Ancient Evil Reawakens within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked horror thriller, landing October 2025 across top streaming platforms

A unnerving ghostly horror tale from screenwriter / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an forgotten evil when guests become pawns in a diabolical experiment. Launching October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing tale of continuance and forgotten curse that will redefine horror this spooky time. Crafted by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and moody cinema piece follows five strangers who are stirred confined in a hidden structure under the malignant influence of Kyra, a female lead inhabited by a 2,000-year-old religious nightmare. Steel yourself to be captivated by a audio-visual event that intertwines instinctive fear with spiritual backstory, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a enduring pillar in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is reversed when the dark entities no longer arise from beyond, but rather within themselves. This represents the grimmest element of the victims. The result is a riveting internal warfare where the narrative becomes a unforgiving face-off between virtue and vice.


In a forsaken wild, five figures find themselves imprisoned under the fiendish sway and inhabitation of a shadowy person. As the protagonists becomes defenseless to fight her grasp, isolated and followed by forces indescribable, they are thrust to acknowledge their deepest fears while the seconds coldly edges forward toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension amplifies and bonds fracture, coercing each person to contemplate their core and the nature of personal agency itself. The danger rise with every passing moment, delivering a terror ride that weaves together mystical fear with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to evoke core terror, an threat from ancient eras, manifesting in emotional fractures, and dealing with a will that erodes the self when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra required summoning something rooted in terror. She is uninformed until the possession kicks in, and that conversion is deeply unsettling because it is so raw.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be released for streaming beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—offering viewers in all regions can survive this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its original promo, which has seen over 100K plays.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, giving access to the movie to viewers around the world.


Tune in for this heart-stopping fall into madness. Join *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to dive into these nightmarish insights about human nature.


For film updates, behind-the-scenes content, and reveals from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursed across entertainment pages and visit the movie portal.





The horror genre’s sea change: the 2025 season U.S. Slate integrates archetypal-possession themes, microbudget gut-punches, and tentpole growls

Ranging from grit-forward survival fare drawn from legendary theology to canon extensions together with cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 appears poised to be the most complex paired with deliberate year of the last decade.

Call it full, but it is also focused. studio majors lock in tentpoles with familiar IP, simultaneously premium streamers flood the fall with discovery plays and archetypal fear. On another front, indie storytellers is buoyed by the carry from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, notably this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are disciplined, so 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: The Return of Prestige Fear

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 set the base, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s schedule begins the calendar with a headline swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, in an immediate now. With Leigh Whannell at the helm with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. Booked into mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Directed by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer wanes, the WB camp delivers the closing chapter from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re boards, and the tone that worked before is intact: nostalgic menace, trauma explicitly handled, with ghostly inner logic. Here the stakes rise, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, broadens the animatronic terror cast, bridging teens and legacy players. It bows in December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Offerings: Economy, maximum dread

While theaters lean on names and sequels, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a room scale body horror descent featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale featuring Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation 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. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. From writer director 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. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No heavy handed lore. No canon weight. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

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

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Franchise Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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

Key Trends

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Laurels convert to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Cinemas are a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Outlook: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The next fright release year: continuations, fresh concepts, plus A Crowded Calendar tailored for chills

Dek: The upcoming terror season loads early with a January glut, subsequently unfolds through the mid-year, and continuing into the year-end corridor, mixing brand heft, inventive spins, and data-minded counterweight. Studios and platforms are prioritizing lean spends, box-office-first windows, and viral-minded pushes that shape these films into culture-wide discussion.

Where horror stands going into 2026

Horror filmmaking has emerged as the most reliable option in release plans, a lane that can grow when it connects and still mitigate the exposure when it falls short. After the 2023 year proved to leaders that modestly budgeted horror vehicles can command audience talk, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with high-profile filmmaker pieces and slow-burn breakouts. The run moved into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and filmmaker-prestige bets showed there is a market for different modes, from ongoing IP entries to non-IP projects that play globally. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a programming that appears tightly organized across companies, with clear date clusters, a pairing of familiar brands and new pitches, and a tightened attention on cinema windows that drive downstream revenue on PVOD and OTT platforms.

Executives say the genre now serves as a wildcard on the programming map. The genre can launch on open real estate, provide a grabby hook for previews and short-form placements, and over-index with viewers that lean in on first-look nights and return through the second frame if the film works. On the heels of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 rhythm telegraphs confidence in that playbook. The slate launches with a front-loaded January corridor, then primes spring and early summer for balance, while making space for a September to October window that runs into late October and past Halloween. The program also highlights the ongoing integration of specialty arms and subscription services that can platform and widen, spark evangelism, and widen at the precise moment.

A further high-level trend is brand management across brand ecosystems and heritage properties. Big banners are not just greenlighting another continuation. They are looking to package story carry-over with a premium feel, whether that is a brandmark that suggests a fresh attitude or a ensemble decision that connects a upcoming film to a first wave. At the meanwhile, the helmers behind the marquee originals are doubling down on tactile craft, on-set effects and distinct locales. That pairing hands 2026 a healthy mix of trust and novelty, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount defines the early cadence with two prominent plays that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the spine, setting it up as both a baton pass and a DNA-forward relationship-driven entry. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the tonal posture conveys a classic-referencing mode without going over the last two entries’ sisters storyline. A campaign is expected built on recognizable motifs, first-look character reveals, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm timed to late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will play up. As a summer contrast play, this one will hunt large awareness through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format making room for quick adjustments to whatever dominates the conversation that spring.

Universal has three clear bets. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is clean, loss-driven, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man purchases an synthetic partner that shifts into a fatal companion. The date puts it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s team likely to renew strange in-person beats and short reels that interweaves affection and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a final title to become an earned moment closer to the early tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. His entries are framed as director events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a second wave of trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The spooky-season slot lets the studio to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work 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 is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has established that a raw, on-set effects led style can feel big on a tight budget. Expect a red-band summer horror shock that embraces offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio places two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, holding a consistent supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is describing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both core fans and first-timers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign pieces around canon, and creature work, elements that can fuel premium screens and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books 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 defined by minute detail and textual fidelity, this time orbiting lycan myth. The label has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is enthusiastic.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform strategies for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s slate move to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a stair-step that fortifies both initial urgency and trial spikes in the later window. Prime Video stitches together library titles with worldwide entries and short theatrical plays when the data supports it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in catalog engagement, using featured rows, genre hubs, and programmed rows to keep attention on the annual genre haul. Netflix plays opportunist about first-party entries and festival deals, securing horror entries closer to launch and framing as events launches with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a tiered of tailored theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be critical 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+ assesses case by case horror on a selective basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to buy select projects with recognized filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds 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 arc 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 uncomplicated: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, elevated for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the October weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then deploying the December frame to expand. That positioning has delivered for filmmaker-driven genre with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception allows. Do not be surprised by 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 in concert, using precision theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Series vs standalone

By count, the 2026 slate tips toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use brand equity. The potential drawback, as ever, is audience fatigue. The practical approach is to present each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is spotlighting character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-flavored turn from a buzzed-about director. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the cast-creatives package is recognizable enough to accelerate early sales and advance-audience nights.

Recent-year comps help explain the strategy. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that kept clean windows did not hamper a day-date try from delivering when the brand was strong. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror hit big in premium formats. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they reframe POV and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds 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 in tandem, builds a path for marketing to link the films through character arcs and themes and to keep assets alive without long breaks.

Creative tendencies and craft

The director conversations behind this slate telegraph a continued tilt toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that spotlights creep and texture rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and era-correct language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and department features before rolling out a preview that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and spurs shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta pivot that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster aesthetics and world-building, which match well with convention activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel key. Look for trailers that spotlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that sing on PLF.

How the year maps out

January is busy. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid heftier brand moves. The month ends 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 credible, but the mix of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth carries.

Post-January through spring seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds 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 jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday news sequels have rotated off PLF.

End of summer through fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil follows September 18, a late-September window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a minimalist tease strategy and limited pre-release reveals that center concept over reveals.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind 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 redemption.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s algorithmic partner escalates into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal 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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her prickly boss fight to survive on a lonely island as the control dynamic swivels and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to fright, founded on Cronin’s on-set craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 panic of a child’s tricky perceptions. Rating: pending. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A spoof revival that satirizes present-day genre chatter and true-crime manias. Rating: pending. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites bursts, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new family linked to returning horrors. Rating: TBD. 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: TBD. Logline: A restart designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-driven horror over action spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: undetermined. Production: underway. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 historical diction and ancient menace. Rating: TBA. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. 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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three execution-level forces define this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or reshuffled in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and leaner 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 launches. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate repeatable beats from test screenings, precision scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can capture a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will trade weekends across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, 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 surprise-hit pursuit 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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, aural design, and visual design that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand power where it counts, original 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, keep secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.