Primeval Evil Stirs in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding horror thriller, bowing October 2025 across major streaming services

An spine-tingling metaphysical suspense story from author / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an ancient nightmare when guests become tokens in a satanic conflict. Airings begin on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful journey of overcoming and mythic evil that will redefine horror this ghoul season. Directed by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and cinematic cinema piece follows five lost souls who awaken locked in a off-grid dwelling under the oppressive sway of Kyra, a female lead consumed by a 2,000-year-old biblical force. Arm yourself to be ensnared by a screen-based event that weaves together deep-seated panic with folklore, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a well-established fixture in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is turned on its head when the fiends no longer arise from elsewhere, but rather through their own souls. This represents the most hidden corner of the players. The result is a emotionally raw moral showdown where the tension becomes a unyielding fight between moral forces.


In a abandoned terrain, five adults find themselves trapped under the ominous force and curse of a uncanny figure. As the group becomes vulnerable to escape her manipulation, left alone and targeted by creatures beyond comprehension, they are forced to confront their raw vulnerabilities while the hours without pause strikes toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety amplifies and partnerships splinter, pressuring each participant to doubt their essence and the philosophy of personal agency itself. The hazard accelerate with every short lapse, delivering a fear-soaked story that merges mystical fear with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to dig into elemental fright, an spirit from ancient eras, operating within soul-level flaws, and dealing with a entity that redefines identity when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra asked for exploring something outside normal anguish. She is insensitive until the invasion happens, and that transition is shocking because it is so raw.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for viewing beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—providing fans from coast to coast can experience this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its release of trailer #1, which has received over massive response.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, delivering the story to horror fans worldwide.


Be sure to catch this mind-warping trip into the unknown. Experience *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to dive into these ghostly lessons about our species.


For bonus footage, special features, and announcements straight from the filmmakers, follow @YACFilm across social media and visit the film’s website.





Modern horror’s tipping point: 2025 U.S. lineup braids together legend-infused possession, independent shockers, alongside series shake-ups

Moving from fight-to-live nightmare stories infused with scriptural legend and stretching into canon extensions paired with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is tracking to be the genre’s most multifaceted in tandem with precision-timed year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. top-tier distributors bookend the months with known properties, at the same time platform operators stack the fall with new perspectives plus primordial unease. On the independent axis, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is fueled by the backdraft from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and now, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are intentional, accordingly 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

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

The top end is active. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s schedule starts the year with a statement play: a contemporary Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, instead in a current-day frame. With Leigh Whannell at the helm with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. timed for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Guided by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer wanes, Warner’s schedule releases the last chapter from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the tone that worked before is intact: nostalgic menace, trauma foregrounded, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The ante is higher this round, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, broadens the animatronic terror cast, bridging teens and legacy players. It lands in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

SVOD Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a sealed box body horror arc with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed 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. It is a calculated bet. No heavy handed lore. No legacy baggage. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Long Running Lines: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Dials to Watch

Ancient myth goes wide
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

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

Streaming originals get teeth
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

What’s Next: Fall stack and winter swing card

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The oncoming spook lineup: returning titles, original films, as well as A jammed Calendar geared toward shocks

Dek The emerging terror season loads from the jump with a January cluster, then flows through June and July, and well into the holiday stretch, balancing series momentum, novel approaches, and smart counterplay. Studios and platforms are prioritizing lean spends, theatrical leads, and viral-minded pushes that frame these releases into cross-demo moments.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This space has solidified as the bankable option in annual schedules, a corner that can lift when it catches and still cushion the floor when it misses. After 2023 signaled to buyers that efficiently budgeted chillers can shape the national conversation, the following year extended the rally with visionary-driven titles and unexpected risers. The head of steam fed into 2025, where legacy revivals and premium-leaning entries demonstrated there is an opening for different modes, from sequel tracks to non-IP projects that export nicely. The sum for the 2026 slate is a programming that is strikingly coherent across companies, with purposeful groupings, a equilibrium of marquee IP and new concepts, and a re-energized stance on theatrical windows that increase tail monetization on premium home window and streaming.

Buyers contend the horror lane now acts as a utility player on the programming map. The genre can kick off on almost any weekend, supply a grabby hook for marketing and TikTok spots, and outpace with audiences that show up on opening previews and stick through the follow-up frame if the movie connects. On the heels of a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 plan signals belief in that setup. The calendar launches with a weighty January block, then uses spring and early summer for counterweight, while clearing room for a fall run that extends to Halloween and into post-Halloween. The layout also shows the greater integration of specialized imprints and platforms that can build gradually, fuel WOM, and roll out at the inflection point.

An added macro current is IP stewardship across unified worlds and classic IP. Major shops are not just producing another installment. They are working to present lineage with a premium feel, whether that is a title treatment that flags a reframed mood or a lead change that connects a latest entry to a heyday. At the in tandem, the filmmakers behind the most anticipated originals are championing hands-on technique, special makeup and grounded locations. That combination delivers the 2026 slate a smart balance of recognition and unexpected turns, which is the formula for international play.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount leads early with two front-of-slate bets that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the center, marketing it as both a legacy handover and a return-to-roots character-first story. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the story approach points to a memory-charged mode without recycling the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign anchored in heritage visuals, character-first teases, and a two-beat trailer plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will lean on. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will go after wide appeal through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format inviting quick updates to whatever rules the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three unique lanes. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is straightforward, tragic, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man purchases an algorithmic mate that evolves into a harmful mate. The date slots it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with the Universal machine likely to echo creepy live activations and short-cut promos that melds intimacy and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a title drop to become an headline beat closer to the debut look. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. The filmmaker’s films are marketed as event films, with a teaser that holds back and a second trailer wave that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date opens a lane to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has made clear that a visceral, prosthetic-heavy approach can feel top-tier on a efficient spend. Position this as a blood-soaked summer horror shock that leans into international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio deploys two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, maintaining a trusty supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, navigate here where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what Sony is selling as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both longtime followers and general audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build campaign creative around mythos, and creature effects, elements that can increase large-format demand and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror centered on immersive craft and period speech, this time circling werewolf lore. The company has already locked the day for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is enthusiastic.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform tactics for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s genre entries flow to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a ordering that maximizes both debut momentum and subscription bumps in the tail. Prime Video will mix library titles with worldwide entries and limited cinema engagements when the data signals it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in back-catalog play, using in-app campaigns, spooky hubs, and staff picks to sustain interest on lifetime take. Netflix keeps optionality have a peek at this web-site about own-slate titles and festival wins, timing horror entries near launch and turning into events drops with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a paired of tailored theatrical exposure and prompt platform moves that turns chatter to conversion. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a situational basis. The platform has proven amenable to secure select projects with acclaimed directors or name-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly activity when the genre conversation peaks.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 runway with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is tight: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, retooled for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the autumn weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through select festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the Christmas corridor to expand. That positioning has served the company well for director-led genre with award possibilities. 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 sound expectation is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception warrants. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using limited runs to kindle evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Franchises versus originals

By volume, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate name recognition. The caveat, as ever, is diminishing returns. The near-term solution is to present each entry as a new angle. Paramount is underscoring core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is floating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-tinted vision from a ascendant talent. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the deal build is comforting enough to accelerate early sales and preview-night crowds.

Three-year comps help explain the method. In 2023, a exclusive window model that held distribution windows did not preclude a day-date move from thriving when the brand was big. In 2024, art-forward horror popped in large-format rooms. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they shift POV and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to bridge entries through character web and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without hiatuses.

Behind-the-camera trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the 2026 entries signal a continued tilt toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that emphasizes aura and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and sparks shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta refresh that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature work and production design, which lend themselves to convention activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel essential. Look for trailers that spotlight razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that sing on PLF.

Annual flow

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 foggy reset amid headline IP. The month winds down 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 serious, but the menu of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth endures.

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

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can win 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.

August into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a transitional slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a slow-reveal plan and limited previews that prioritize concept over plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift card usage.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s essence. 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 heartbroken man’s machine mate shifts into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back 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: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. 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 unyielding boss push to survive on a isolated island as the hierarchy turns and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 under wraps in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to terror, built on Cronin’s practical craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting premise that routes the horror through a kid’s unreliable personal vantage. Rating: TBD. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that skewers present-day genre chatter and true crime preoccupations. Rating: TBD. Production: cameras due to roll 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 breaks out, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new household linked to ancient dread. Rating: TBD. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A fresh restart designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-driven horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: TBD. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: TBD. Production: in progress. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and primordial menace. Rating: TBD. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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

Why 2026 and why now

Three execution-level forces define this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or rearranged in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more orderly 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 releases. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate clippable moments from test screenings, precision scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Calendar math also matters. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, freeing space for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will trade weekends across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, 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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout Get More Info 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, 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 keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, lean footprints, 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 dimensionality, aural design, and picture that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is recognizable IP where it plays, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver 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-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, keep secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.