Antediluvian Terror Ascends within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on top streaming platforms

This blood-curdling supernatural thriller from dramatist / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an age-old dread when foreigners become tools in a cursed ordeal. Releasing October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing chronicle of living through and mythic evil that will revolutionize genre cinema this autumn. Realized by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and atmospheric motion picture follows five lost souls who regain consciousness caught in a remote house under the unfriendly will of Kyra, a young woman inhabited by a 2,000-year-old holy text monster. Be warned to be absorbed by a filmic event that fuses primitive horror with timeless legends, debuting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a iconic motif in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is redefined when the fiends no longer manifest from elsewhere, but rather within themselves. This portrays the most primal side of all involved. The result is a riveting moral showdown where the story becomes a unyielding push-pull between innocence and sin.


In a bleak backcountry, five figures find themselves isolated under the possessive dominion and inhabitation of a obscure spirit. As the companions becomes helpless to fight her control, left alone and attacked by beings mind-shattering, they are thrust to encounter their deepest fears while the final hour coldly ticks onward toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust grows and teams disintegrate, demanding each figure to reflect on their being and the integrity of freedom of choice itself. The tension escalate with every tick, delivering a nightmarish journey that weaves together ghostly evil with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to channel pure dread, an force beyond time, working through mental cracks, and exposing a darkness that peels away humanity when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra involved tapping into something far beyond human desperation. She is uninformed until the takeover begins, and that flip is shocking because it is so intimate.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for audience access beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—giving fans across the world can dive into this spirit-driven thriller.


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 evolution to its first preview, which has collected over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, presenting the nightmare to fans of fear everywhere.


Mark your calendar for this soul-jarring fall into madness. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this launch day to survive these haunting secrets about free will.


For bonus footage, production insights, and promotions from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YACFilm across your favorite networks and visit the official website.





U.S. horror’s tipping point: 2025 stateside slate Mixes primeval-possession lore, indie terrors, in parallel with series shake-ups

From survival horror infused with near-Eastern lore and including legacy revivals paired with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is tracking to be the most stratified as well as calculated campaign year since the mid-2010s.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. leading studios plant stakes across the year via recognizable brands, concurrently SVOD players stack the fall with emerging auteurs and archetypal fear. On the independent axis, independent banners is propelled by the afterglow of a peak 2024 circuit. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, however this time, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are precise, therefore 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

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

The top end is active. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 doubles down.

the Universal banner sets the tone with a confident swing: a modernized Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a clear present-tense world. Guided by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. set for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Guided by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

By late summer, Warner’s slate drops the final chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the memorable motifs return: vintage toned fear, trauma as theme, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The ante is higher this round, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The follow up digs further into canon, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It opens in December, buttoning the final window.

Streamer Exclusives: Small budgets, sharp fangs

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a tight space body horror vignette fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Next comes Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative starring Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets 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.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Conceived 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. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is a clever angle. No overweight mythology. No franchise baggage. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Long Running Lines: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. Marketed correctly, it could be 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.

Trend Lines

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror comes roaring back
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Forecast: Autumn density and winter pivot

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The upcoming scare Year Ahead: returning titles, fresh concepts, paired with A jammed Calendar designed for chills

Dek The current scare season clusters up front with a January cluster, from there extends through summer corridors, and well into the winter holidays, fusing brand equity, novel approaches, and tactical counterprogramming. Studio marketers and platforms are leaning into tight budgets, big-screen-first runs, and social-driven marketing that position genre releases into national conversation.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This space has emerged as the dependable tool in studio slates, a pillar that can surge when it catches and still hedge the drawdown when it under-delivers. After 2023 reassured greenlighters that low-to-mid budget pictures can command cultural conversation, 2024 extended the rally with auteur-driven buzzy films and unexpected risers. The momentum pushed into 2025, where reawakened brands and prestige plays made clear there is capacity for different modes, from ongoing IP entries to one-and-done originals that play globally. The combined impact for 2026 is a programming that is strikingly coherent across the field, with purposeful groupings, a pairing of known properties and original hooks, and a sharpened eye on big-screen windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium video on demand and OTT platforms.

Planners observe the horror lane now performs as a plug-and-play option on the calendar. Horror can bow on a wide range of weekends, yield a clear pitch for marketing and reels, and exceed norms with fans that lean in on first-look nights and keep coming through the second frame if the release connects. Post a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 rhythm demonstrates trust in that logic. The calendar rolls out with a loaded January schedule, then taps spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while saving space for a fall cadence that stretches into the Halloween corridor and into post-Halloween. The gridline also illustrates the tightening integration of specialized imprints and platforms that can nurture a platform play, create conversation, and go nationwide at the proper time.

A further high-level trend is franchise tending across unified worlds and legacy franchises. Studio teams are not just producing another next film. They are moving to present ongoing narrative with a marquee sheen, whether that is a typeface approach that telegraphs a new tone or a ensemble decision that links a incoming chapter to a vintage era. At the very same time, the writer-directors behind the most buzzed-about originals are favoring material texture, special makeup and site-specific worlds. That alloy affords the 2026 slate a healthy mix of known notes and novelty, which is why the genre exports well.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount sets the tone early with two spotlight moves that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the core, positioning the film as both a lineage transfer and a rootsy character-first story. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the directional approach signals a roots-evoking angle without recycling the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Count on a promo wave centered on brand visuals, intro reveals, and a staggered trailer plan targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will emphasize. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will chase wide buzz through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format permitting quick shifts to whatever defines horror talk that spring.

Universal has three separate entries. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is tidy, loss-driven, and commercial: a grieving man activates an AI companion that evolves into a lethal partner. The date puts it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s promo team likely to replay uncanny-valley stunts and short-form creative that interweaves affection and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a public title to become an headline beat closer to the opening teaser. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. His projects are treated as creative events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a subsequent trailers that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot affords Universal to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage 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 steers, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has shown that a gritty, practical-first approach can feel cinematic on a middle budget. Frame it as a grime-caked summer horror blast that maximizes global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio places two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, extending a evergreen supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has reshuffled 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 steps back in what Sony is describing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both players and newcomers. The fall slot lets Sony to build marketing units around lore, and monster craft, elements that can amplify PLF interest and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on minute detail and dialect, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is enthusiastic.

Where the platforms fit in

Windowing plans in 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s genre entries land on copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a structure that enhances both FOMO and viewer acquisition in the post-theatrical. Prime Video continues to mix outside acquisitions with worldwide buys and small theatrical windows when the data backs it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in catalog engagement, using editorial spots, genre hubs, and handpicked rows to increase tail value on lifetime take. Netflix keeps options open about original films and festival pickups, finalizing horror entries near their drops and making event-like rollouts with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a tiered of tailored theatrical exposure and speedy platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has indicated interest to purchase select projects with established auteurs or name-led packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for sustained usage when the genre conversation surges.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 track with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is simple: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, retooled for modern sound and image. 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 flagged a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the autumn weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then using the holiday dates to open out. That positioning has proved effective for filmmaker-first horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception encourages. Be ready for 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 seed evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Known brands versus new stories

By skew, the 2026 slate skews toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage household recognition. The trade-off, as ever, is audience fatigue. The workable fix is to package each entry as a new angle. Paramount is spotlighting relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-tinted vision from a rising filmmaker. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the cast-creatives package is grounded enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Past-three-year patterns announce the approach. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that observed windows did not block a hybrid test from delivering when the brand was robust. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror rose in premium large format. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they reframe POV and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters shot in tandem, provides the means for marketing to relate entries through character and theme and to keep materials circulating without hiatuses.

Behind-the-camera trends

The shop talk behind the 2026 entries signal a continued lean toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that centers atmosphere and fear rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in craft profiles and department features before rolling out a initial teaser that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and creates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta refresh that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will win or lose on monster work and world-building, which play well in convention floor stunts and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel necessary. Look for trailers that foreground pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that work in PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is crowded. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid heftier brand moves. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the tone spread lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth persists.

Early-year through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Young & Cursed Burn on July 24 serves blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. 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 shuffled through big rooms.

August and September into October leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited disclosures that stress concept over spoilers.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift card usage.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s synthetic partner unfolds into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

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: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: aura-driven 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 demanding boss scramble to survive on a isolated island as the pecking order reverses and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to fright, anchored by Cronin’s material craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting chiller that mediates the fear via a child’s unreliable point of view. Rating: TBA. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-scale and star-led eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that lampoons contemporary horror memes and true crime fixations. Rating: undetermined. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a young family anchored to lingering terrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A restart designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on true survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in progress. 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 era-accurate language and raw menace. Rating: pending. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three pragmatic forces inform this lineup. First, production that downshifted or shifted in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more measured 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 launches. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine repeatable beats from test screenings, curated scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will share space across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where lower and mid-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, 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 keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, efficient screen counts, 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 visual texture, aural design, and visuals 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

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is name recognition where it counts, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, guard the secrets, and let the shocks sell the seats.