Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases antediluvian malevolence, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, bowing October 2025 across major platforms

An bone-chilling occult terror film from cinematographer / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an primeval evil when unrelated individuals become puppets in a demonic experiment. Dropping October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing saga of resilience and old world terror that will reconstruct the fear genre this Halloween season. Created by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and emotionally thick feature follows five people who come to confined in a cut-off dwelling under the malevolent power of Kyra, a female presence possessed by a two-thousand-year-old biblical demon. Prepare to be drawn in by a theatrical venture that combines raw fear with arcane tradition, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a recurring pillar in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is flipped when the beings no longer appear externally, but rather from deep inside. This depicts the grimmest aspect of the cast. The result is a harrowing mind game where the emotions becomes a relentless struggle between purity and corruption.


In a isolated forest, five youths find themselves stuck under the sinister control and infestation of a unknown female figure. As the team becomes submissive to resist her control, severed and targeted by creatures beyond comprehension, they are pushed to battle their darkest emotions while the timeline relentlessly pushes forward toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust surges and connections break, compelling each character to rethink their personhood and the idea of independent thought itself. The risk accelerate with every instant, delivering a chilling narrative that combines supernatural terror with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to tap into ancestral fear, an spirit rooted in antiquity, channeling itself through human fragility, and navigating a spirit that forces self-examination when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra asked for exploring something beneath mortal despair. She is in denial until the possession kicks in, and that pivot is haunting because it is so deep.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for horror fans beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—offering audiences from coast to coast can experience this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its original clip, which has been viewed over notable views.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, delivering the story to lovers of terror across nations.


Don’t miss this gripping trip into the unknown. Stream *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to explore these evil-rooted truths about the human condition.


For previews, special features, and alerts via the production team, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across online outlets and visit our film’s homepage.





Today’s horror sea change: 2025 across markets U.S. Slate blends myth-forward possession, signature indie scares, plus series shake-ups

Moving from fight-to-live nightmare stories drawn from old testament echoes and onward to series comebacks plus sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 looks like the most dimensioned as well as precision-timed year in the past ten years.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. Major studios bookend the months with franchise anchors, while digital services crowd the fall with discovery plays and mythic dread. Across the art-house lane, indie storytellers is surfing the kinetic energy from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. With Halloween holding the peak, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, and in 2025, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are targeted, and 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

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

The top end is active. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 scales the plan.

the Universal camp sets the tone with a bold swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, in a modern-day environment. Directed by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. Booked into mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Helmed by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

When summer fades, Warner Bros. bows the concluding entry of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. While the template is known, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

The Black Phone 2 follows. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re teams, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: 70s style chill, trauma as text, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This time, the stakes are raised, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It hits in December, securing the winter cap.

Streamer Exclusives: Tight funds, wide impact

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a close quarters body horror study featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale starring Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led 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.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No swollen lore. No sequel clutter. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest 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. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy Horror: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Key Trends

Ancient myth goes wide
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror retakes ground
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Badges become bargaining chips
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

What’s Next: Fall pileup, winter curveball

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. 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 brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The approaching scare slate: Sequels, original films, And A hectic Calendar tailored for chills

Dek The fresh terror year builds from day one with a January traffic jam, and then runs through June and July, and straight through the holiday stretch, fusing series momentum, original angles, and smart alternatives. Studios and streamers are committing to right-sized spends, theatrical exclusivity first, and social-fueled campaigns that frame these pictures into culture-wide discussion.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The horror marketplace has shown itself to be the surest tool in programming grids, a corner that can break out when it performs and still limit the risk when it stumbles. After the 2023 year signaled to decision-makers that disciplined-budget pictures can drive the national conversation, the following year kept energy high with filmmaker-forward plays and stealth successes. The energy moved into the 2025 frame, where reboots and prestige plays made clear there is capacity for multiple flavors, from sequel tracks to one-and-done originals that export nicely. The sum for 2026 is a grid that appears tightly organized across players, with obvious clusters, a spread of marquee IP and original hooks, and a recommitted priority on theatrical windows that power the aftermarket on PVOD and home streaming.

Executives say the space now performs as a schedule utility on the schedule. Horror can debut on a wide range of weekends, create a clear pitch for promo reels and shorts, and overperform with demo groups that turn out on Thursday previews and sustain through the sophomore frame if the feature connects. After a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 rhythm telegraphs certainty in that engine. The slate starts with a loaded January block, then taps spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while saving space for a autumn push that stretches into spooky season and into November. The schedule also features the expanded integration of specialized labels and digital platforms that can develop over weeks, ignite recommendations, and widen at the timely point.

A further high-level trend is IP cultivation across interlocking continuities and veteran brands. Big banners are not just mounting another follow-up. They are setting up lore continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a art treatment that telegraphs a tonal shift or a talent selection that bridges a next film to a vintage era. At the concurrently, the creative leads behind the most buzzed-about originals are returning to material texture, practical effects and vivid settings. That pairing affords the 2026 slate a strong blend of brand comfort and novelty, which is why the genre exports well.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount plants an early flag with two centerpiece moves that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the focus, steering it as both a lineage transfer and a return-to-roots character study. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach conveys a throwback-friendly angle without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push stacked with signature symbols, character spotlights, and a tease cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

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 together, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will emphasize. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will seek general-audience talk through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format fitting quick updates to whatever leads trend lines that spring.

Universal has three clear strategies. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is tidy, soulful, and easily pitched: a grieving man adopts an synthetic partner that becomes a murderous partner. The date locates it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s team likely to mirror strange in-person beats and short reels that hybridizes devotion and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a public title to become an headline beat closer to the initial promo. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles stack weblink 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 event films, with a hinting teaser and a second wave of trailers that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The late-month date gives Universal room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has long shown that a tactile, on-set effects led treatment can feel deluxe on a tight budget. Position this as a splatter summer horror rush that spotlights global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio sets two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, keeping a evergreen supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is selling as a new take 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 sharper mandate to serve both diehards and first-timers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build marketing units around world-building, and monster aesthetics, elements that can lift premium booking interest and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in meticulous craft and period speech, this time circling werewolf lore. The imprint has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is warm.

Digital platform strategies

Digital strategies for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s genre slate transition to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a ladder that optimizes both launch urgency and subscription bumps in the later window. Prime Video combines acquired titles with global pickups and targeted theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library engagement, using timely promos, Halloween hubs, and curated rows to keep attention on aggregate take. Netflix stays opportunistic about Netflix films and festival grabs, slotting horror entries closer to launch and coalescing around premieres with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a staged of tailored theatrical exposure and swift platform pivots that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a per-project basis. The platform has signaled readiness to take on select projects with top-tier auteurs or star packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for monthly engagement when the genre conversation builds.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is curating a 2026 sequence with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is straightforward: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, elevated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a standard theatrical run for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the back half.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, piloting the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday corridor to increase reach. That positioning has delivered for filmmaker-first horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception encourages. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using precision theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their membership.

Franchise entries versus originals

By share, 2026 is weighted toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit household recognition. The challenge, as ever, is staleness. The standing approach is to pitch each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is emphasizing relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French sensibility from a buzzed-about director. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the package is recognizable enough to build pre-sales and early previews.

Recent-year comps outline the logic. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that held distribution windows did not hamper a day-date move from hitting when the brand was sticky. In 2024, precision craft horror hit big in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they alter lens and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters produced back-to-back, allows marketing to interlace chapters through personae and themes and to keep materials circulating without pause points.

Technique and craft currents

The craft conversations behind these films suggest a continued shift toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that elevates unease and texture rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft 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 aimed at tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and gathers shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta pivot that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature craft and set design, which play well in booth activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel irresistible. Look for trailers that accent pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that sing on PLF.

The schedule at a glance

January is packed. 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 foggy reset amid larger brand plays. The month concludes 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 real, but the tone spread creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth persists.

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

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late-season stretch leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil follows September 18, a late-September window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited advance reveals that elevate concept over story.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift card usage.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s synthetic partner grows into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back 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 meet a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: gothic-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 demanding boss push to survive on a isolated island as the power balance inverts and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 TBA in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to fear, founded on Cronin’s in-camera craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 residential haunting chiller that toys with the panic of a child’s mercurial POV. Rating: rating pending. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-grade and star-fronted occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A satire sequel that teases modern genre fads and true crime preoccupations. Rating: pending. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites bursts, with an overseas 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: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a different family bound to old terrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A clean reboot designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in pure survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. 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: awaiting confirmation. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: not yet rated. Production: proceeding. 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 era-faithful speech and raw 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 the moment is 2026

Three workable forces define this lineup. First, production that slowed or shifted in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and condensed timelines. 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 exceeded straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate meme-ready beats from test screenings, metered scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, making room for genre entries that can command a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will share space across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

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

The surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where low-to-mid 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 surprise 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 spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two 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 hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value 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 tactility, aural design, and visuals that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand heft where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the chills sell the seats.