Primordial Horror Awakens in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling chiller, debuting Oct 2025 on major platforms

A eerie supernatural fear-driven tale from cinematographer / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an forgotten horror when passersby become subjects in a dark experiment. Streaming October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful episode of struggle and forgotten curse that will revamp fear-driven cinema this cool-weather season. Brought to life by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and atmospheric motion picture follows five unacquainted souls who find themselves ensnared in a wilderness-bound structure under the unfriendly rule of Kyra, a female lead occupied by a prehistoric sacred-era entity. Prepare to be absorbed by a visual outing that integrates intense horror with ancestral stories, arriving on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a classic concept in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is turned on its head when the forces no longer come externally, but rather internally. This portrays the most hidden shade of these individuals. The result is a harrowing mental war where the intensity becomes a ongoing conflict between heaven and hell.


In a haunting natural abyss, five figures find themselves stuck under the malicious aura and inhabitation of a unidentified character. As the ensemble becomes helpless to evade her control, left alone and chased by unknowns indescribable, they are made to wrestle with their inner demons while the seconds brutally runs out toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust surges and alliances implode, requiring each survivor to doubt their true nature and the principle of free will itself. The risk climb with every breath, delivering a cinematic nightmare that integrates demonic fright with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to channel pure dread, an power before modern man, filtering through our weaknesses, and testing a darkness that erodes the self when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra asked for exploring something deeper than fear. She is uninformed until the demon emerges, and that transformation is soul-crushing because it is so visceral.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for audiences beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—making sure customers from coast to coast can experience this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its original clip, which has earned over six-figure audience.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, bringing the film to viewers around the world.


Witness this haunted descent into hell. Confront *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to witness these nightmarish insights about mankind.


For featurettes, extra content, and social posts from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across platforms and visit the movie portal.





U.S. horror’s sea change: calendar year 2025 domestic schedule melds primeval-possession lore, microbudget gut-punches, stacked beside franchise surges

Beginning with survivor-centric dread drawn from mythic scripture and extending to returning series paired with focused festival visions, 2025 is lining up as horror’s most layered in tandem with tactically planned year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. Major studios set cornerstones via recognizable brands, as subscription platforms pack the fall with new perspectives as well as primordial unease. At the same time, horror’s indie wing is drafting behind the echoes from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. As Halloween stays the prime week, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, but this year, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are precise, which means 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige terror resurfaces

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s pipeline opens the year with an audacious swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, but a crisp modern milieu. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. set for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Led by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

Toward summer’s end, Warner Bros. Pictures rolls out the capstone from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Next is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson is back, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: period tinged dread, trauma centered writing, and a cold supernatural calculus. This pass pushes higher, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, reaching teens and game grownups. It lands in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Offerings: No Budget, No Problem

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a close quarters body horror study including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, 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. With no dated platform window yet, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend starring Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

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.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in 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 is a smart play. No overinflated mythology. No IP hangover. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

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

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, with Francis Lawrence directing, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Emerging Currents

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 is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror resurges
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Projection: Fall stack and winter swing card

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The oncoming fright lineup: installments, new stories, alongside A brimming Calendar geared toward goosebumps

Dek The upcoming genre season crowds early with a January traffic jam, thereafter spreads through the summer months, and straight through the winter holidays, weaving franchise firepower, new concepts, and strategic counterweight. Studios and streamers are doubling down on tight budgets, big-screen-first runs, and social-driven marketing that elevate the slate’s entries into water-cooler talk.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

This category has proven to be the predictable swing in release strategies, a category that can break out when it hits and still insulate the drawdown when it fails to connect. After 2023 re-taught studio brass that lean-budget chillers can lead the zeitgeist, 2024 kept energy high with visionary-driven titles and stealth successes. The run flowed into 2025, where re-entries and festival-grade titles proved there is capacity for several lanes, from returning installments to non-IP projects that perform internationally. The aggregate for 2026 is a lineup that is strikingly coherent across the major shops, with strategic blocks, a combination of recognizable IP and novel angles, and a refocused emphasis on big-screen windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium video on demand and home streaming.

Distribution heads claim the genre now slots in as a wildcard on the grid. The genre can launch on open real estate, supply a clean hook for marketing and short-form placements, and outstrip with moviegoers that lean in on preview nights and hold through the follow-up frame if the feature lands. In the wake of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 configuration demonstrates conviction in that model. The calendar commences with a crowded January corridor, then primes spring and early summer for alternate plays, while making space for a October build that flows toward All Hallows period and past Halloween. The layout also spotlights the expanded integration of indie distributors and subscription services that can nurture a platform play, stoke social talk, and move wide at the strategic time.

A companion trend is IP cultivation across unified worlds and classic IP. The companies are not just greenlighting another chapter. They are moving to present connection with a premium feel, whether that is a title design that indicates a tonal shift or a casting choice that connects a next entry to a early run. At the simultaneously, the directors behind the headline-grabbing originals are leaning into tactile craft, practical effects and concrete locations. That alloy delivers the 2026 slate a lively combination of comfort and freshness, which is how the genre sells abroad.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount leads early with two big-ticket projects that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, steering it as both a handoff and a classic-mode character-first story. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the story approach hints at a throwback-friendly bent without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push stacked with classic imagery, initial cast looks, and a promo sequence hitting late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will emphasize. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will chase mass reach through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick pivots to whatever dominates horror talk that spring.

Universal has three distinct plays. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is tight, sorrow-tinged, and logline-clear: a grieving man installs an AI companion that evolves into a killer companion. The date lines it up at the front of a packed window, with Universal’s campaign likely to recreate viral uncanny stunts and quick hits that melds attachment and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a branding reveal to become an event moment closer to the early tease. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s releases are sold as creative events, with a concept-forward tease and a second beat that shape mood without giving away the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor lets the studio to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has long shown that a gnarly, practical-effects forward strategy can feel high-value on a mid-range budget. Position this as a grime-caked summer horror surge that emphasizes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio rolls out two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, continuing a steady supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is describing click to read more as a reset 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 sharper mandate to serve both loyalists and novices. The fall slot hands Sony window to build materials around lore, and monster aesthetics, elements that can increase premium booking interest and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by meticulous craft and linguistic texture, this time focused on werewolf legend. Focus Features has already set the date for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is positive.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform windowing in 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s releases flow to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a tiered path that optimizes both launch urgency and sign-up spikes in the post-theatrical. Prime Video continues to mix library titles with global pickups and short theatrical plays when the data supports it. Max and Hulu work their edges in catalog discovery, using well-timed internal promotions, seasonal hubs, and editorial rows to increase tail value on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps optionality about originals and festival acquisitions, scheduling horror entries near their drops and coalescing around go-lives with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a two-step of precision releases and fast windowing that turns chatter to conversion. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a selective basis. The platform has indicated interest to board select projects with established auteurs or marquee packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for platform stickiness when the genre conversation peaks.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 pipeline with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is clear: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, retooled for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a cinema-first plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the late-season weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, managing the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday corridor to broaden. That positioning has paid off for auteur horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception warrants. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using limited runs to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Balance of brands and originals

By tilt, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on cultural cachet. The trade-off, as ever, is staleness. The pragmatic answer is to package each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is emphasizing core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a Francophone tone from a ascendant talent. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the packaging is steady enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

The last three-year set announce the method. In 2023, a theater-first model that honored streaming windows did not foreclose a day-date try from thriving when the brand was robust. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror popped in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they reorient and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters lensed back-to-back, lets marketing to relate entries through protagonists and motifs and to keep assets in-market without extended gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft conversations behind the year’s horror forecast a continued preference for hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that emphasizes mood and dread rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in long-lead press and guild coverage before rolling out a tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for red-band excess, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and drives shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta refresh that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature design and production design, which are ideal for con floor moments and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel compelling. Look for trailers that foreground precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that land in big rooms.

Calendar cadence

January is busy. Universal’s 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 tonal palate cleanser amid big-brand pushes. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the palette of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Q1 into Q2 prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into 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 jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

August and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a transitional slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a slow-reveal plan and limited pre-release reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card burn.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s AI companion becomes something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

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 stumble upon a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. 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 claw to survive on a remote island as the hierarchy upends and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to dread, based on Cronin’s material craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting setup that interrogates the chill of a child’s mercurial senses. Rating: forthcoming. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven spectral suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that targets hot-button genre motifs and true crime fascinations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: fall 2025 production window. 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 erupts, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further opens again, with a fresh family tethered to lingering terrors. Rating: TBA. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for classic survival-horror tone over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: forthcoming. Production: underway. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

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 time-true diction and ancient menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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

Why this year, why now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces structure this lineup. First, production that paused or reshuffled in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on social-ready stingers from test screenings, curated scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, making room for genre entries that can capture a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will coexist across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where modest-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, 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 compound over time, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, sound, and camera work 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 Promising 2026

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand heft where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver 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-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, keep the secrets, and let the gasps sell the seats.