Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases age-old dread, a pulse pounding chiller, launching October 2025 across top digital platforms

One terrifying spectral thriller from narrative craftsman / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an long-buried fear when guests become conduits in a hellish experiment. Releasing on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing portrayal of struggle and age-old darkness that will resculpt the horror genre this harvest season. Directed by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and eerie fearfest follows five unacquainted souls who emerge stuck in a off-grid wooden structure under the dark grip of Kyra, a haunted figure inhabited by a timeless ancient fiend. Brace yourself to be enthralled by a big screen journey that harmonizes primitive horror with mystical narratives, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a iconic narrative in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is twisted when the monsters no longer appear from beyond, but rather internally. This suggests the most primal element of these individuals. The result is a enthralling mind game where the drama becomes a merciless face-off between light and darkness.


In a unforgiving woodland, five young people find themselves marooned under the evil rule and overtake of a elusive female presence. As the companions becomes paralyzed to resist her power, isolated and tormented by unknowns unimaginable, they are made to acknowledge their darkest emotions while the deathwatch unforgivingly edges forward toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia amplifies and bonds break, pushing each participant to reflect on their values and the concept of personal agency itself. The cost mount with every short lapse, delivering a paranormal ride that combines mystical fear with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to extract core terror, an spirit that existed before mankind, working through psychological breaks, and testing a power that forces self-examination when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra asked for exploring something far beyond human desperation. She is ignorant until the spirit seizes her, and that turn is emotionally raw because it is so unshielded.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for audience access beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—delivering households worldwide can watch this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its first preview, which has earned over six-figure audience.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, presenting the nightmare to lovers of terror across nations.


Tune in for this soul-jarring path of possession. Explore *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to see these dark realities about free will.


For behind-the-scenes access, production insights, and alerts from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across entertainment pages and visit the official website.





Modern horror’s major pivot: the 2025 season U.S. rollouts weaves archetypal-possession themes, signature indie scares, and returning-series thunder

Ranging from pressure-cooker survival tales drawn from ancient scripture and extending to installment follow-ups in concert with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is shaping up as horror’s most layered paired with tactically planned year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. major banners lay down anchors by way of signature titles, simultaneously streamers crowd the fall with first-wave breakthroughs set against mythic dread. At the same time, the art-house flank is surfing the carry from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. With Halloween holding the peak, the other windows are mapped with care. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, yet in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are intentional, hence 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: High-craft horror returns

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s slate fires the first shot with a risk-forward move: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, in a clear present-tense world. With Leigh Whannell at the helm fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. Slated for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Under Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

By late summer, the Warner lot drops the final chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. While the template is known, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the memorable motifs return: nostalgic menace, trauma as narrative engine, and eerie supernatural logic. Here the stakes rise, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The next entry deepens the tale, builds out the animatronic fear crew, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It bows in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Platform Plays: Small budgets, sharp fangs

As theatrical skews franchise first, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a close quarters body horror study led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn featuring Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. 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 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 is canny scheduling. No overstuffed canon. No continuity burden. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy Brands: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, with Francis Lawrence directing, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Signals and Trends

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror resurges
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Badges become bargaining chips
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Big screen is a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

What’s Next: Autumn density and winter pivot

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The coming 2026 spook cycle: returning titles, filmmaker-first projects, in tandem with A packed Calendar tailored for shocks

Dek: The emerging terror slate crowds immediately with a January crush, following that extends through the warm months, and straight through the festive period, blending marquee clout, creative pitches, and shrewd offsets. Distributors with platforms are embracing responsible budgets, theater-first strategies, and shareable marketing that position genre releases into all-audience topics.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The horror marketplace has established itself as the sturdy lever in distribution calendars, a segment that can surge when it resonates and still insulate the floor when it misses. After 2023 reassured strategy teams that responsibly budgeted pictures can shape the national conversation, 2024 kept energy high with director-led heat and word-of-mouth wins. The carry rolled into 2025, where reboots and arthouse crossovers showed there is an opening for multiple flavors, from sequel tracks to non-IP projects that translate worldwide. The takeaway for 2026 is a programming that looks unusually coordinated across distributors, with defined corridors, a blend of familiar brands and novel angles, and a re-energized priority on release windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium rental and platforms.

Planners observe the category now acts as a schedule utility on the distribution slate. Horror can arrive on numerous frames, offer a grabby hook for teasers and short-form placements, and outperform with patrons that line up on Thursday previews and sustain through the second frame if the picture pays off. Exiting a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 mapping reflects certainty in that playbook. The slate gets underway with a front-loaded January run, then turns to spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while holding room for a late-year stretch that extends to the Halloween corridor and afterwards. The arrangement also spotlights the deeper integration of specialized imprints and home platforms that can stage a platform run, ignite recommendations, and expand at the timely point.

A companion trend is brand strategy across shared universes and storied titles. The players are not just producing another chapter. They are trying to present continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a brandmark that broadcasts a new vibe or a lead change that binds a upcoming film to a foundational era. At the concurrently, the auteurs behind the marquee originals are embracing physical effects work, on-set effects and vivid settings. That combination yields the 2026 slate a solid mix of comfort and unexpected turns, which is why the genre exports well.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount marks the early tempo with two front-of-slate entries that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the center, steering it as both a handoff and a classic-mode character study. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the authorial approach hints at a fan-service aware campaign without going over the last two entries’ sibling arc. A campaign is expected rooted in iconic art, character-first teases, and a trailer cadence rolling 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 back together, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will foreground. As a counterweight in summer, this one will pursue general-audience talk through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format supporting quick pivots to whatever owns the discourse that spring.

Universal has three specific entries. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is tight, melancholic, and logline-clear: a grieving man purchases an machine companion that shifts into a murderous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to revisit strange in-person beats and quick hits that threads affection and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it navigate to this website as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a name unveil to become an event moment closer to the early tease. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele projects are set up as signature events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a next wave of trailers that signal tone without plot the concept. The late-month date gives the studio room to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use 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 commands, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has long shown that a visceral, hands-on effects style can feel top-tier on a controlled budget. Expect a viscera-heavy summer horror surge that leans hard into worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio lines up two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, carrying a dependable supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is billing 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 players and novices. The fall slot hands Sony window to build materials around canon, and practical creature work, elements that can amplify IMAX and PLF uptake and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances Eggers’ run of period horror defined by meticulous craft and dialect, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is positive.

Platform lanes and windowing

Digital strategies for 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s horror titles window into copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a pacing that boosts both premiere heat and platform bumps in the later phase. Prime Video stitches together licensed titles with global originals and select theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library curation, using well-timed internal promotions, horror hubs, and staff picks to increase tail value on overall cume. Netflix plays opportunist about internal projects and festival additions, locking in horror entries closer to launch and turning into events arrivals with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a tiered of targeted cinema placements and short jumps to platform that converts WOM to subscribers. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has been willing to buy select projects with name filmmakers or star packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for retention when the genre conversation builds.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 lane with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is clean: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, recalibrated for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a theatrical-first plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the October weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then using the year-end corridor to expand. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-first horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception warrants. Expect 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 mini theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Known brands versus new stories

By tilt, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the legacy column. Scream 7, Check This Out Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness franchise value. The caveat, as ever, is overexposure. The practical approach is to frame each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is emphasizing character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-flavored turn from a fresh helmer. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s impish dread. useful reference SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the cast-creatives package is known enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and preview-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years clarify the plan. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that held distribution windows did not prevent a hybrid test from performing when the brand was big. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror surged in premium formats. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they reframe POV and elevate scope. 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 linked-chapter plan, with chapters shot consecutively, gives leeway to marketing to relate entries through character arcs and themes and to sustain campaign assets without long gaps.

Craft and creative trends

The craft rooms behind the upcoming entries telegraph a continued lean toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that leans on creep and texture rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in deep-dive features and technical spotlights before rolling out a teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for red-band excess, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and earns shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a self-aware reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster work and world-building, which match well with fan conventions and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel compelling. Look for trailers that elevate pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that shine in top rooms.

Calendar cadence

January is packed. 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 brooding contrast amid headline IP. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the variety of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

February through May load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now sustains 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 sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Back half into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited advance reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card burn.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s intelligent companion grows into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse 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 unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. 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 try to survive on a remote island as the chain of command flips and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to nightmare, rooted in Cronin’s tactile craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting story that refracts terror through a kid’s shifting point of view. Rating: TBA. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-built and headline-actor led haunting thriller.

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 needles contemporary horror memes and true-crime manias. Rating: TBD. 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 breaks out, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a young family snared by past horrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward classic survival-horror tone over set-piece spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: to be announced. Production: active. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and elemental menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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 in flux, fall expected.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three nuts-and-bolts forces organize this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or shuffled in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming landings. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine clippable moments from test screenings, managed scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, making room for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will coexist across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 sleeper-hit hunt continues in Q1, where midrange-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing 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 bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, right-sized allotments, 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, sound field, and framing that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is name recognition where it counts, inventive vision where it helps, 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the shudders sell the seats.