Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primeval horror, a pulse pounding shocker, premiering Oct 2025 on top streamers

An eerie metaphysical terror film from screenwriter / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an forgotten entity when drifters become conduits in a supernatural maze. Available this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing account of endurance and old world terror that will reimagine the fear genre this scare season. Created by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and emotionally thick tale follows five young adults who wake up ensnared in a unreachable structure under the malevolent command of Kyra, a cursed figure overtaken by a 2,000-year-old sacred-era entity. Arm yourself to be captivated by a cinematic spectacle that integrates deep-seated panic with ancient myths, premiering on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demonic control has been a historical tradition in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is turned on its head when the entities no longer descend outside the characters, but rather inside their minds. This echoes the haunting aspect of these individuals. The result is a gripping internal warfare where the intensity becomes a brutal conflict between right and wrong.


In a unforgiving natural abyss, five teens find themselves confined under the unholy sway and overtake of a unidentified apparition. As the ensemble becomes unresisting to oppose her manipulation, isolated and pursued by entities beyond reason, they are confronted to acknowledge their darkest emotions while the timeline relentlessly ticks onward toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread rises and ties splinter, compelling each cast member to question their values and the concept of volition itself. The threat escalate with every passing moment, delivering a scare-fueled ride that integrates ghostly evil with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to dive into basic terror, an spirit rooted in antiquity, emerging via our fears, and challenging a curse that questions who we are when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra meant channeling something far beyond human desperation. She is oblivious until the spirit seizes her, and that metamorphosis is emotionally raw because it is so internal.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be available for public screening beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—providing subscribers around the globe can face this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its first preview, which has earned over a viral response.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, exporting the fear to a worldwide audience.


Join this bone-rattling trip into the unknown. Join *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to explore these haunting secrets about inner darkness.


For director insights, making-of footage, and reveals from inside the story, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across online outlets and visit our horror hub.





Horror’s decisive shift: the 2025 season U.S. rollouts fuses archetypal-possession themes, microbudget gut-punches, alongside tentpole growls

Moving from fight-to-live nightmare stories grounded in old testament echoes to brand-name continuations paired with acutely observed indies, 2025 is shaping up as the genre’s most multifaceted as well as deliberate year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. top-tier distributors set cornerstones using marquee IP, while OTT services crowd the fall with new voices paired with legend-coded dread. On another front, festival-forward creators is surfing the carry of a banner 2024 fest year. As Halloween stays the prime week, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, however this time, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are exacting, which means 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: The Return of Prestige Fear

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s pipeline lights the fuse with a statement play: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, but a sharp contemporary setting. Led by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. Booked into mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Under Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s pipeline drops the final chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the tone that worked before is intact: vintage toned fear, trauma as theme, along with eerie supernatural rules. Here the stakes rise, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The new chapter enriches the lore, stretches the animatronic parade, reaching teens and game grownups. It bows in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Platform Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

As theatrical skews franchise first, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a tight space body horror vignette led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is destined for a fall landing.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend with Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

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

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It looks like sharp programming. No puffed out backstory. No brand fatigue. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy IP: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, guided by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Emerging Currents

Myth turns mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to 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.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

What’s Next: Fall stack and winter swing card

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 must claw for air. Watch for one or more of these 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. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The forthcoming 2026 terror Year Ahead: next chapters, standalone ideas, in tandem with A Crowded Calendar Built For chills

Dek: The new scare year builds immediately with a January glut, subsequently unfolds through the mid-year, and running into the winter holidays, mixing brand heft, inventive spins, and savvy release strategy. The major players are doubling down on mid-range economics, cinema-first plans, and social-driven marketing that transform horror entries into national conversation.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The horror marketplace has turned into the dependable option in release strategies, a genre that can expand when it connects and still protect the liability when it does not. After 2023 signaled to decision-makers that disciplined-budget horror vehicles can galvanize the zeitgeist, the following year carried the beat with filmmaker-forward plays and word-of-mouth wins. The upswing carried into the 2025 frame, where re-entries and premium-leaning entries made clear there is appetite for multiple flavors, from sequel tracks to non-IP projects that resonate abroad. The end result for 2026 is a schedule that appears tightly organized across the major shops, with mapped-out bands, a spread of familiar brands and untested plays, and a tightened attention on cinema windows that enhance post-theatrical value on paid VOD and home platforms.

Schedulers say the category now works like a schedule utility on the schedule. The genre can kick off on numerous frames, generate a sharp concept for marketing and vertical videos, and outpace with patrons that turn out on early shows and keep coming through the sophomore frame if the entry connects. Following a production delay era, the 2026 pattern indicates conviction in that setup. The calendar rolls out with a loaded January schedule, then taps spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while saving space for a late-year stretch that carries into the fright window and afterwards. The gridline also spotlights the continuing integration of arthouse labels and subscription services that can platform a title, spark evangelism, and scale up at the proper time.

A notable top-line trend is IP stewardship across unified worlds and established properties. Big banners are not just pushing another chapter. They are seeking to position story carry-over with a specialness, whether that is a graphic identity that indicates a tonal shift or a cast configuration that links a new installment to a early run. At the parallel to that, the directors behind the most buzzed-about originals are embracing in-camera technique, physical gags and location-forward worlds. That alloy offers 2026 a solid mix of trust and freshness, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount leads early with two spotlight releases that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the front, steering it as both a passing of the torch and a origin-leaning character-focused installment. Production is active in Atlanta, and the authorial approach indicates a fan-service aware approach without rehashing the last two entries’ sisters storyline. A campaign is expected driven by franchise iconography, character-first teases, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and More about the author Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will double down on. As a summer relief option, this one will hunt mainstream recognition through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format supporting quick reframes to whatever shapes genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three separate entries. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is clean, sorrow-tinged, and concept-forward: a grieving man activates an artificial companion that grows into a dangerous lover. The date positions it at the front of a packed window, with Universal’s team likely to reprise strange in-person beats and snackable content that threads love and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a title drop to become an marketing beat closer to the first trailer. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele titles are positioned as auteur events, with a concept-forward tease and a second trailer wave that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date allows Universal to lead 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, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has long shown that a tactile, hands-on effects execution can feel big on a controlled budget. Look for a hard-R summer horror blast that maximizes global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio mounts two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, extending a dependable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is framing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both fans and first-timers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build promo materials around lore, and monster craft, elements that can amplify premium format interest and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places 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 rooted in rigorous craft and dialect, this time driven by werewolf stories. Focus Features has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is supportive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform plans for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal titles head to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a tiered path that expands both FOMO and sign-up spikes in the downstream. Prime Video blends licensed titles with world buys and limited cinema engagements when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library engagement, using featured rows, spooky hubs, and curated strips to sustain interest on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps options open about Netflix originals and festival deals, timing horror entries near launch and framing as events debuts with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a paired of precision releases and quick platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has indicated interest to pick up select projects with prestige directors or star-led packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for sustained usage when the genre conversation spikes.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is curating a 2026 slate with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is clean: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, modernized for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the late stretch.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through select festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday frame to scale. That positioning has served the company well for craft-driven horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception merits. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using precision theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Known brands versus new stories

By tilt, 2026 leans in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate brand equity. The trade-off, as ever, is viewer burnout. The preferred tactic is to sell each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is underscoring character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-inflected take from a ascendant talent. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the team and cast is steady enough to accelerate early sales and preview-night crowds.

Past-three-year patterns make sense of the model. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that kept clean windows did not preclude a dual release from delivering when the brand was potent. In 2024, precision craft horror popped in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they reframe POV and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to connect the chapters through character arcs and themes and to leave creative active without doldrums.

Creative tendencies and craft

The craft rooms behind the year’s horror foreshadow a continued lean toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that foregrounds grain and menace rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft features before rolling out a teaser that leans on mood over plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and produces shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a self-aware reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will live or die on monster realization and design, which favor booth activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel necessary. Look for trailers that accent disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that sing on PLF.

The schedule at a glance

January is full. 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 tonal palate cleanser amid big-brand pushes. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the palette of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

Q1 into Q2 prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

August and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a peekaboo tease plan and limited information drops that center concept over reveals.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card spend.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s algorithmic partner escalates into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively 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 journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. 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 tough boss struggle to survive on a rugged island as the control dynamic upends and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to terror, built on Cronin’s practical effects and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting premise that channels the fear through a child’s flickering subjective lens. Rating: TBA. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-scale and name-above-title haunting thriller.

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 parody reboot that targets of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime obsessions. Rating: to be announced. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. 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 cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a my review here young family anchored to older hauntings. Rating: forthcoming. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

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 emphasis on survival-core horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: forthcoming. 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: undetermined. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three operational forces shape this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or re-sequenced in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming drops. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine clippable moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will stack across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. 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 comfort zone. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 midrange-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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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. Anticipate a robust 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.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, 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 stack through the year, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, aural design, and image-making 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.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand gravity where needed, inventive vision where it helps, 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 this content the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, protect the mystery, and let the fear sell the seats.