Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons antediluvian malevolence, a nightmare fueled thriller, debuting Oct 2025 across top streaming platforms

One eerie unearthly fear-driven tale from author / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an long-buried terror when unknowns become victims in a devilish game. Streaming this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, Google’s YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a intense tale of living through and forgotten curse that will transform fear-driven cinema this Halloween season. Created by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and eerie suspense flick follows five unknowns who emerge locked in a cut-off house under the sinister power of Kyra, a tormented girl haunted by a time-worn biblical demon. Be warned to be immersed by a audio-visual outing that integrates gut-punch terror with spiritual backstory, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a mainstay foundation in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is redefined when the spirits no longer appear from an outside force, but rather inside them. This represents the shadowy part of every character. The result is a riveting identity crisis where the intensity becomes a relentless face-off between light and darkness.


In a bleak natural abyss, five young people find themselves stuck under the sinister aura and curse of a enigmatic person. As the companions becomes incapable to evade her command, detached and targeted by unknowns inconceivable, they are obligated to deal with their raw vulnerabilities while the time coldly draws closer toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust rises and friendships collapse, urging each survivor to evaluate their personhood and the idea of personal agency itself. The tension amplify with every passing moment, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that connects occult fear with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to dive into pure dread, an force beyond recorded history, working through emotional fractures, and wrestling with a power that threatens selfhood when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra required summoning something beneath mortal despair. She is unaware until the invasion happens, and that transition is eerie because it is so private.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for on-demand beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—providing subscribers anywhere can survive this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its original promo, which has earned over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, taking the terror to lovers of terror across nations.


Don’t miss this heart-stopping trip into the unknown. Watch *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to explore these chilling revelations about the mind.


For previews, production news, and reveals directly from production, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across Facebook and TikTok and visit the movie’s homepage.





Modern horror’s sea change: the 2025 cycle American release plan Mixes Mythic Possession, indie terrors, in parallel with IP aftershocks

Moving from survivor-centric dread steeped in legendary theology and stretching into brand-name continuations and focused festival visions, 2025 is coalescing into the most textured in tandem with intentionally scheduled year in a decade.

Call it full, but it is also focused. Major studios plant stakes across the year with franchise anchors, while digital services pack the fall with new perspectives set against mythic dread. At the same time, festival-forward creators is propelled by the afterglow from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. With Halloween holding the peak, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, and now, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are disciplined, which means 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Premium genre swings back

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s distribution arm leads off the quarter with a headline swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, but a sharp contemporary setting. Under director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. arriving mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Under Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

By late summer, the Warner Bros. banner unveils the final movement from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. While the template is known, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson is back, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: period tinged dread, trauma as text, with ghostly inner logic. The stakes escalate here, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The next entry deepens the tale, builds out the animatronic fear crew, speaking to teens and older millennials. It arrives in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streamer Exclusives: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatrical skews franchise first, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a sealed box body horror arc fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn with Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: 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 With Depth: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, 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 terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped 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 reads as sharp positioning. No heavy handed lore. No legacy baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

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

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Franchise Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, under Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Trends to Watch

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 surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror reemerges
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

The Road Ahead: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The 2026 chiller year to come: continuations, filmmaker-first projects, and also A packed Calendar designed for goosebumps

Dek: The current horror year crams immediately with a January cluster, from there stretches through June and July, and well into the festive period, combining brand equity, creative pitches, and smart counter-scheduling. Distributors with platforms are leaning into tight budgets, theatrical leads, and shareable marketing that position these pictures into national conversation.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

Horror has shown itself to be the sturdy play in studio slates, a pillar that can lift when it connects and still safeguard the risk when it stumbles. After 2023 reassured decision-makers that modestly budgeted scare machines can steer the national conversation, the following year maintained heat with visionary-driven titles and quiet over-performers. The energy fed into the 2025 frame, where revivals and arthouse crossovers made clear there is an opening for multiple flavors, from brand follow-ups to non-IP projects that carry overseas. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a grid that presents tight coordination across the market, with planned clusters, a equilibrium of household franchises and untested plays, and a reinvigorated priority on cinema windows that fuel later windows on paid VOD and streaming.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now slots in as a wildcard on the grid. The genre can launch on open real estate, furnish a clean hook for marketing and social clips, and outstrip with crowds that lean in on preview nights and continue through the second frame if the release pays off. Emerging from a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 pattern reflects faith in that equation. The slate opens with a thick January window, then uses spring and early summer for balance, while clearing room for a late-year stretch that stretches into holiday-adjacent weekends and into post-Halloween. The gridline also spotlights the stronger partnership of indie distributors and streaming partners that can grow from platform, fuel WOM, and go nationwide at the precise moment.

A further high-level trend is IP stewardship across connected story worlds and legacy franchises. The players are not just greenlighting another return. They are looking to package lineage with a heightened moment, whether that is a graphic identity that broadcasts a refreshed voice or a casting choice that anchors a new entry to a first wave. At the in tandem, the writer-directors behind the most watched originals are championing material texture, practical effects and place-driven backdrops. That convergence provides the 2026 slate a robust balance of assurance and freshness, which is how the films export.

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

Paramount sets the tone early with two headline plays that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the center, positioning the film as both a handoff and a rootsy character piece. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the authorial approach conveys a legacy-leaning mode without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected rooted in classic imagery, first images of characters, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm landing toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will lean on. As a counterweight in summer, this one will pursue mainstream recognition through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick shifts to whatever owns pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three separate bets. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is elegant, melancholic, and high-concept: a grieving man purchases an virtual partner that becomes a deadly partner. The date places it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s campaign likely to replay strange in-person beats and brief clips that blurs love and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a title reveal to become an fan moment closer to the first trailer. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. His projects are treated as marquee events, with a hinting teaser and a second trailer wave that define feel without revealing the concept. The prime October weekend opens a lane to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams 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 raw, physical-effects centered aesthetic can feel premium on a middle budget. Frame it as a blood-soaked summer horror shock that pushes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio mounts two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, maintaining a trusty supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch builds quietly. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is describing as a from-the-ground-up reboot 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 diehards and first-timers. The fall slot lets Sony to build materials around world-building, and practical creature work, elements that can fuel large-format demand and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by obsessive craft and textual fidelity, this time orbiting lycan myth. The specialty arm has already set the date for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is favorable.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform windowing in 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s slate head to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a pacing that maximizes both debut momentum and sign-up spikes in the tail. Prime Video interleaves outside acquisitions with global pickups and brief theater runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in back-catalog play, using curated hubs, horror hubs, and staff picks to prolong the run on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix remains opportunistic about Netflix films and festival deals, scheduling horror entries with shorter lead times and elevating as drops launches with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a one-two of focused cinema runs and fast windowing that converts WOM to subscribers. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has shown appetite to take on select projects with recognized filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation swells.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 corridor with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is direct: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, refined for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has signaled a cinema-first plan for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the late stretch.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then leveraging the December frame to go wider. That positioning has proved effective for auteur horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception justifies. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using limited runs to prime evangelism that fuels their audience.

Known brands versus new stories

By volume, 2026 leans in favor of the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate cultural cachet. The potential drawback, as ever, is brand erosion. The go-to fix is to position each entry as a fresh tone. 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 centering a French-accented approach from a emerging director. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Non-franchise titles and talent-first projects add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated check over here January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a crash-survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the configuration is anchored enough to build pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Recent-year comps outline the plan. In 2023, a theater-first model that kept clean windows did not foreclose a hybrid test from paying off when the brand was robust. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror punched above its weight in premium formats. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they change perspective and grow 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 double feature plan, with chapters filmed consecutively, lets marketing to cross-link entries through character spine and themes and to keep assets alive without hiatuses.

Craft and creative trends

The craft conversations behind this slate 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 squares with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that emphasizes unease and texture rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in long-lead press and technical spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and spurs shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta reframe that centers an original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature and environment design, which play well in fan-con activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel definitive. Look for trailers that center pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that benefit on big speakers.

Calendar cadence

January is heavy. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid heavier IP. The month buttons 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 serious, but the tone spread opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth persists.

Pre-summer months load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a bridge slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a peekaboo tease plan and limited teasers that put concept first.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and card redemption.

Project briefs

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 oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around 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 devastated man’s intelligent companion escalates into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. 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 abrasive boss push to survive on a desolate island as the power balance flips and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to dread, grounded in Cronin’s tactile craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting story that routes the horror through a youngster’s flickering subjective view. Rating: TBD. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-grade and headline-actor led eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A parody return that satirizes of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime crazes. Rating: TBA. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 detonates, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further opens again, with a different family entangled with past horrors. Rating: TBD. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on true survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: closely held. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: underway. 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 era-faithful speech and elemental dread. Rating: forthcoming. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three workable forces frame this lineup. First, production that downshifted or re-sequenced in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical 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 releases. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage repeatable beats from test screenings, controlled scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Another factor is the scheduling math. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can control a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will coexist across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, 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 surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where lower and 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 press those advantages. 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, disciplined footprints, 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 grain, soundcraft, 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.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand power where it counts, new vision where it lands, 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-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the gasps sell the seats.