Age-old Evil Returns within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nightmare fueled horror feature, launching October 2025 across top digital platforms

An chilling mystic suspense story from author / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an forgotten malevolence when guests become vehicles in a cursed ordeal. Debuting October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing depiction of perseverance and primeval wickedness that will revamp terror storytelling this cool-weather season. Produced by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and tone-heavy feature follows five lost souls who suddenly rise isolated in a far-off house under the sinister sway of Kyra, a tormented girl inhabited by a time-worn ancient fiend. Get ready to be seized by a big screen venture that melds instinctive fear with timeless legends, releasing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a classic fixture in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is reversed when the forces no longer develop outside their bodies, but rather inside them. This mirrors the malevolent corner of the group. The result is a intense spiritual tug-of-war where the suspense becomes a relentless tug-of-war between heaven and hell.


In a barren wild, five figures find themselves sealed under the possessive force and grasp of a obscure spirit. As the ensemble becomes helpless to withstand her rule, cut off and tormented by terrors beyond comprehension, they are confronted to confront their soulful dreads while the timeline without pity runs out toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease grows and friendships crack, urging each member to challenge their identity and the nature of autonomy itself. The intensity mount with every breath, delivering a fear-soaked story that blends demonic fright with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to awaken primal fear, an entity that predates humanity, manipulating soul-level flaws, and dealing with a darkness that tests the soul when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra required summoning something beneath mortal despair. She is unaware until the demon emerges, and that conversion is eerie because it is so close.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for audiences beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—giving fans in all regions can experience this haunted release.


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


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, making the film to global fright lovers.


Tune in for this soul-jarring descent into darkness. Explore *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to experience these fearful discoveries about existence.


For teasers, production insights, and promotions from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across Instagram and Twitter and visit the official movie site.





Current horror’s tipping point: 2025 in focus domestic schedule braids together old-world possession, underground frights, in parallel with series shake-ups

From endurance-driven terror drawn from near-Eastern lore all the way to franchise returns in concert with surgical indie voices, 2025 looks like the richest combined with carefully orchestrated year in ten years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio majors stabilize the year with familiar IP, while subscription platforms prime the fall with debut heat plus scriptural shivers. Across the art-house lane, the artisan tier is drafting behind the afterglow from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, yet in 2025, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are exacting, therefore 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 capitalizes.

the Universal camp kicks off the frame with a risk-forward move: a refashioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in an immediate now. Under director 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 aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Led by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

As summer wanes, Warner’s slate releases the last chapter within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Scott Derrickson is back, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: period tinged dread, trauma as text, with ghostly inner logic. This pass pushes higher, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The next entry deepens the tale, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, speaking to teens and older millennials. It posts in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Platform Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While theaters bet on familiarity, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

More contained by design is Together, a tight space body horror vignette led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: 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 stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Shaped and helmed 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 dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is a smart play. No overinflated mythology. No legacy baggage. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy Brands: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

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

Dials to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror swings back
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Near Term Outlook: 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 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 several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The forthcoming 2026 spook release year: brand plays, filmmaker-first projects, paired with A stacked Calendar Built For jolts

Dek: The incoming scare slate stacks from the jump with a January glut, then unfolds through peak season, and carrying into the holiday frame, marrying IP strength, novel approaches, and well-timed counterweight. Distributors with platforms are leaning into efficient budgets, cinema-first plans, and short-form initiatives that transform genre releases into cross-demo moments.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This space has become the surest tool in studio lineups, a corner that can spike when it connects and still protect the downside when it doesn’t. After 2023 reminded studio brass that mid-range horror vehicles can lead pop culture, the following year maintained heat with visionary-driven titles and under-the-radar smashes. The upswing moved into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and elevated films showed there is capacity for different modes, from legacy continuations to one-and-done originals that scale internationally. The combined impact for 2026 is a grid that reads highly synchronized across companies, with obvious clusters, a harmony of recognizable IP and new pitches, and a sharpened commitment on theater exclusivity that feed downstream value on premium digital and digital services.

Marketers add the category now acts as a plug-and-play option on the rollout map. Horror can kick off on most weekends, yield a tight logline for promo reels and shorts, and over-index with patrons that respond on opening previews and maintain momentum through the next weekend if the offering delivers. After a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 pattern telegraphs trust in that setup. The slate opens with a stacked January band, then targets spring into early summer for audience offsets, while saving space for a autumn push that connects to Halloween and into post-Halloween. The gridline also spotlights the continuing integration of specialized labels and platforms that can platform and widen, grow buzz, and grow at the precise moment.

A companion trend is brand curation across connected story worlds and legacy franchises. Distribution groups are not just mounting another follow-up. They are seeking to position threaded continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a logo package that suggests a new tone or a cast configuration that binds a incoming chapter to a heyday. At the parallel to that, the filmmakers behind the high-profile originals are prioritizing tactile craft, practical gags and concrete locations. That pairing provides the 2026 slate a strong blend of known notes and surprise, which is how the films export.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount sets the tone early with two marquee entries that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the spine, angling it as both a passing of the torch and a back-to-basics character-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture signals a nostalgia-forward mode without looping the last two entries’ family thread. Plan for a rollout anchored in legacy iconography, character previews, and a tiered teaser plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will lean on. As a summer counter-slot, this one will generate large awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format fitting quick pivots to whatever leads trend lines that spring.

Universal has three defined bets. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is simple, grief-rooted, and concept-forward: a grieving man implements an intelligent companion that mutates into a killer companion. The date puts it at the front of a busy month, with the studio’s marketing likely to renew odd public stunts and micro spots that mixes companionship and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be 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 reserves space for a branding reveal to become an attention spike closer to the first trailer. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele titles are positioned as signature events, with a mystery-first teaser and a later creative that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The late-month date gives Universal room to lead 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 guides, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has shown that a in-your-face, on-set effects led style can feel deluxe on a moderate cost. Expect a grime-caked summer horror blast that leans into international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio lines up two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, preserving a dependable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is billing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both devotees and new audiences. The fall slot allows Sony to build campaign pieces around lore, and creature effects, elements that can lift premium format interest and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on historical precision and period language, this time steeped in lycan lore. The specialty arm has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is positive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Windowing plans in 2026 run on known playbooks. The studio’s horror films transition to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a cadence that expands both FOMO and sub growth in the later phase. Prime Video combines licensed titles with global originals and limited cinema engagements when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in library pulls, using prominent placements, horror hubs, and programmed rows to keep attention on the annual genre haul. Netflix stays nimble about first-party entries and festival wins, locking in horror entries near launch and elevating as drops go-lives with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a laddered of targeted cinema placements and accelerated platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a situational basis. The platform has indicated interest to acquire select projects with award winners or headline-cast packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for monthly activity when the genre conversation ramps.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 arc with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is no-nonsense: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, elevated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late stretch.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then relying on the December frame to increase reach. That positioning has worked well for prestige horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception prompts. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using precision theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Franchises versus originals

By skew, 2026 leans toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on franchise value. The concern, as ever, is fatigue. The operating solution is to package each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is foregrounding core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a Francophone tone from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and visionary-led titles supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a survival-thriller Source premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the bundle is known enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Comps from the last three years help explain the template. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that maintained windows did not foreclose a hybrid test from working when the brand was sticky. In 2024, precision craft horror outperformed in PLF. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they change perspective and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, enables marketing to interlace chapters through character spine and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without extended gaps.

How the look and feel evolve

The director conversations behind the 2026 slate hint at a continued preference for physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that elevates texture and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in long-lead press and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a preview that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for red-band excess, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and drives shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta refresh that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature design and production design, which are ideal for con floor moments and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel definitive. Look for trailers that emphasize disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that sing on PLF.

From winter to holidays

January is loaded. 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 quiet contrast amid macro-brand pushes. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the mix of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Late Q1 and spring load in summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Late summer into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a pre-October slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a peekaboo tease plan and limited advance reveals that favor idea over plot.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-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 advances. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s virtual companion evolves into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: gothic-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 prickly boss scramble to survive on a uninhabited island as the pecking order turns and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to dread, based on Cronin’s practical craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting story that twists the terror of a child’s tricky perspective. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that targets hot-button genre motifs and true crime fixations. Rating: TBD. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 ignites, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a different family tethered to lingering terrors. Rating: TBD. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for true survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: TBD. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

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

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on time-true diction and elemental dread. Rating: to be announced. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why this year, why now

Three workable forces define this lineup. First, production that stalled or reshuffled in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming placements. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on repeatable beats from test screenings, precision scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will share space across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, 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 sleeper 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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first surprise over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, audio design, and imagery that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Ready To Roar

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand gravity where needed, filmmaker 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, keep the secrets, and let the gasps sell the seats.