Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons primeval malevolence, a hair raising feature, launching October 2025 across leading streamers

One hair-raising metaphysical thriller from dramatist / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an age-old force when drifters become instruments in a fiendish game. Airings begin on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful narrative of resistance and old world terror that will remodel scare flicks this spooky time. Created by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and emotionally thick feature follows five unknowns who snap to sealed in a remote cabin under the menacing grip of Kyra, a central character consumed by a ancient scriptural evil. Get ready to be seized by a screen-based ride that merges intense horror with timeless legends, streaming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a enduring pillar in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is reimagined when the beings no longer emerge externally, but rather internally. This suggests the most sinister dimension of the group. The result is a bone-chilling psychological battle where the emotions becomes a brutal fight between good and evil.


In a desolate wild, five teens find themselves imprisoned under the malevolent force and curse of a unidentified woman. As the team becomes unable to escape her control, abandoned and hunted by spirits mind-shattering, they are confronted to acknowledge their inner demons while the seconds ruthlessly pushes forward toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion grows and teams disintegrate, prompting each member to examine their essence and the foundation of autonomy itself. The consequences intensify with every short lapse, delivering a terror ride that connects spiritual fright with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to awaken elemental fright, an entity before modern man, channeling itself through inner turmoil, and confronting a will that strips down our being when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra involved tapping into something darker than pain. She is oblivious until the evil takes hold, and that conversion is gut-wrenching because it is so unshielded.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be available for audience access beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—so that households in all regions can be part of this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its intro video, which has collected over 100,000 views.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, giving access to the movie to scare fans abroad.


Join this haunted ride through nightmares. Experience *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to face these spiritual awakenings about human nature.


For director insights, set experiences, and reveals from those who lived it, follow @YoungAndCursed across Instagram and Twitter and visit the official website.





Horror’s sea change: the 2025 season U.S. rollouts weaves primeval-possession lore, art-house nightmares, plus returning-series thunder

Running from life-or-death fear grounded in ancient scripture through to brand-name continuations paired with focused festival visions, 2025 stands to become horror’s most layered along with intentionally scheduled year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. the big studios lock in tentpoles through proven series, in tandem platform operators load up the fall with new voices paired with scriptural shivers. In the indie lane, the art-house flank is surfing the tailwinds from a record 2024 festival run. With Halloween holding the peak, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, distinctly in 2025, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are exacting, so 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Premium dread reemerges

The top end is active. If 2024 set the base, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s slate starts the year with a confident swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in a modern-day environment. From director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. landing in 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 conversion presented as stripped terror. Directed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

By late summer, Warner Bros. delivers the closing chapter from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Though the outline is tried, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson re teams, and the tone that worked before is intact: throwback unease, trauma as narrative engine, along with eerie supernatural rules. This pass pushes higher, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The return delves further into myth, grows the animatronic horror lineup, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It lands in December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Firsts: Small budgets, sharp fangs

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a body horror duet led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Penned and steered by 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 unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. That is a savvy move. No bloated mythology. No sequel clutter. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Series Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, under Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Emerging Currents

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror retakes ground
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Near Term Outlook: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. 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. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The forthcoming 2026 fright slate: Sequels, original films, alongside A packed Calendar engineered for chills

Dek: The arriving genre calendar packs up front with a January cluster, following that flows through summer, and deep into the holiday frame, marrying IP strength, original angles, and smart offsets. Studio marketers and platforms are committing to efficient budgets, theater-first strategies, and social-driven marketing that pivot these offerings into national conversation.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The horror marketplace has turned into the consistent counterweight in distribution calendars, a pillar that can break out when it clicks and still buffer the losses when it underperforms. After the 2023 year re-taught top brass that disciplined-budget pictures can steer social chatter, 2024 sustained momentum with buzzy auteur projects and stealth successes. The tailwind fed into 2025, where reawakened brands and elevated films highlighted there is room for many shades, from sequel tracks to original features that resonate abroad. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a programming that looks unusually coordinated across the major shops, with clear date clusters, a pairing of household franchises and first-time concepts, and a revived commitment on exhibition windows that increase tail monetization on premium on-demand and home streaming.

Distribution heads claim the space now operates like a plug-and-play option on the programming map. Horror can debut on most weekends, furnish a easy sell for marketing and platform-native cuts, and outpace with audiences that appear on early shows and maintain momentum through the subsequent weekend if the title connects. Following a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 configuration exhibits comfort in that logic. The year commences with a thick January band, then uses spring and early summer for audience offsets, while making space for a fall run that carries into the fright window and beyond. The calendar also highlights the deeper integration of boutique distributors and home platforms that can launch in limited release, generate chatter, and move wide at the right moment.

An added macro current is legacy care across ongoing universes and heritage properties. Distribution groups are not just greenlighting another installment. They are seeking to position threaded continuity with a specialness, whether that is a title presentation that flags a reframed mood or a casting choice that reconnects a latest entry to a foundational era. At the very same time, the directors behind the headline-grabbing originals are doubling down on tactile craft, practical gags and grounded locations. That blend provides the 2026 slate a robust balance of known notes and novelty, which is the formula for international play.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount fires first with two high-profile bets that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the lead, signaling it as both a succession moment and a heritage-centered character-focused installment. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the authorial approach points to a roots-evoking treatment without looping the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run anchored in heritage visuals, first-look character reveals, and a trailer cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will play up. As a summer relief option, this one will build four-quadrant chatter through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format inviting quick switches to whatever owns the social talk that spring.

Universal has three distinct lanes. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is efficient, sorrow-tinged, and concept-forward: a grieving man activates an algorithmic mate that escalates into a deadly partner. The date places it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s promo team likely to revisit creepy live activations and bite-size content that mixes intimacy and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a name unveil to become an headline beat closer to the first look. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. The filmmaker’s films are positioned as marquee events, with a concept-forward tease and a later creative that define feel without revealing the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date creates space for Universal to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a blood-soaked, in-camera leaning mix can feel high-value on a tight budget. Position this as a blood-and-grime summer horror shock that maximizes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio places two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, carrying a dependable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is positioning as a new foundation 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 sharper mandate to serve both loyalists and casuals. The fall slot gives Sony time to build marketing units around lore, and creature effects, elements that can amplify large-format demand and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by immersive craft and dialect, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is glowing.

Where the platforms fit in

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on well-known grooves. The Universal horror run flow to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a ladder that boosts both premiere heat and subscription bumps in the post-theatrical. Prime Video blends licensed films with international acquisitions and small theatrical windows when the data supports it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in archive usage, using curated hubs, October hubs, and curated strips to increase tail value on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps optionality about Netflix films and festival buys, securing horror entries closer to drop and turning into events debuts with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a tiered of tailored theatrical exposure and prompt platform moves that turns chatter to conversion. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a curated basis. The platform has proven amenable to take on select projects with acclaimed directors or name-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for platform stickiness when the genre conversation swells.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 lane with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is tight: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, elevated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a theatrical-first plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the late stretch.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then relying on the Christmas window to increase reach. That positioning has delivered for auteur horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception encourages. Look 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 together, using targeted theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their audience.

Franchise entries versus originals

By share, the 2026 slate bends toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage name recognition. The trade-off, as ever, is viewer burnout. The standing approach is to present each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is spotlighting character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-tinted vision from a fresh helmer. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the package is familiar enough to build pre-sales and early previews.

Comps from the last three years help explain the playbook. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that kept streaming intact did not prevent a day-date move from winning when the brand was strong. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror popped in premium large format. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they change perspective 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 paired-chapter approach, with chapters filmed consecutively, builds a path for marketing to tie installments through cast and motif and to keep assets in-market without hiatuses.

How the films are being made

The production chatter behind 2026 horror point to a continued turn toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that spotlights mood and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft features before rolling out a atmospheric tease that elevates tone over story, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and creates shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta recalibration that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature execution and sets, which fit with convention activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel primary. Look for trailers that accent pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that explode in larger rooms.

Month-by-month map

January is crowded. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone see here Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid headline IP. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the tonal variety gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

Pre-summer months tee up summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Shoulder season into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a opaque tease strategy and limited advance reveals that put concept first.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card redemption.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s virtual companion becomes something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot 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 returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: atmospheric game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her difficult boss battle to survive on a desolate island as the hierarchy turns and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to terror, built on Cronin’s material craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting narrative that routes the horror through a kid’s flickering perspective. Rating: rating pending. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-scale and celebrity-led haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that satirizes current genre trends and true-crime crazes. Rating: not yet rated. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites flares, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a another family lashed to old terrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A reboot designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival-first horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: TBA. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: TBA. Production: proceeding. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

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 primordial menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why this year, why now

Three pragmatic forces structure this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or shuffled in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and shorter 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 outpaced straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest bite-size scare clips from test screenings, managed scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

There is also the slotting calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will jostle across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. 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.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 sleeper chase continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first surprise 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two 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 icy, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to stage 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 justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, aural design, and picture that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Promising 2026

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is franchise muscle where it helps, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the screams sell the seats.