Primeval Evil Surfaces within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling chiller, debuting Oct 2025 across major streaming services

This haunting unearthly fear-driven tale from screenwriter / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an mythic malevolence when passersby become proxies in a cursed trial. Available on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing depiction of resilience and age-old darkness that will alter the fear genre this Halloween season. Crafted by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and gothic feature follows five people who wake up imprisoned in a unreachable hideaway under the ominous influence of Kyra, a female presence possessed by a millennia-old holy text monster. Be warned to be absorbed by a big screen adventure that harmonizes deep-seated panic with ancient myths, releasing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a legendary foundation in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is reimagined when the spirits no longer come externally, but rather from deep inside. This echoes the haunting facet of these individuals. The result is a gripping internal warfare where the narrative becomes a ongoing clash between right and wrong.


In a desolate natural abyss, five adults find themselves cornered under the unholy influence and grasp of a unknown person. As the characters becomes unable to deny her curse, exiled and followed by terrors unnamable, they are cornered to endure their deepest fears while the clock without pause runs out toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust escalates and relationships fracture, pressuring each soul to reconsider their essence and the philosophy of independent thought itself. The stakes magnify with every heartbeat, delivering a terror ride that integrates spiritual fright with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to tap into ancestral fear, an curse beyond time, working through soul-level flaws, and testing a force that challenges autonomy when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra called for internalizing something darker than pain. She is unseeing until the demon emerges, and that turn is harrowing because it is so close.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—delivering horror lovers in all regions can experience this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its original promo, which has received over notable views.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, exporting the fear to lovers of terror across nations.


Mark your calendar for this haunted journey into fear. Watch *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to face these ghostly lessons about inner darkness.


For previews, filmmaker commentary, and announcements from the cast and crew, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across Facebook and TikTok and visit the official website.





Current horror’s inflection point: calendar year 2025 domestic schedule interlaces Mythic Possession, festival-born jolts, together with IP aftershocks

Beginning with survivor-centric dread suffused with legendary theology and extending to franchise returns together with surgical indie voices, 2025 looks like the richest and intentionally scheduled year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. studio majors set cornerstones by way of signature titles, concurrently platform operators crowd the fall with emerging auteurs as well as mythic dread. Across the art-house lane, indie storytellers is propelled by the tailwinds of a record-setting 2024 festival season. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, and now, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are surgical, so 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s distribution arm begins the calendar with a confident swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, instead in a current-day frame. Led by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. set for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Helmed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer eases, the WB camp unveils the final movement from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Although the framework is familiar, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: period tinged dread, trauma in the foreground, and a cold supernatural calculus. The ante is higher this round, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The continuation widens the legend, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, speaking to teens and older millennials. It books December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Offerings: Economy, maximum dread

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a close quarters body horror study anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend featuring Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. That is a savvy move. No bloated mythology. No continuity burden. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, led by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Trend Lines

Ancient myth goes wide
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

What’s Next: 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 like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The oncoming spook lineup: returning titles, new stories, And A busy Calendar tailored for nightmares

Dek: The new scare slate builds in short order with a January bottleneck, following that stretches through summer, and running into the festive period, blending marquee clout, new concepts, and calculated counter-scheduling. Studios and streamers are betting on right-sized spends, cinema-first plans, and social-fueled campaigns that elevate these offerings into broad-appeal conversations.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror has turned into the dependable lever in distribution calendars, a lane that can accelerate when it lands and still hedge the risk when it does not. After the 2023 year re-taught greenlighters that mid-range genre plays can dominate mainstream conversation, 2024 sustained momentum with auteur-driven buzzy films and sleeper breakouts. The upswing moved into the 2025 frame, where reboots and arthouse crossovers demonstrated there is a market for many shades, from continued chapters to standalone ideas that export nicely. The aggregate for 2026 is a schedule that seems notably aligned across studios, with clear date clusters, a equilibrium of legacy names and original hooks, and a tightened eye on exclusive windows that feed downstream value on premium home window and SVOD.

Planners observe the space now serves as a flex slot on the release plan. Horror can arrive on numerous frames, yield a clean hook for previews and short-form placements, and overperform with crowds that arrive on early shows and hold through the second frame if the movie fires. Post a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 plan telegraphs assurance in that dynamic. The calendar begins with a loaded January band, then exploits spring through early summer for off-slot scheduling, while making space for a fall run that pushes into the Halloween frame and past Halloween. The grid also spotlights the deeper integration of indie distributors and SVOD players that can nurture a platform play, generate chatter, and grow at the precise moment.

Another broad trend is legacy care across linked properties and legacy franchises. Major shops are not just rolling another continuation. They are seeking to position story carry-over with a headline quality, whether that is a art treatment that telegraphs a new tone or a cast configuration that binds a new installment to a original cycle. At the meanwhile, the writer-directors behind the eagerly awaited originals are doubling down on physical effects work, real effects and distinct locales. That combination produces the 2026 slate a strong blend of trust and freshness, which is how the genre sells abroad.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount opens strong with two front-of-slate plays that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the core, setting it up as both a handoff and a return-to-roots character-focused installment. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the story approach indicates a legacy-leaning treatment without retreading the last two entries’ sibling arc. Look for a marketing run built on heritage visuals, initial cast looks, and a trailer cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will feature. As a summer relief option, this one will hunt four-quadrant chatter through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format enabling quick switches to whatever owns the social talk that spring.

Universal has three specific lanes. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is clean, melancholic, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man brings home an algorithmic mate that unfolds into a murderous partner. The date locates it at the front of a packed window, with marketing at Universal likely to renew odd public stunts and micro spots that blurs attachment and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets 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 as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a proper title to become an attention spike closer to the early tease. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele projects are branded as filmmaker events, with a mystery-first teaser and a later trailer push that shape mood without giving away the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date lets the studio to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has made clear that a tactile, makeup-driven approach can feel premium on a disciplined budget. Position this as a blood-soaked summer horror blast that embraces overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio places two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, maintaining a dependable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is calling a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both loyalists and first-timers. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign creative around environmental design, and practical creature work, elements that can increase premium format interest and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by immersive craft and language, this time set against lycan legends. The label has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a bold stance in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is strong.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform windowing in 2026 run on stable tracks. The Universal horror run window into copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a ordering that fortifies both first-week urgency and sign-up momentum in the post-theatrical. Prime Video blends licensed films with international acquisitions and small theatrical windows when the data supports it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in archive usage, using editorial spots, fright rows, and collection news rows to stretch the tail on the 2026 genre total. Netflix stays nimble about Netflix originals and festival acquisitions, slotting horror entries near their drops and staging as events premieres with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a dual-phase of selective theatrical runs and quick platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a situational basis. The platform has been willing to acquire select projects with prestige directors or marquee packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation ramps.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 sequence with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is direct: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, elevated for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a theatrical-first plan for the title, an good sign for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the autumn stretch.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then working the December frame to increase reach. That positioning has paid off for arthouse horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception merits. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using limited runs to jump-start evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Known brands versus new stories

By share, the 2026 slate skews toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness cultural cachet. The potential drawback, as ever, is overexposure. The go-to fix is to sell each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is leading with character and roots in Scream 7, this website Sony is floating a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-inflected take from a rising filmmaker. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the deal build is known enough to drive advance ticketing and early previews.

Past-three-year patterns frame the approach. In 2023, a theater-first model that observed windows did not prevent a hybrid test from delivering when the brand was robust. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror rose in PLF. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they change perspective and scale the storytelling. 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 back-to-back plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, creates space for marketing to cross-link entries through relationships and themes and to continue assets in field without dead zones.

How the films are being made

The craft rooms behind the 2026 slate foreshadow a continued preference for in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that underscores mood and dread rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and era-true language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft features before rolling out a tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and creates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta refresh that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will fly or stall on monster aesthetics and world-building, which are ideal for booth activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel compelling. Look for trailers that highlight fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that benefit on big speakers.

Release calendar overview

January is busy. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid heftier brand moves. The month buttons 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 thick, but the spread of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth persists.

Post-January through spring load in summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s 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 sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can play 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 rolled through premiums.

August and September into October leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a pre-October slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited asset reveals that put concept first.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and holiday card usage.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads 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 sorrowing man’s algorithmic partner grows into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 unyielding boss try to survive on a rugged island as the power balance tilts and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to chill, driven by Cronin’s on-set craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting story that threads the dread through a kid’s unreliable POV. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: finished. Positioning: major-studio and name-above-title haunting thriller.

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 comic send-up that riffs on in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fascinations. Rating: undetermined. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites spreads, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new clan caught in older hauntings. Rating: forthcoming. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for classic survival-horror tone over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

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

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-specific language and primordial menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a big-screen run before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the moment is 2026

Three nuts-and-bolts forces structure this lineup. First, production that stalled or shifted in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming releases. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on bite-size scare clips from test screenings, metered scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

The slot calculus is real. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can lead a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will line up across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can exploit 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 track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The breakout hunt continues in Q1, where lean-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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, 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 sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, smart allocations, and this website strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, sound field, and picture 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

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand heft where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, lock the reveals, and let the chills sell the seats.