Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up primordial evil, a nerve shredding chiller, premiering Oct 2025 on major streaming services

A terrifying spectral shockfest from cinematographer / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an timeless terror when unrelated individuals become tokens in a hellish contest. Hitting screens this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving story of perseverance and prehistoric entity that will reshape fear-driven cinema this October. Crafted by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and immersive film follows five strangers who emerge confined in a secluded hideaway under the aggressive dominion of Kyra, a haunted figure dominated by a ancient biblical demon. Anticipate to be absorbed by a narrative event that integrates deep-seated panic with folklore, debuting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demonic control has been a iconic foundation in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is twisted when the dark entities no longer originate beyond the self, but rather inside them. This symbolizes the most terrifying facet of all involved. The result is a relentless moral showdown where the suspense becomes a ongoing face-off between virtue and vice.


In a remote wild, five campers find themselves sealed under the dark rule and inhabitation of a unknown being. As the protagonists becomes helpless to break her control, stranded and chased by creatures beyond reason, they are forced to stand before their worst nightmares while the doomsday meter ruthlessly draws closer toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread escalates and relationships shatter, prompting each soul to question their self and the idea of independent thought itself. The cost intensify with every breath, delivering a horror experience that harmonizes unearthly horror with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to awaken raw dread, an malevolence from ancient eras, embedding itself in fragile psyche, and dealing with a evil that tests the soul when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra was about accessing something outside normal anguish. She is uninformed until the possession kicks in, and that evolution is harrowing because it is so intimate.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for digital release beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—so that horror lovers globally can survive this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its original promo, which has racked up over a viral response.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, taking the terror to fans of fear everywhere.


Make sure to see this unforgettable path of possession. Join *Young & Cursed* this launch day to see these spiritual awakenings about the soul.


For featurettes, production news, and insider scoops from the cast and crew, follow @YoungAndCursed across your socials and visit our film’s homepage.





Current horror’s decisive shift: 2025 for genre fans U.S. Slate integrates ancient-possession motifs, Indie Shockers, set against tentpole growls

Kicking off with fight-to-live nightmare stories rooted in biblical myth and stretching into brand-name continuations set beside acutely observed indies, 2025 appears poised to be horror’s most layered together with deliberate year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. the big studios set cornerstones with established lines, as SVOD players front-load the fall with new perspectives set against mythic dread. Meanwhile, the independent cohort is catching the tailwinds of a banner 2024 fest year. As Halloween stays the prime week, the other windows are mapped with care. A fat September–October lane is customary now, however this time, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are targeted, which means 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: The Return of Prestige Fear

The majors are assertive. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 doubles down.

the Universal camp lights the fuse with a headline swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in an immediate now. From director Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. targeting mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Under Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer wanes, Warner’s slate rolls out the capstone from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: throwback unease, trauma driven plotting, plus otherworld rules that chill. The stakes escalate here, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Rounding the tentpole corner 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, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It posts in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Guided by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a close quarters body horror study led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Next comes Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Authored 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. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in 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 sequel clutter. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Long Running Lines: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives 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, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Trend Lines

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

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

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Projection: Autumn density and winter pivot

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The upcoming fear year to come: follow-ups, original films, alongside A Crowded Calendar optimized for shocks

Dek: The brand-new horror season stacks from the jump with a January logjam, from there unfolds through peak season, and well into the December corridor, blending name recognition, new voices, and shrewd calendar placement. The major players are focusing on tight budgets, theatrical-first rollouts, and platform-native promos that pivot these releases into broad-appeal conversations.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror filmmaking has solidified as the dependable swing in studio lineups, a corner that can accelerate when it connects and still limit the losses when it falls short. After 2023 showed studio brass that responsibly budgeted scare machines can drive the national conversation, the following year maintained heat with signature-voice projects and stealth successes. The run moved into the 2025 frame, where revivals and critical darlings highlighted there is space for multiple flavors, from legacy continuations to standalone ideas that scale internationally. The end result for the 2026 slate is a calendar that presents tight coordination across the field, with obvious clusters, a combination of household franchises and fresh ideas, and a refocused strategy on theatrical windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium on-demand and subscription services.

Distribution heads claim the space now functions as a fill-in ace on the calendar. Horror can roll out on numerous frames, furnish a tight logline for previews and vertical videos, and exceed norms with patrons that arrive on preview nights and stay strong through the follow-up frame if the picture fires. Exiting a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 layout demonstrates conviction in that approach. The calendar gets underway with a heavy January window, then targets spring into early summer for counterprogramming, while carving room for a fall cadence that runs into holiday-adjacent weekends and into the next week. The gridline also spotlights the expanded integration of specialty distributors and platforms that can platform and widen, generate chatter, and broaden at the timely point.

A parallel macro theme is franchise tending across connected story worlds and legacy IP. Big banners are not just producing another follow-up. They are trying to present lore continuity with a specialness, whether that is a logo package that conveys a recalibrated tone or a casting choice that threads a fresh chapter to a heyday. At the same time, the creative teams behind the most watched originals are favoring real-world builds, in-camera effects and place-driven backdrops. That alloy provides the 2026 slate a confident blend of comfort and novelty, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount sets the tone early with two high-profile titles that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the lead, marketing it as both a legacy handover and a back-to-basics character piece. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the creative posture announces a legacy-leaning framework without rehashing the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Plan for a rollout rooted in classic imagery, intro reveals, and a tease cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will stress. As a summer alternative, this one will pursue large awareness through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format inviting quick switches to whatever owns the social talk that spring.

Universal has three separate bets. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is tight, grief-rooted, and easily pitched: a grieving man purchases an virtual partner that becomes a deadly partner. The date places it at the front of a thick month, with marketing at Universal likely to replay viral uncanny stunts and short reels that mixes affection and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a name unveil to become an teaser payoff closer to the opening teaser. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele’s pictures are sold as auteur events, with a hinting teaser and a next wave of trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date gives Universal room to maximize 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, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has consistently shown that a gnarly, practical-effects forward treatment can feel elevated on a lean spend. Look for a hard-R summer horror jolt that spotlights international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio sets two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, maintaining a consistent supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is calling a new take 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 new audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build assets around canon, and monster craft, elements that can fuel premium booking interest and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in immersive craft and historical speech, this time set against lycan legends. The imprint has already set the date for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is strong.

Digital platform strategies

Digital strategies for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s genre entries feed copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a ordering that maximizes both first-week urgency and sign-up momentum in the late-window. Prime Video combines licensed films with international acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu work their edges in deep cuts, using seasonal hubs, seasonal hubs, and collection rows to stretch the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix keeps options open about internal projects and festival grabs, finalizing horror entries on shorter runways and eventizing releases with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a tiered of precision theatrical plays and rapid platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will count 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+ continues to weigh horror on a selective basis. The platform has indicated interest to secure select projects with prestige directors or celebrity-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for sustained usage when the genre conversation builds.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 corridor with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is no-nonsense: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, recalibrated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the late stretch.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, managing the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then using the December frame to open out. That positioning has helped for filmmaker-first horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception supports. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using select theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their subs.

IP versus fresh ideas

By volume, 2026 leans toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on franchise value. The risk, as ever, is viewer burnout. The practical approach is to pitch each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is underscoring character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-flavored turn from a hot helmer. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the team and cast is comforting enough to drive advance ticketing and preview-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years contextualize the plan. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that respected streaming windows did not preclude a simultaneous release test from performing when the brand was powerful. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror exceeded expectations in premium screens. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they alter lens 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 dual-chapter plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to interlace chapters through character and theme and to keep materials circulating without extended gaps.

Technique and craft currents

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind these films forecast a continued turn toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that centers mood and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in long-lead press and technical spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and produces shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta-horror reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature and environment design, which work nicely for convention floor stunts and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that foreground pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that land in premium houses.

From winter to holidays

January is loaded. Universal’s 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 atmospheric change-up amid headline IP. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the mix of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth sustains.

Post-January through spring stage summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now supports 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 spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can connect 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 run their PLF course.

End of summer through fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited teasers that center concept over reveals.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card use.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s core. 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 devastated man’s algorithmic partner turns into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 difficult boss struggle to survive on a isolated island as the power balance upends and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to fright, driven by Cronin’s practical effects and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal 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 household haunting setup that frames the panic through a kid’s volatile internal vantage. Rating: TBA. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven spectral suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that lampoons present-day genre chatter and true crime preoccupations. Rating: undetermined. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. 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 flares, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a new family snared by ancient dread. Rating: forthcoming. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A restart designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-first horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: forthcoming. Production: development underway with firm 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: intentionally withheld. Rating: TBD. Production: underway. 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 historical diction and elemental dread. Rating: TBA. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three operational forces structure this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or reshuffled in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and leaner schedules. 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 generated more than straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage repeatable beats from test screenings, select scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

The slot calculus is real. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, clearing runway for genre entries that can lead a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will share space across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, 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 underdog chase 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 capitalize on those pockets. 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, 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 pattern and spread. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, tight deployments, 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 detail, acoustics, and imagery that benefit from larger see here 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 evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is franchise muscle where it helps, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite 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 late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the fear sell the seats.