Ancient Horror awakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding chiller, launching October 2025 across top digital platforms

A hair-raising metaphysical thriller from narrative craftsman / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an timeless malevolence when unrelated individuals become tools in a devilish experiment. Dropping October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing tale of living through and forgotten curse that will reimagine fear-driven cinema this season. Visualized by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and moody thriller follows five figures who are stirred confined in a secluded dwelling under the sinister will of Kyra, a female presence inhabited by a ancient Old Testament spirit. Arm yourself to be hooked by a motion picture event that blends bone-deep fear with ancestral stories, releasing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a legendary foundation in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is flipped when the presences no longer form beyond the self, but rather inside them. This mirrors the most primal dimension of each of them. The result is a emotionally raw mind game where the events becomes a merciless contest between purity and corruption.


In a wilderness-stricken wild, five characters find themselves trapped under the ghastly control and domination of a obscure figure. As the characters becomes unable to combat her dominion, exiled and tracked by terrors impossible to understand, they are forced to wrestle with their inner horrors while the hours coldly ticks toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion deepens and connections erode, driving each participant to contemplate their existence and the notion of autonomy itself. The risk grow with every fleeting time, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that integrates spiritual fright with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to evoke primitive panic, an power older than civilization itself, filtering through emotional fractures, and examining a force that strips down our being when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra was centered on something outside normal anguish. She is oblivious until the haunting manifests, and that shift is shocking because it is so raw.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for worldwide release beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—allowing customers in all regions can be part of this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its initial teaser, which has garnered over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, extending the thrill to thrill-seekers globally.


Don’t miss this haunted descent into darkness. Join *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to face these fearful discoveries about the soul.


For featurettes, set experiences, and promotions from inside the story, follow @YACFilm across your favorite networks and visit the movie portal.





Contemporary horror’s major pivot: the year 2025 domestic schedule fuses old-world possession, Indie Shockers, paired with returning-series thunder

From endurance-driven terror drawn from mythic scripture and onward to canon extensions together with surgical indie voices, 2025 appears poised to be the most stratified together with carefully orchestrated year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. Top studios plant stakes across the year with franchise anchors, even as OTT services load up the fall with fresh voices paired with ancient terrors. On the festival side, independent banners is propelled by the carry from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, but this year, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are surgical, and 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige terror resurfaces

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s pipeline leads off the quarter with a headline swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in a clear present-tense world. Led by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. Booked into 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 adaptation reframed as lean dread. Led by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Initial heat flags it as potent.

At summer’s close, Warner’s slate bows the concluding entry inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the tone that worked before is intact: old school creep, trauma as text, and eerie supernatural logic. This run ups the stakes, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, stretches the animatronic parade, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It books December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Firsts: Tight funds, wide impact

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a body horror duet featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to 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 terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. That is a savvy move. No overstuffed canon. No sequel clutter. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Brands: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

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, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, steered by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

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.

What to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror retakes ground
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Laurels convert to leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Forward View: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The next fright cycle: follow-ups, fresh concepts, plus A Crowded Calendar aimed at chills

Dek: The new scare year lines up immediately with a January logjam, following that flows through summer corridors, and running into the December corridor, weaving name recognition, new concepts, and tactical counterplay. Studio marketers and platforms are committing to right-sized spends, theatrical-first rollouts, and short-form initiatives that turn the slate’s entries into cross-demo moments.

How the genre looks for 2026

This category has established itself as the most reliable lever in release plans, a segment that can accelerate when it breaks through and still cushion the liability when it stumbles. After the 2023 year reassured buyers that low-to-mid budget horror vehicles can shape cultural conversation, 2024 held pace with signature-voice projects and word-of-mouth wins. The head of steam fed into 2025, where reboots and awards-minded projects proved there is an opening for diverse approaches, from brand follow-ups to director-led originals that carry overseas. The result for the 2026 slate is a programming that shows rare alignment across players, with purposeful groupings, a equilibrium of known properties and new packages, and a sharpened commitment on theatrical windows that feed downstream value on premium digital rental and streaming.

Marketers add the category now behaves like a schedule utility on the schedule. The genre can roll out on virtually any date, create a simple premise for spots and reels, and exceed norms with viewers that line up on advance nights and sustain through the week two if the film lands. Following a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 setup demonstrates trust in that engine. The slate kicks off with a stacked January window, then uses spring and early summer for alternate plays, while reserving space for a fall corridor that connects to the Halloween corridor and afterwards. The grid also shows the continuing integration of specialized imprints and home platforms that can platform a title, grow buzz, and widen at the right moment.

An added macro current is IP stewardship across ongoing universes and heritage properties. The players are not just rolling another follow-up. They are looking to package lore continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a logo package that announces a fresh attitude or a star attachment that threads a incoming chapter to a initial period. At the meanwhile, the auteurs behind the most watched originals are embracing tactile craft, special makeup and concrete locations. That interplay offers the 2026 slate a vital pairing of recognition and surprise, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount sets the tone early with two marquee pushes that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the lead, positioning the film as both a succession moment and a rootsy character study. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the creative posture hints at a fan-service aware mode without covering again the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Watch for a push rooted in franchise iconography, first-look character reveals, and a trailer cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also reawakens 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 creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will lean on. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will go after mass reach through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick adjustments to whatever drives the discourse that spring.

Universal has three distinct projects. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is tidy, loss-driven, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man installs an intelligent companion that unfolds into a lethal partner. The date puts it at the front of a packed window, with Universal’s marketing likely to bring back uncanny-valley stunts and short-cut promos that interlaces intimacy and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a final title to become an event moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele’s releases are branded as director events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second beat that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The late-October frame lets the studio to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has consistently shown that a gritty, in-camera leaning method can feel prestige on a efficient spend. Look for a splatter summer horror hit that maximizes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio places two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, keeping a consistent supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch builds quietly. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is selling as a reimagined 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 fans and curious audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build materials around environmental design, and practical creature work, elements that can lift IMAX and PLF uptake and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror driven by obsessive craft and dialect, this time driven by werewolf stories. Focus’s team has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is robust.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform plans for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s slate window into copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a structure that boosts both premiere heat and subscriber lifts in the back half. Prime Video combines licensed titles with worldwide buys and select theatrical runs when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in catalog discovery, using featured rows, spooky hubs, and handpicked rows to prolong the run on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps flexible about own-slate titles and festival additions, locking in horror entries tight to release and framing as events premieres with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a laddered of limited theatrical footprints and accelerated platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has shown appetite to purchase select projects with established auteurs or celebrity-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for retention when the genre conversation heats up.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 sequence with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is simple: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, updated for modern sound and cinematography. 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 positioned a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the October weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then activating the year-end corridor to broaden. That positioning has paid off for arthouse horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception drives. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using targeted theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their community.

Balance of brands and originals

By share, 2026 is weighted toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap franchise value. The concern, as ever, is diminishing returns. The practical approach is to present each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is centering character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a European tilt from a new voice. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-centric entries add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the cast-creatives package is steady enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Rolling three-year comps announce the model. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that honored streaming windows did not foreclose a parallel release from hitting when the brand was big. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror surged in PLF. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they rotate perspective and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters shot in tandem, enables marketing to cross-link entries through protagonists and motifs and to keep assets in-market without lulls.

How the films are being made

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind 2026 horror hint at a continued move toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that elevates aura and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in deep-dive features and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and creates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta refresh that centers its original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature work and production design, which favor fan-con activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel primary. Look for trailers that underscore disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that benefit on big speakers.

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. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a brooding contrast amid macro-brand pushes. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the tone spread lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth persists.

Early-year through spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can win 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.

Late-season stretch leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a shoulder season window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a slow-reveal plan and limited pre-release reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and holiday card usage.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s machine mate escalates into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially 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 ventures 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: mood-led adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her demanding boss struggle to survive on a uninhabited island as the pecking order upends and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to dread, based on Cronin’s tactile craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal 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 in-home haunting piece that teases the dread of a child’s fragile impressions. Rating: not yet rated. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A parody return that pokes at today’s horror trends and true-crime obsessions. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: cameras navigate to this website due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a fresh family linked to residual nightmares. Rating: to be announced. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival-core horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: closely held. Rating: pending. Production: moving forward. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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 antique diction and primal menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a big-screen run before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the moment is 2026

Three nuts-and-bolts forces frame this lineup. First, production that downshifted or re-slotted in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous 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 dumps. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage bite-size scare clips from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can control a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will coexist across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 More about the author in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The sleeper-hit hunt continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever 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. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, 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 beat and breadth. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play 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 cold, 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 sequence upward, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, aural design, and framing that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open see here in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Promising 2026

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is recognizable IP where it plays, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, guard the secrets, and let the gasps sell the seats.