Primordial Dread Awakens in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising chiller, debuting Oct 2025 on major platforms

An spine-tingling spiritual horror tale from creator / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an prehistoric evil when guests become tokens in a devilish trial. Releasing October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing episode of living through and mythic evil that will reshape the horror genre this cool-weather season. Directed by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and shadowy feature follows five figures who suddenly rise stranded in a cut-off shelter under the malevolent manipulation of Kyra, a young woman haunted by a two-thousand-year-old holy text monster. Get ready to be seized by a visual adventure that blends visceral dread with timeless legends, landing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a legendary tradition in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is reversed when the beings no longer descend outside the characters, but rather through their own souls. This depicts the most sinister shade of the group. The result is a relentless moral showdown where the tension becomes a relentless tug-of-war between righteousness and malevolence.


In a forsaken no-man's-land, five young people find themselves contained under the ominous influence and domination of a unknown female figure. As the victims becomes incapacitated to withstand her control, cut off and tormented by terrors unfathomable, they are forced to endure their darkest emotions while the clock without pity strikes toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion swells and relationships break, driving each protagonist to contemplate their essence and the concept of self-determination itself. The risk grow with every second, delivering a chilling narrative that intertwines demonic fright with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to uncover core terror, an darkness before modern man, working through our fears, and exposing a entity that questions who we are when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra required summoning something far beyond human desperation. She is in denial until the control shifts, and that flip is terrifying because it is so internal.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for streaming beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—offering audiences anywhere can face this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its original promo, which has seen over 100K plays.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, making the film to global fright lovers.


Avoid skipping this life-altering journey into fear. Confront *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to survive these fearful discoveries about mankind.


For exclusive trailers, set experiences, and news from the cast and crew, follow @YACMovie across social media and visit our horror hub.





American horror’s watershed moment: the 2025 season domestic schedule melds biblical-possession ideas, Indie Shockers, in parallel with returning-series thunder

From grit-forward survival fare saturated with old testament echoes and stretching into series comebacks paired with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is emerging as the most stratified as well as precision-timed year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. top-tier distributors stabilize the year with familiar IP, concurrently subscription platforms load up the fall with first-wave breakthroughs and primordial unease. At the same time, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is drafting behind the kinetic energy of a peak 2024 circuit. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, and in 2025, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are disciplined, and 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige fear returns

The majors are assertive. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal Pictures leads off the quarter with a marquee bet: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, but a crisp modern milieu. Guided by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. Booked into 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 conversion presented as stripped terror. Led by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer eases, Warner Bros. sets loose the finale of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Though the outline is tried, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson resumes command, and the tone that worked before is intact: 70s style chill, trauma as theme, plus otherworld rules that chill. The bar is raised this go, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, speaking to teens and older millennials. It books December, pinning the winter close.

SVOD Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a forensic chill anthology that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a sealed box body horror arc fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story featuring Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by 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 threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. That is a savvy move. No swollen lore. No series drag. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, 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.

Heritage Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, from Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Signals and Trends

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a 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 serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Season Ahead: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

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

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The 2026 chiller cycle: brand plays, fresh concepts, paired with A Crowded Calendar optimized for Scares

Dek The upcoming terror calendar builds right away with a January bottleneck, then extends through summer, and pushing into the December corridor, fusing brand equity, new voices, and savvy counter-scheduling. Studio marketers and platforms are prioritizing right-sized spends, theatrical exclusivity first, and shareable marketing that convert these films into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror momentum into 2026

This category has emerged as the most reliable move in studio calendars, a genre that can lift when it lands and still limit the floor when it stumbles. After 2023 reminded leaders that low-to-mid budget chillers can dominate audience talk, the following year sustained momentum with visionary-driven titles and quiet over-performers. The run rolled into 2025, where reboots and filmmaker-prestige bets proved there is space for several lanes, from legacy continuations to one-and-done originals that travel well. The upshot for 2026 is a calendar that seems notably aligned across players, with mapped-out bands, a harmony of known properties and new concepts, and a recommitted focus on theatrical windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium video on demand and streaming.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now functions as a fill-in ace on the slate. The genre can debut on many corridors, yield a tight logline for creative and vertical videos, and outstrip with demo groups that show up on preview nights and hold through the sophomore frame if the picture satisfies. Following a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 mapping telegraphs trust in that setup. The slate opens with a stacked January window, then leans on spring and early summer for balance, while leaving room for a fall corridor that carries into holiday-adjacent weekends and into post-Halloween. The map also includes the tightening integration of arthouse labels and digital platforms that can platform and widen, spark evangelism, and broaden at the optimal moment.

A second macro trend is legacy care across interlocking continuities and long-running brands. Studios are not just rolling another follow-up. They are setting up brand continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a brandmark that announces a re-angled tone or a ensemble decision that binds a next film to a heyday. At the same time, the creative teams behind the marquee originals are leaning into material texture, real effects and place-driven backdrops. That fusion affords the 2026 slate a vital pairing of brand comfort and invention, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount leads early with two headline bets that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the core, positioning the film as both a succession moment and a origin-leaning character-focused installment. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the narrative stance points to a fan-service aware campaign without recycling the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run centered on classic imagery, character-first teases, and a rollout cadence targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will lean on. As a summer contrast play, this one will go after wide buzz through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format making room for quick updates to whatever defines the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three clear releases. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is crisp, tragic, and premise-first: a grieving man purchases an intelligent companion that mutates into a murderous partner. The date slots it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s team likely to mirror creepy live activations and short-cut promos that hybridizes romance and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a proper title to become an fan moment closer to the teaser. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele titles are set up as marquee events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second trailer wave that shape mood without giving away the concept. The pre-Halloween slot allows Universal to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a in-your-face, prosthetic-heavy style can feel prestige on a moderate cost. Look for a grime-caked summer horror shock that leans hard into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio lines up two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, sustaining a bankable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is marketing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both devotees and fresh viewers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign pieces around environmental design, and creature builds, elements that can fuel premium booking interest and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on obsessive craft and archaic language, this time focused on werewolf legend. The distributor has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is strong.

Digital platform strategies

Digital strategies for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s genre entries land on copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a stair-step that enhances both premiere heat and subscription bumps in the post-theatrical. Prime Video balances library titles with world buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data supports it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in deep cuts, using prominent placements, holiday hubs, and featured rows to maximize the tail on lifetime take. Netflix remains opportunistic about Netflix films and festival grabs, finalizing horror entries on shorter runways and eventizing releases with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a tiered of focused cinema runs and rapid platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a situational basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to board select projects with top-tier auteurs or star packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation spikes.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 corridor with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is direct: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, retooled for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a traditional cinema play for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the September weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then using the year-end corridor to move out. That positioning has proved effective for arthouse horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception merits. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using select theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their membership.

Franchise entries versus originals

By weight, the 2026 slate tips toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on brand equity. The potential drawback, as ever, is fatigue. The workable fix is to present each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is bringing forward character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-tinted vision from a new voice. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and auteur plays provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the package is assuring enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Comparable trends from recent years contextualize the playbook. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that respected streaming windows did not stop a dual release from hitting when the brand was powerful. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror rose in PLF. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they rotate perspective and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters filmed in sequence, creates space for marketing to link the films through character and theme and to leave creative active without pause points.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the year’s horror suggest a continued emphasis on physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that elevates aura and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in feature stories and craft coverage before rolling out a atmospheric tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and earns shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta-horror reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster realization and design, which fit with fan-con activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel essential. Look for trailers that center fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in premium houses.

The schedule at a glance

January is full. 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 brooding contrast amid larger brand plays. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the mix of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth endures.

Winter into spring tee up summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can thrive next to family Get More Info tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Shoulder season into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a transitional slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited advance reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can play the holidays when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card use.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s machine mate mutates into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively 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 encounter a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: tone-first 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 hard-edged boss try to survive on a desolate island as the hierarchy tilts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

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 contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to terror, driven by Cronin’s tactile craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 closed-door haunting narrative that filters its scares through a youngster’s unreliable inner lens. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-scale and A-list fronted supernatural mood piece.

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 send-up revival that lampoons hot-button genre motifs and true-crime obsessions. Rating: TBD. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. 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 bursts, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further extends again, with a young family bound to older hauntings. Rating: not yet rated. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival-first horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: TBD. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: undetermined. Production: proceeding. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on time-true diction and elemental dread. Rating: TBD. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. 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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three workable forces shape this lineup. First, production that downshifted or shuffled in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and pared-down 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 exceeded straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, metered scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Calendar math also matters. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

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

The search for sleepers continues in Q1, where value-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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout 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.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a smorgasbord, 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 goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, soundcraft, and imagery 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

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand gravity where needed, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, guard the secrets, and let the gasps sell the seats.