Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts ancient terror, a hair raising feature, launching October 2025 across top digital platforms

An hair-raising occult nightmare movie from storyteller / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an primeval malevolence when foreigners become subjects in a devilish conflict. Premiering on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing journey of survival and timeless dread that will reconstruct the fear genre this spooky time. Guided by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and immersive tale follows five individuals who arise ensnared in a wilderness-bound wooden structure under the hostile grip of Kyra, a tormented girl possessed by a biblical-era scriptural evil. Prepare to be enthralled by a big screen ride that intertwines bone-deep fear with legendary tales, debuting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a recurring pillar in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is reversed when the beings no longer develop beyond the self, but rather inside their minds. This illustrates the deepest part of the players. The result is a psychologically brutal mind game where the emotions becomes a perpetual confrontation between innocence and sin.


In a bleak natural abyss, five young people find themselves trapped under the fiendish dominion and haunting of a secretive being. As the youths becomes vulnerable to reject her command, isolated and pursued by unknowns indescribable, they are pushed to encounter their greatest panics while the final hour coldly moves toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease mounts and friendships splinter, demanding each member to challenge their character and the idea of autonomy itself. The pressure accelerate with every breath, delivering a cinematic nightmare that integrates unearthly horror with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to dive into primitive panic, an threat that existed before mankind, manifesting in our fears, and questioning a presence that forces self-examination when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra meant channeling something deeper than fear. She is ignorant until the invasion happens, and that change is emotionally raw because it is so raw.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be available for audience access beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—giving streamers across the world can engage with this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its intro video, which has earned over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, taking the terror to a worldwide audience.


Experience this visceral descent into darkness. Enter *Young & Cursed* this launch day to confront these spiritual awakenings about our species.


For featurettes, production insights, and promotions straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across platforms and visit the movie portal.





Horror’s sea change: the 2025 season American release plan blends old-world possession, independent shockers, together with tentpole growls

Across survivor-centric dread saturated with near-Eastern lore and onward to franchise returns plus pointed art-house angles, 2025 stands to become the most textured plus deliberate year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. the big studios are anchoring the year with established lines, in tandem premium streamers stack the fall with debut heat in concert with old-world menace. On another front, independent banners is propelled by the momentum from a record 2024 festival run. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, however this time, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are methodical, so 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

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

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s slate opens the year with a marquee bet: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, instead in a current-day frame. Directed by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. arriving mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Under Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer wanes, the WB camp drops the final chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Though the formula is familiar, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson re engages, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: retrograde shiver, trauma in the foreground, plus otherworld rules that chill. This time, the stakes are raised, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The new chapter enriches the lore, thickens the animatronic pantheon, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It bows in December, cornering year end horror.

Platform Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

While theaters bet on familiarity, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a tight space body horror vignette with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is destined for a fall landing.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable with Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

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

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It is a clever angle. No puffed out backstory. No franchise baggage. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Series Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, steered by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Dials to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror ascends again
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read 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. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Big screen is a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forward View: Fall pileup, winter curveball

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The coming 2026 chiller calendar year ahead: continuations, standalone ideas, alongside A Crowded Calendar optimized for chills

Dek The upcoming scare slate crams in short order with a January bottleneck, from there unfolds through summer corridors, and well into the holiday stretch, blending IP strength, fresh ideas, and well-timed counterweight. Distributors with platforms are committing to mid-range economics, theatrical exclusivity first, and influencer-ready assets that elevate these pictures into national conversation.

Horror’s status entering 2026

Horror filmmaking has established itself as the consistent play in studio calendars, a space that can break out when it lands and still protect the drag when it fails to connect. After 2023 showed decision-makers that responsibly budgeted horror vehicles can galvanize social chatter, 2024 held pace with filmmaker-forward plays and quiet over-performers. The tailwind rolled into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and critical darlings underscored there is appetite for a variety of tones, from series extensions to original features that perform internationally. The net effect for 2026 is a roster that feels more orchestrated than usual across the major shops, with mapped-out bands, a spread of known properties and first-time concepts, and a reinvigorated attention on box-office windows that enhance post-theatrical value on paid VOD and streaming.

Schedulers say the horror lane now functions as a utility player on the rollout map. Horror can open on open real estate, create a tight logline for previews and social clips, and lead with patrons that arrive on first-look nights and stick through the second frame if the entry works. In the wake of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 layout exhibits conviction in that engine. The calendar opens with a stacked January band, then uses spring and early summer for balance, while leaving room for a autumn stretch that connects to the Halloween frame and into post-Halloween. The gridline also spotlights the stronger partnership of specialty distributors and home platforms that can build gradually, grow buzz, and go nationwide at the timely point.

Another broad trend is series management across unified worlds and veteran brands. The studios are not just producing another chapter. They are working to present continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a art treatment that announces a tonal shift or a talent selection that connects a incoming chapter to a early run. At the simultaneously, the creative teams behind the most anticipated originals are favoring tactile craft, on-set effects and specific settings. That fusion produces the 2026 slate a robust balance of recognition and newness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount defines the early cadence with two high-profile plays that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the core, framing it as both a baton pass and a DNA-forward character piece. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture hints at a memory-charged angle without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Plan for a rollout built on heritage visuals, first images of characters, and a tiered teaser plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

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 reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will emphasize. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will chase general-audience talk through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format allowing quick reframes to whatever leads the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three specific strategies. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is crisp, grief-rooted, and concept-forward: a grieving man brings home an virtual partner that unfolds into a murderous partner. The date nudges it to the front of a thick month, with marketing at Universal likely to mirror creepy live activations and micro spots that blurs attachment and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a proper title to become an teaser payoff closer to the first look. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele projects are marketed as auteur events, with a concept-forward tease and a second trailer wave that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween runway creates space for Universal to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on 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 commands, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has demonstrated that a visceral, practical-effects forward mix can feel high-value on a moderate cost. Look for a viscera-heavy summer horror hit that leans into global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio sets two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, extending a reliable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is presenting as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both loyalists and casuals. The fall slot gives Sony time to build materials around setting detail, and monster craft, elements that can stoke premium screens and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes 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 textual fidelity, this time orbiting lycan myth. The company has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is strong.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform windowing in 2026 run on known playbooks. The studio’s horror films move to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a ladder that maximizes both opening-weekend urgency and platform bumps in the later phase. Prime Video balances outside acquisitions with global acquisitions and limited cinema engagements when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library engagement, using curated hubs, spooky hubs, and curated strips to keep attention on 2026 genre cume. Netflix stays nimble about first-party entries and festival snaps, scheduling horror entries near their drops and making event-like go-lives with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a one-two of tailored theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a per-project basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to buy select projects with accomplished filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for sustained usage when the genre conversation intensifies.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 pipeline with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is direct: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, recalibrated for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a big-screen first plan for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the October weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday corridor to open out. That positioning has proved effective for filmmaker-driven genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception supports. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using limited runs to kindle evangelism that fuels their community.

Balance of brands and originals

By volume, the 2026 slate bends toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap name recognition. The question, as ever, is audience fatigue. The pragmatic answer is to frame each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is spotlighting character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a European tilt from a emerging director. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the deal build is anchored enough to accelerate early sales and preview-night crowds.

Three-year comps outline the strategy. In 2023, a cinema-first model that kept streaming intact did not stop a day-date try from working when the brand was sticky. In 2024, art-forward horror exceeded expectations in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel new when they reorient and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds 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 in tandem, permits marketing to relate entries through character web and themes and to sustain campaign assets without dead zones.

Production craft signals

The filmmaking conversations behind the upcoming entries foreshadow a continued tilt toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that highlights tone and tension rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in deep-dive features and technical spotlights before rolling out a tease that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at gross-out texture, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and drives shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta recalibration that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster work and world-building, which play well in fan conventions and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel definitive. Look for trailers that highlight pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that work in PLF.

From winter to holidays

January is full. 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 buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the range of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth spreads.

Early-year through spring build the summer base. Scream 7 opens February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Late summer into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited previews that favor idea over plot.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can play the holidays when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card burn.

Title briefs within 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 relinks to the original navigate to this website film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s machine mate becomes something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

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 stumble upon a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. 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 hard-edged boss push to survive on a uninhabited island as the power dynamic shifts and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to dread, based on Cronin’s on-set craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting premise that channels the fear through a youth’s uneven point of view. Rating: TBA. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-built and headline-actor led haunting thriller.

Scary weblink Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that lampoons modern genre fads and true-crime obsessions. Rating: not yet rated. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites spreads, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new household caught in lingering terrors. Rating: pending. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A reboot designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for pure survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: pending. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: forthcoming. Production: underway. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and elemental dread. Rating: pending. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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

Why this year, why now

Three workable forces shape this lineup. First, production that decelerated or rearranged in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage turnkey scare beats from test screenings, controlled scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Calendar math also matters. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can command a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will share space across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 lean-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 shock over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

How the viewing year plays

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

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, lean footprints, 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 tactility, sound field, and image-making that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand equity where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the shudders sell the seats.