Ancient Evil stirs: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, arriving Oct 2025 across major platforms

This unnerving paranormal scare-fest from writer / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an archaic terror when newcomers become conduits in a malevolent ordeal. Available on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful story of continuance and forgotten curse that will alter scare flicks this fall. Brought to life by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and eerie screenplay follows five unacquainted souls who regain consciousness locked in a far-off structure under the malevolent manipulation of Kyra, a tormented girl controlled by a antiquated biblical force. Brace yourself to be absorbed by a big screen display that combines instinctive fear with spiritual backstory, dropping on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a historical element in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is turned on its head when the forces no longer manifest beyond the self, but rather from their psyche. This echoes the most primal part of each of them. The result is a psychologically brutal emotional conflict where the suspense becomes a ongoing fight between righteousness and malevolence.


In a abandoned backcountry, five friends find themselves imprisoned under the possessive rule and haunting of a secretive female presence. As the ensemble becomes unresisting to break her dominion, detached and chased by entities indescribable, they are required to battle their core terrors while the time without pause draws closer toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension surges and bonds implode, pressuring each soul to examine their being and the foundation of free will itself. The tension mount with every breath, delivering a horror experience that connects spiritual fright with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to dig into instinctual horror, an curse beyond recorded history, embedding itself in human fragility, and challenging a curse that challenges autonomy when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra needed manifesting something deeper than fear. She is clueless until the spirit seizes her, and that turn is deeply unsettling because it is so raw.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for home viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring watchers globally can survive this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its initial teaser, which has earned over a viral response.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, giving access to the movie to a worldwide audience.


Join this visceral path of possession. Watch *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to dive into these unholy truths about existence.


For previews, set experiences, and press updates from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across Instagram and Twitter and visit the film’s website.





Today’s horror major pivot: 2025 for genre fans U.S. calendar blends myth-forward possession, independent shockers, and returning-series thunder

Beginning with fight-to-live nightmare stories infused with biblical myth as well as series comebacks and acutely observed indies, 2025 appears poised to be the most textured together with blueprinted year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. the big studios hold down the year through proven series, concurrently OTT services crowd the fall with new voices set against old-world menace. On another front, independent banners is propelled by the tailwinds from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the other windows are mapped with care. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, and now, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are surgical, accordingly 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Premium genre swings back

The top end is active. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 deepens the push.

the Universal banner lights the fuse with a headline swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, but a sharp contemporary setting. Under director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. targeting mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Guided by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer wanes, Warner’s slate rolls out the capstone within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. While the template is known, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson returns, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: retro dread, trauma explicitly handled, plus otherworld rules that chill. The bar is raised this go, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, stretches the animatronic parade, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It drops in December, securing the winter cap.

SVOD Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a close quarters body horror study pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

On the docket is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within 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 is a clever angle. No swollen lore. No franchise baggage. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. 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.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Franchise Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Dials to Watch

Old myth goes broad
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 exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror reemerges
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. 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 heat turns into leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

What’s Next: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

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 grind for attention. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The forthcoming 2026 fear calendar year ahead: continuations, filmmaker-first projects, and also A packed Calendar Built For screams

Dek: The fresh terror cycle stacks immediately with a January bottleneck, subsequently extends through summer, and running into the festive period, blending marquee clout, original angles, and data-minded counterweight. The big buyers and platforms are prioritizing lean spends, theatrical leads, and shareable marketing that elevate these offerings into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror marketplace has established itself as the sturdy counterweight in release strategies, a vertical that can lift when it catches and still buffer the exposure when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year reassured leaders that cost-conscious genre plays can own social chatter, the following year carried the beat with visionary-driven titles and under-the-radar smashes. The energy moved into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and arthouse crossovers proved there is demand for multiple flavors, from legacy continuations to standalone ideas that translate worldwide. The upshot for 2026 is a roster that presents tight coordination across players, with clear date clusters, a pairing of familiar brands and first-time concepts, and a re-energized attention on exhibition windows that power the aftermarket on premium digital rental and digital services.

Buyers contend the horror lane now performs as a swing piece on the programming map. The genre can open on a wide range of weekends, generate a simple premise for creative and platform-native cuts, and outstrip with ticket buyers that respond on Thursday nights and keep coming through the second weekend if the feature hits. Exiting a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 rhythm indicates conviction in that equation. The year launches with a thick January stretch, then uses spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while holding room for a late-year stretch that extends to the Halloween corridor and into post-Halloween. The layout also shows the tightening integration of specialty arms and streaming partners that can launch in limited release, generate chatter, and scale up at the inflection point.

A notable top-line trend is IP stewardship across linked properties and established properties. Big banners are not just producing another continuation. They are seeking to position brand continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a title treatment that telegraphs a recalibrated tone or a casting choice that anchors a incoming chapter to a heyday. At the meanwhile, the helmers behind the most watched originals are celebrating on-set craft, special makeup and vivid settings. That interplay hands the 2026 slate a solid mix of assurance and freshness, which is the formula for international play.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount fires first with two spotlight entries that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the core, presenting it as both a cross-generational handoff and a classic-mode relationship-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the authorial approach telegraphs a classic-referencing mode without looping the last two entries’ family thread. Plan for a rollout leaning on legacy iconography, character previews, and a tiered teaser plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will emphasize. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will chase wide buzz through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format enabling quick adjustments to whatever owns the social talk that spring.

Universal has three specific lanes. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is efficient, tragic, and high-concept: a grieving man installs an artificial companion that grows into a deadly partner. The date puts it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s marketing likely to bring back creepy live activations and quick hits that fuses intimacy and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a proper title to become an PR pop closer to the teaser. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s pictures are treated as event films, with a teaser that reveals little and a later creative that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The prime October weekend gives Universal room to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has demonstrated that a flesh-and-blood, practical-first aesthetic can feel top-tier on a lean spend. Position this as a grime-caked summer horror surge that maximizes foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio lines up two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, preserving a consistent supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is framing as a ground-zero restart 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 directive to serve both devotees and newcomers. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign pieces around universe detail, and creature design, elements that can boost large-format demand and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by minute detail and dialect, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus Features has already set the date for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if have a peek at these guys early reception is favorable.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform plans for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s releases shift to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a ordering that fortifies both first-week urgency and sign-up momentum in the post-theatrical. Prime Video will mix acquired titles with cross-border buys and limited runs in theaters when the data backs it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in back-catalog play, using editorial spots, seasonal hubs, and handpicked rows to sustain interest on aggregate take. Netflix retains agility about own-slate titles and festival acquisitions, scheduling horror entries closer to drop and making event-like premieres with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a one-two of targeted cinema placements and accelerated platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a discrete basis. The platform has been willing to invest in select projects with established auteurs or star-driven packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for sustained usage when the genre conversation swells.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 sequence with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is no-nonsense: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, refined for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the fall weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, guiding the film through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday slot to widen. That positioning has served the company well for elevated genre with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception supports. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using small theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their subs.

Balance of brands and originals

By share, 2026 tilts in favor of the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap marquee value. The caveat, as ever, is overexposure. The practical approach is to position each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is spotlighting character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-tinted vision from a ascendant talent. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Originals and visionary-led titles provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the packaging is known enough to drive advance ticketing and preview-night crowds.

Three-year comps frame the playbook. In 2023, a cinema-first model that preserved streaming windows did not deter a hybrid test from winning when the brand was strong. In 2024, precision craft horror outperformed in PLF. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they rotate perspective and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues 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 shot consecutively, builds a path for marketing to tie installments through character arcs and themes and to continue assets in field without dead zones.

Creative tendencies and craft

The creative meetings behind the 2026 slate hint at a continued shift toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that underscores unease and texture rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft features before rolling out a tease that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and gathers shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a self-referential reset that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature craft and set design, which fit with con floor moments and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel definitive. Look for trailers that foreground pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that land in premium houses.

How the year maps out

January is jammed. Universal’s 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 tonal palate cleanser amid heftier brand moves. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the menu of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Late Q1 and spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored 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 divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can win 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 rotated off PLF.

August and September into October leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a early fall window that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited previews that center concept over reveals.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can play the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then pressing 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 benefiting from holiday season and gift card usage.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s synthetic partner escalates into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete 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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

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 unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: fog-and-fear adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her tough boss try to survive on a isolated island as the power balance swivels and mistrust rises. 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 not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to dread, driven by Cronin’s hands-on craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting piece that interrogates the horror of a child’s shaky perceptions. Rating: forthcoming. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-scale and toplined paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A parody return that needles today’s horror trends and true-crime manias. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. 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 cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further extends again, with a unlucky family anchored to ancient dread. Rating: TBD. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-core horror over action fireworks. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film Source (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: forthcoming. Production: active. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-specific language and raw menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why this year, why now

Three workable forces shape this lineup. First, production that downshifted or shifted in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more strict 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 landings. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, curated scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

A fourth factor is programming math. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, offering breathing room for genre entries that can command a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will coexist across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 unexpected breakout 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run 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 shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to condition the navigate to this website audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, sound, 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 Strong 2026 Horizon

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand gravity where needed, 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the chills sell the seats.