Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up primeval malevolence, a spine tingling feature, rolling out October 2025 across top digital platforms

One hair-raising supernatural shockfest from screenwriter / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an timeless dread when guests become tools in a malevolent ritual. Debuting on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful story of struggle and ancient evil that will redefine fear-driven cinema this October. Brought to life by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and cinematic screenplay follows five lost souls who suddenly rise isolated in a wooded house under the sinister sway of Kyra, a possessed female inhabited by a ancient biblical demon. Prepare to be gripped by a motion picture ride that harmonizes bodily fright with spiritual backstory, arriving on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a classic fixture in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is turned on its head when the malevolences no longer emerge externally, but rather deep within. This depicts the deepest dimension of the cast. The result is a gripping cognitive warzone where the narrative becomes a perpetual clash between heaven and hell.


In a bleak outland, five campers find themselves stuck under the unholy dominion and possession of a elusive person. As the cast becomes defenseless to combat her grasp, disconnected and tormented by beings inconceivable, they are cornered to wrestle with their worst nightmares while the timeline relentlessly counts down toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread swells and friendships fracture, driving each protagonist to examine their personhood and the nature of volition itself. The threat accelerate with every minute, delivering a fear-soaked story that merges otherworldly panic with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to tap into raw dread, an evil beyond time, influencing psychological breaks, and confronting a curse that redefines identity when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra called for internalizing something deeper than fear. She is oblivious until the takeover begins, and that shift is emotionally raw because it is so deep.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for home viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—giving subscribers worldwide can be part of this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its release of trailer #1, which has attracted over notable views.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, spreading the horror to international horror buffs.


Experience this soul-jarring trip into the unknown. Experience *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to dive into these ghostly lessons about the mind.


For previews, behind-the-scenes content, and reveals from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursed across fan hubs and visit our spooky domain.





Horror’s decisive shift: 2025 in focus domestic schedule weaves legend-infused possession, independent shockers, in parallel with franchise surges

Moving from pressure-cooker survival tales drawn from ancient scripture and extending to franchise returns as well as incisive indie visions, 2025 is tracking to be the most stratified along with tactically planned year in years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio powerhouses are anchoring the year with franchise anchors, concurrently streaming platforms crowd the fall with new perspectives plus archetypal fear. On the independent axis, the art-house flank is surfing the afterglow of a banner 2024 fest year. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, notably this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are precise, which means 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The majors are assertive. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 scales the plan.

the Universal banner fires the first shot with a risk-forward move: a refreshed Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, but a sharp contemporary setting. From director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. set for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Helmed by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

Toward summer’s end, Warner Bros. Pictures unveils the final movement from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re boards, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: retrograde shiver, trauma driven plotting, and eerie supernatural logic. This time, the stakes are raised, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The return delves further into myth, builds out the animatronic fear crew, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It bows in December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Offerings: No Budget, No Problem

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a body horror duet pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

In the mix sits Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable starring Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Shaped and helmed 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. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is a smart play. No overinflated mythology. No franchise baggage. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Series Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, guided by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Trend Lines

Myth turns mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Badges become bargaining chips
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Projection: Fall crush plus winter X factor

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The next genre cycle: follow-ups, universe starters, plus A hectic Calendar designed for chills

Dek The fresh horror cycle crams in short order with a January crush, following that stretches through June and July, and deep into the winter holidays, braiding brand heft, new concepts, and strategic counterweight. Studios and streamers are committing to cost discipline, exclusive theatrical windows first, and short-form initiatives that position these releases into water-cooler talk.

How the genre looks for 2026

This space has established itself as the predictable lever in programming grids, a lane that can expand when it performs and still protect the drag when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year proved to executives that low-to-mid budget fright engines can dominate pop culture, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with visionary-driven titles and sleeper breakouts. The run flowed into 2025, where reawakened brands and elevated films showed there is an opening for many shades, from franchise continuations to standalone ideas that carry overseas. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a run that appears tightly organized across players, with mapped-out bands, a pairing of legacy names and novel angles, and a reinvigorated priority on exclusive windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium video on demand and streaming.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now slots in as a versatile piece on the grid. The genre can open on many corridors, deliver a sharp concept for teasers and TikTok spots, and exceed norms with demo groups that turn out on Thursday previews and hold through the next pass if the feature lands. Emerging from a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 mapping telegraphs comfort in that dynamic. The year begins with a stacked January window, then plants flags in spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while leaving room for a September to October window that pushes into the fright window and into the next week. The gridline also features the greater integration of indie arms and subscription services that can nurture a platform play, build word of mouth, and widen at the right moment.

An added macro current is legacy care across connected story worlds and long-running brands. The companies are not just releasing another entry. They are looking to package story carry-over with a specialness, whether that is a title presentation that flags a new tone or a casting choice that links a next entry to a early run. At the in tandem, the directors behind the headline-grabbing originals are celebrating material texture, practical effects and place-driven backdrops. That fusion affords the 2026 slate a vital pairing of brand comfort and invention, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount opens strong with two big-ticket entries that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the heart, setting it up as both a passing of the torch and a DNA-forward character-focused installment. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture signals a classic-referencing strategy without looping the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. A campaign is expected rooted in legacy iconography, character spotlights, and a two-beat trailer plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will emphasize. As a summer relief option, this one will build general-audience talk through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format allowing quick updates to whatever defines the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three unique projects. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is straightforward, somber, and big-hook: a grieving man brings home an artificial companion that shifts into a harmful mate. The date nudges it to the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to iterate on uncanny live moments and brief clips that mixes affection and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a name unveil to become an fan moment closer to the first look. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. The filmmaker’s films are treated as auteur events, with a concept-forward tease and a follow-up trailer set that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The late-month date gives Universal room to own 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, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has consistently shown that a raw, in-camera leaning mix can feel deluxe on a controlled budget. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror shock that spotlights offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio launches two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, extending a consistent supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is calling 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 well-defined brief to serve both franchise faithful and newcomers. The fall slot provides the studio time to build campaign creative around narrative world, and practical creature work, elements that can boost premium booking interest and cosplayer momentum.

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 centered on historical precision and archaic language, this time exploring werewolf lore. The label has already set the date for a holiday release, a bold stance in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is warm.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform tactics for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s slate window into copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a pacing that enhances both FOMO and platform bumps in the after-window. Prime Video continues to mix outside acquisitions with worldwide buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library pulls, using in-app campaigns, Halloween hubs, and editorial rows to maximize the tail on aggregate take. Netflix remains opportunistic about Netflix originals and festival snaps, slotting horror entries closer to launch and positioning as event drops arrivals with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a paired of focused cinema runs and speedy platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has shown a willingness to secure select projects with top-tier auteurs or name-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for sustained usage when the genre conversation builds.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 arc with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is clean: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, updated for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the late stretch.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday corridor to open out. That positioning has worked well for prestige horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception merits. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using targeted theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Legacy titles versus originals

By weight, 2026 skews toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on marquee value. The concern, as ever, is audience fatigue. The standing approach is to sell each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is spotlighting character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-inflected take from a new voice. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a survival shocker premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the cast-creatives package is anchored enough to build pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Rolling three-year comps contextualize the logic. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that observed windows did not preclude a hybrid test from working when the brand was big. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror hit big in large-format rooms. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they reorient and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances 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 filmed in sequence, permits marketing to cross-link entries through character arcs and themes and to sustain campaign assets without pause points.

How the films are being made

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the 2026 entries signal a continued tilt toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that spotlights texture and dread rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and era-true language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and earns shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta pivot that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature work and production design, which fit with convention floor stunts and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel primary. Look for trailers that spotlight razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that shine in top rooms.

How the year maps out

January is full. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid heavier IP. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the tone spread carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth carries.

Winter into spring prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into useful reference summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

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 slides in after September 18, a transitional slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited advance reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card spend.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s virtual companion mutates into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography 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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man 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: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 fight to survive on a desolate island as the pecking order flips and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to fright, grounded in Cronin’s hands-on craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting story that threads the dread through a young child’s uncertain subjective view. Rating: pending. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that lampoons current genre trends and true-crime manias. Rating: TBA. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites flares, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further widens again, with a another family linked to residual nightmares. Rating: not yet rated. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A clean reboot designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on pure survival horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: TBD. 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: TBD. Production: advancing. 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 period-precise speech and ancient menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. 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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why this year, why now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces inform this lineup. First, production that stalled or recalendared in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify repeatable beats from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Calendar math also matters. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can lead a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will jostle 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 benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, 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 in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The dark-horse hunt 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 work those windows. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a sampler, 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 austere, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night 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 surface detail, soundscape, and framing 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

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is franchise muscle where it helps, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing 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 late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, lock the reveals, and let the frights sell the seats.