Antediluvian Horror reawakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a fear soaked chiller, launching October 2025 on major streaming services

This unnerving spectral shockfest from literary architect / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an age-old dread when foreigners become instruments in a diabolical ordeal. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching depiction of perseverance and ancient evil that will resculpt the horror genre this fall. Produced by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and gothic thriller follows five strangers who wake up imprisoned in a off-grid dwelling under the dark manipulation of Kyra, a troubled woman occupied by a ancient scriptural evil. Arm yourself to be seized by a filmic spectacle that harmonizes primitive horror with ancestral stories, landing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demonic control has been a time-honored foundation in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is reversed when the demons no longer arise outside the characters, but rather internally. This depicts the darkest aspect of the players. The result is a enthralling mind game where the conflict becomes a unyielding confrontation between light and darkness.


In a bleak outland, five souls find themselves sealed under the ghastly grip and grasp of a mysterious spirit. As the victims becomes helpless to evade her manipulation, left alone and tracked by unknowns unnamable, they are obligated to battle their soulful dreads while the final hour relentlessly runs out toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety deepens and relationships shatter, driving each member to contemplate their essence and the foundation of independent thought itself. The pressure intensify with every breath, delivering a scare-fueled ride that merges supernatural terror with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to uncover primitive panic, an evil beyond time, manipulating inner turmoil, and confronting a power that redefines identity when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra meant evoking something beyond human emotion. She is ignorant until the haunting manifests, and that change is bone-chilling because it is so visceral.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for worldwide release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—making sure audiences no matter where they are can experience this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its original clip, which has seen over strong viewer count.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, making the film to lovers of terror across nations.


Mark your calendar for this bone-rattling journey into fear. Enter *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to confront these terrifying truths about mankind.


For director insights, special features, and reveals from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursed across your socials and visit our horror hub.





Horror’s major pivot: 2025 for genre fans stateside slate braids together old-world possession, festival-born jolts, stacked beside franchise surges

Beginning with survival horror infused with old testament echoes and stretching into canon extensions alongside sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 stands to become the most variegated along with carefully orchestrated year in recent memory.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. studio powerhouses hold down the year via recognizable brands, in tandem platform operators front-load the fall with discovery plays as well as scriptural shivers. On another front, the art-house flank is drafting behind the backdraft from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, distinctly in 2025, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are precise, therefore 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: High-craft horror returns

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

Universal’s schedule sets the tone with a marquee bet: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, in an immediate now. Directed by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. timed for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Led by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

By late summer, Warner Bros. Pictures bows the concluding entry from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Granted the structure is classic, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson re boards, and those signature textures resurface: retro dread, trauma centered writing, plus otherworld rules that chill. This time the stakes climb, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, thickens the animatronic pantheon, speaking to teens and older millennials. It arrives in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Originals: Low budgets, big teeth

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a room scale body horror descent including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession From Within: 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 film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It is a clever angle. No overinflated mythology. No franchise baggage. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Franchise Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, with Francis Lawrence directing, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

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.

Key Trends

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Projection: Fall pileup, winter curveball

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The new fright calendar year ahead: follow-ups, filmmaker-first projects, and also A busy Calendar engineered for chills

Dek The arriving genre cycle crams from the jump with a January bottleneck, subsequently unfolds through the mid-year, and pushing into the holiday stretch, weaving IP strength, original angles, and shrewd counterprogramming. Studios and platforms are doubling down on right-sized spends, theatrical-first rollouts, and buzz-forward plans that transform genre titles into national conversation.

Horror momentum into 2026

The field has grown into the surest counterweight in distribution calendars, a pillar that can grow when it hits and still mitigate the drag when it fails to connect. After 2023 showed buyers that disciplined-budget pictures can drive the national conversation, the following year carried the beat with buzzy auteur projects and sleeper breakouts. The energy translated to 2025, where resurrections and arthouse crossovers demonstrated there is an opening for a spectrum, from returning installments to original one-offs that carry overseas. The result for 2026 is a programming that presents tight coordination across studios, with mapped-out bands, a equilibrium of brand names and new concepts, and a re-energized focus on exclusive windows that drive downstream revenue on premium on-demand and platforms.

Buyers contend the category now performs as a swing piece on the slate. Horror can launch on virtually any date, deliver a tight logline for teasers and reels, and outpace with patrons that respond on preview nights and hold through the sophomore frame if the movie satisfies. Emerging from a work stoppage lag, the 2026 cadence indicates confidence in that dynamic. The slate kicks off with a loaded January window, then primes spring and early summer for balance, while leaving room for a September to October window that reaches into spooky season and beyond. The grid also highlights the ongoing integration of specialty arms and streaming partners that can platform and widen, create conversation, and roll out at the sweet spot.

A further high-level trend is brand curation across ongoing universes and storied titles. Big banners are not just producing another chapter. They are seeking to position lineage with a must-see charge, whether that is a title design that signals a re-angled tone or a star attachment that connects a fresh chapter to a initial period. At the in tandem, the directors behind the most buzzed-about originals are celebrating in-camera technique, makeup and prosthetics and concrete locations. That pairing provides the 2026 slate a lively combination of trust and shock, which is how the genre sells abroad.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount opens strong with two front-of-slate projects that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the heart, steering it as both a passing of the torch and a back-to-basics character-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance announces a heritage-honoring approach without going over the last two entries’ family thread. Watch for a push leaning on heritage visuals, early character teases, and a promo sequence landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will emphasize. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will go after broad awareness through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format allowing quick reframes to whatever leads the social talk that spring.

Universal has three discrete plays. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is simple, loss-driven, and concept-forward: a grieving man activates an artificial companion that becomes a harmful mate. The date puts it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s team likely to replay off-kilter promo beats and short reels that threads attachment and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a official title to become an PR pop closer to the initial promo. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele’s releases are presented as must-see filmmaker statements, with a minimalist tease and a follow-up trailer set that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The spooky-season slot creates space for Universal to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate 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 steers, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has shown that a gnarly, in-camera leaning aesthetic can feel elevated on a controlled budget. Look for a viscera-heavy summer horror surge that leans hard into offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio rolls out two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, continuing a reliable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what great post to read 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 curious audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build materials around environmental design, and practical creature work, elements that can drive deluxe auditorium demand and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in textural authenticity and historical speech, this time steeped in lycan lore. Focus Features has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is strong.

Streaming windows and tactics

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal titles window into copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a sequence that optimizes both week-one demand and subscriber lifts in the tail. Prime Video will mix licensed content with global pickups and brief theater runs when the data supports it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in deep cuts, using timely promos, October hubs, and featured rows to stretch the tail on the horror cume. Netflix keeps optionality about Netflix films and festival pickups, scheduling horror entries toward the drop and eventizing debuts with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a tiered of selective theatrical runs and swift platform pivots that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has shown appetite to board select projects with acclaimed directors or star packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation spikes.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 track with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is uncomplicated: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, refined for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the fall weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the December frame to widen. That positioning has been successful for director-led genre with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception justifies. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using boutique theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Series vs standalone

By number, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage cultural cachet. The concern, as ever, is overexposure. The go-to fix is to present each entry as a new angle. Paramount is elevating character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-inflected take from a rising filmmaker. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an hard-edged great post to read tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the configuration is steady enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday-night crowds.

Past-three-year patterns contextualize the template. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that honored streaming windows did not preclude a dual release from performing when the brand was trusted. In 2024, art-forward horror outperformed in large-format rooms. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they reorient and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters lensed sequentially, creates space for marketing to interlace chapters through character and theme and to keep materials circulating without lulls.

How the films are being made

The filmmaking conversations behind these films suggest a continued move toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that highlights aura and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in long-lead press and artisan spotlights before rolling out a preview that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and spurs shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta reframe that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature work and production design, which work nicely for fan-con activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel essential. Look for trailers that underscore hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that sing on PLF.

Annual flow

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 quiet contrast amid big-brand pushes. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the variety of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth persists.

Q1 into Q2 tee up summer. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with brand energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

August and September into October leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a shoulder season window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a slow-reveal plan and limited plot reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and gift-card use.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces 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 devastated man’s intelligent companion escalates into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete 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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: atmospheric game 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 try to survive on a far-flung island as the control balance shifts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to fear, based on Cronin’s practical effects and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting story that toys with the fear of a child’s shaky senses. Rating: to be announced. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-scale and star-led supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that satirizes present-day genre chatter and true-crime manias. Rating: TBD. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 surges, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a different family entangled with past horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in true survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: TBA. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: closely held. Rating: not yet rated. Production: underway. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

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 language and bone-deep menace. Rating: TBA. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why the moment is 2026

Three hands-on forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that slowed or reshuffled in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming placements. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, curated scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Calendar math also matters. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, freeing space for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will jostle across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The breakout hunt continues in Q1, where disciplined-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 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, 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 pattern and spread. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, audio design, and cinematography that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand gravity this page where needed, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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, roll out exact trailers, keep the secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.