Antediluvian Dread surfaces: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling thriller, premiering October 2025 across global platforms

One blood-curdling ghostly shockfest from narrative craftsman / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an mythic entity when unrelated individuals become proxies in a demonic experiment. Airings begin this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful saga of staying alive and primordial malevolence that will reimagine horror this ghoul season. Crafted by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and claustrophobic story follows five people who awaken locked in a hidden shelter under the menacing control of Kyra, a female presence possessed by a 2,000-year-old biblical demon. Be prepared to be hooked by a screen-based venture that blends primitive horror with biblical origins, debuting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a long-standing trope in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is subverted when the forces no longer arise outside their bodies, but rather from their psyche. This embodies the deepest facet of the players. The result is a bone-chilling emotional conflict where the drama becomes a constant battle between right and wrong.


In a haunting backcountry, five youths find themselves sealed under the malicious rule and possession of a mysterious apparition. As the companions becomes incapacitated to evade her manipulation, severed and chased by unknowns mind-shattering, they are confronted to stand before their raw vulnerabilities while the moments mercilessly winds toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease grows and ties crack, requiring each character to doubt their identity and the foundation of independent thought itself. The consequences intensify with every short lapse, delivering a terror ride that integrates paranormal dread with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to explore ancestral fear, an spirit that existed before mankind, manifesting in emotional vulnerability, and highlighting a curse that threatens selfhood when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra demanded embodying something past sanity. She is uninformed until the invasion happens, and that evolution is harrowing because it is so deep.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be available for streaming beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—giving streamers globally can engage with this fearful revelation.


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


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, taking the terror to viewers around the world.


Join this visceral trip into the unknown. Stream *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to witness these terrifying truths about the psyche.


For previews, special features, and reveals from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across fan hubs and visit the movie’s homepage.





American horror’s Turning Point: the 2025 cycle U.S. Slate interlaces biblical-possession ideas, Indie Shockers, paired with returning-series thunder

Across fight-to-live nightmare stories drawn from biblical myth and extending to IP renewals paired with surgical indie voices, 2025 is shaping up as horror’s most layered in tandem with intentionally scheduled year in a decade.

Call it full, but it is also focused. top-tier distributors plant stakes across the year with familiar IP, while digital services crowd the fall with unboxed visions as well as ancient terrors. On the independent axis, festival-forward creators is buoyed by the carry from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, however this time, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are targeted, hence 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige terror resurfaces

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

the Universal camp starts the year with a statement play: a modernized Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, instead in a current-day frame. Directed by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Booked into mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Under Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

Toward summer’s end, Warner Bros. launches the swan song from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re boards, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: retro dread, trauma foregrounded, with ghostly inner logic. This time, the stakes are raised, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The new chapter enriches the lore, stretches the animatronic parade, bridging teens and legacy players. It posts in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Firsts: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a body horror duet featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is canny scheduling. No bloated canon. No legacy baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Franchise Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, from Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Trends to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror reemerges
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode 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. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Outlook: Autumn density and winter pivot

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

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

The 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 upcoming genre calendar year ahead: next chapters, filmmaker-first projects, in tandem with A jammed Calendar optimized for chills

Dek: The brand-new scare cycle packs from the jump with a January traffic jam, before it spreads through the warm months, and far into the holiday stretch, combining franchise firepower, original angles, and calculated counterprogramming. Studios and streamers are leaning into cost discipline, theatrical exclusivity first, and short-form initiatives that pivot these releases into mainstream chatter.

The genre’s posture for 2026

Horror filmmaking has proven to be the bankable option in studio lineups, a vertical that can lift when it catches and still buffer the downside when it underperforms. After 2023 signaled to strategy teams that disciplined-budget genre plays can drive cultural conversation, 2024 carried the beat with visionary-driven titles and quiet over-performers. The tailwind rolled into 2025, where reboots and elevated films highlighted there is appetite for a variety of tones, from sequel tracks to original features that travel well. The end result for 2026 is a programming that presents tight coordination across players, with defined corridors, a harmony of household franchises and original hooks, and a sharpened eye on theater exclusivity that drive downstream revenue on premium video on demand and home platforms.

Buyers contend the genre now functions as a utility player on the distribution slate. The genre can kick off on a wide range of weekends, generate a quick sell for previews and short-form placements, and punch above weight with patrons that come out on Thursday previews and stick through the next pass if the movie connects. After a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 layout demonstrates belief in that model. The calendar begins with a heavy January stretch, then turns to spring and early summer for balance, while saving space for a fall run that pushes into Halloween and into the next week. The schedule also features the stronger partnership of arthouse labels and home platforms that can develop over weeks, build word of mouth, and expand at the precise moment.

A second macro trend is franchise tending across ongoing universes and storied titles. The players are not just producing another chapter. They are working to present ongoing narrative with a heightened moment, whether that is a title presentation that conveys a reframed mood or a lead change that links a latest entry to a initial period. At the alongside this, the directors behind the most buzzed-about originals are favoring physical effects work, practical effects and site-specific worlds. That pairing offers the 2026 slate a solid mix of trust and discovery, which is how horror tends to travel navigate here globally.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount establishes early momentum with two headline entries that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the front, framing it as both a legacy handover and a return-to-roots character-forward chapter. Production is active in Atlanta, and the directional approach telegraphs a heritage-honoring strategy without rehashing the last two entries’ sisters thread. Expect a marketing push built on legacy iconography, initial cast looks, and a tiered teaser plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

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 joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will double down on. As a summer contrast play, this one will build wide appeal through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick pivots to whatever leads the discourse that spring.

Universal has three separate releases. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is clean, sorrow-tinged, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man purchases an machine companion that evolves into a dangerous lover. The date nudges it to the front of a thick month, with Universal’s promo team likely to bring back odd public stunts and bite-size content that blurs intimacy and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a official title to become an attention spike closer to the initial promo. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s pictures are positioned as filmmaker events, with a minimalist tease and a subsequent trailers that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date allows Universal to saturate 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, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has made clear that a tactile, makeup-driven strategy can feel cinematic on a efficient spend. Look for a splatter summer horror shock that emphasizes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio mounts two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, holding a steady supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is billing as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both longtime followers and first-timers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build artifacts around world-building, and practical creature work, elements that can fuel deluxe auditorium demand and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues Eggers’ run of period horror built on textural authenticity and linguistic texture, this time steeped in lycan lore. Focus’s team 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.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Windowing plans in 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal titles flow to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a pacing that amplifies both opening-weekend urgency and platform bumps in the late-window. Prime Video balances acquired titles with worldwide entries and short theatrical plays when the data supports it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library pulls, using prominent placements, genre hubs, and editorial rows to sustain interest on the 2026 genre total. Netflix stays nimble about first-party entries and festival deals, confirming horror entries tight to release and making event-like premieres with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a two-step of focused cinema runs and swift platform pivots that turns chatter to conversion. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a selective basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to take on select projects with acclaimed directors or name-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors see here to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for monthly engagement when the genre conversation intensifies.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 runway with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is straightforward: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, recalibrated for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has positioned a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the autumn weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday frame to increase reach. That positioning has proved effective for auteur horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception prompts. Plan on 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 jointly, using mini theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their audience.

IP versus fresh ideas

By proportion, 2026 leans in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage marquee value. The potential drawback, as ever, is viewer burnout. The standing approach is to market each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is spotlighting relationship 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 emerging director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and talent-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the configuration is comforting enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday previews.

Recent comps announce the plan. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that maintained windows did not obstruct a parallel release from paying off when the brand was robust. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror over-performed in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they angle differently and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters produced back-to-back, enables marketing to interlace chapters through character web and themes and to hold creative in the market without lulls.

Creative tendencies and craft

The craft rooms behind these films suggest a continued preference for physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that leans on creep and texture rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound 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 atmospheric tease that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and sparks shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta recalibration that centers an original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature craft and set design, which work nicely for convention activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel essential. Look for trailers that elevate pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that land in big rooms.

Release calendar overview

January is packed. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid big-brand pushes. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the range of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth endures.

Post-January through spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls 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 brings brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Late-season stretch leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited advance reveals that put concept first.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and card redemption.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to 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 widowed man’s artificial companion mutates into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

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 be swallowed by a changing 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 severe boss work to survive on a cut-off island as the pecking order turns and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 under wraps in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to dread, shaped by Cronin’s material craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting setup that interrogates the unease of a child’s uncertain interpretations. Rating: TBA. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-built and headline-actor led spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A parody return that satirizes hot-button genre motifs and true crime fascinations. Rating: TBA. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 international twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a unlucky family anchored to old terrors. Rating: TBA. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survival-first horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: forthcoming. Production: active. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and elemental dread. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. 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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why 2026, why now

Three practical forces shape this lineup. First, production that slowed or reshuffled in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage shareable moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, making room for genre entries that can control a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will cluster across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

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

The sleeper chase 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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, 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 sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, soundcraft, and cinematography 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 Shapes Up Strong

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand equity where it matters, 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, lock the reveals, and let the shocks sell the seats.