotting horror entries closer to launch and positioning as event drops rollouts with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a staged of precision releases and short jumps to platform that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a discrete basis. The platform has signaled readiness to pick up select projects with prestige directors or star-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation swells.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is curating a 2026 runway with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is simple: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, elevated for modern audio 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 indicated a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday dates to expand. That positioning has paid off for prestige horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception supports. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using boutique theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their subs.

Brands and originals

By skew, 2026 favors the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage cultural cachet. The watch-out, as ever, is audience fatigue. The operating solution is to position each entry as a new angle. Paramount is foregrounding relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French-accented approach from a fresh helmer. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and talent-first projects keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the bundle is known enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

The last three-year set illuminate the method. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that held distribution windows did not foreclose a day-date move from performing when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror hit big in premium large format. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they change perspective and stretch the story. 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 twin-shoot approach, with chapters shot consecutively, lets marketing to cross-link entries through character web and themes and to keep assets alive without long breaks.

Creative tendencies and craft

The shop talk behind the year’s horror indicate a continued lean toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that underscores tone and tension rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in long-lead press and technical spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that withholds plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for red-band excess, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and produces shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a self-aware reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature work and production design, which match well with fan conventions and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel definitive. Look for trailers that accent pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that explode in larger rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is full. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid macro-brand pushes. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the variety of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Late Q1 and spring seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Back half into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a early fall window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a minimalist tease strategy and limited disclosures that stress concept over spoilers.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and card redemption.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s algorithmic partner evolves into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed 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 emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot 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 finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: mood-led 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 abrasive boss try to survive on a uninhabited island as the pecking order swivels and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. 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 in the vault in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to dread, grounded in Cronin’s on-set craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 home-set haunting scenario that refracts terror through a youth’s flickering inner lens. Rating: not yet rated. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-built and star-fronted supernatural 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 genre lampoon that satirizes current genre trends and true-crime buzz. Rating: pending. Production: production booked 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 ignites, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further opens again, with a unlucky family lashed to older hauntings. Rating: not yet rated. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A clean reboot designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-core horror over action fireworks. Rating: pending. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: not yet rated. Production: continuing. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 elemental dread. Rating: pending. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026 and why now

Three hands-on forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that paused or recalendared in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and tighter 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 generated more than straight-to-streaming launches. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine turnkey scare beats from test screenings, curated scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will cluster across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where midrange-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, 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 cadence and diversity. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play 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 icy, 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 stack through the year, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, sound, and visual design that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is franchise muscle where it helps, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, guard the secrets, and let the frights sell the seats.