Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases antediluvian malevolence, a chilling supernatural thriller, bowing October 2025 across top streaming platforms

A spine-tingling paranormal suspense film from storyteller / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an archaic nightmare when unrelated individuals become tokens in a hellish conflict. Going live October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish chronicle of staying alive and archaic horror that will resculpt genre cinema this autumn. Guided by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and eerie fearfest follows five figures who come to imprisoned in a far-off house under the sinister command of Kyra, a tormented girl consumed by a ancient holy text monster. Ready yourself to be immersed by a visual adventure that integrates raw fear with biblical origins, landing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demonic control has been a mainstay fixture in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is redefined when the entities no longer develop beyond the self, but rather within themselves. This suggests the darkest layer of the players. The result is a enthralling identity crisis where the story becomes a constant face-off between innocence and sin.


In a unforgiving wild, five characters find themselves trapped under the sinister effect and spiritual invasion of a uncanny woman. As the group becomes helpless to resist her command, cut off and tracked by entities beyond comprehension, they are confronted to wrestle with their worst nightmares while the final hour coldly winds toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear deepens and ties splinter, driving each person to reflect on their existence and the integrity of freedom of choice itself. The intensity surge with every instant, delivering a scare-fueled ride that marries paranormal dread with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to explore primitive panic, an power that predates humanity, embedding itself in mental cracks, and highlighting a will that redefines identity when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra needed manifesting something rooted in terror. She is oblivious until the evil takes hold, and that transformation is eerie because it is so raw.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for audience access beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—offering horror lovers globally can engage with this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its original clip, which has pulled in over strong viewer count.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, delivering the story to a worldwide audience.


Tune in for this cinematic ride through nightmares. Join *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to explore these dark realities about the soul.


For behind-the-scenes access, production news, and reveals from those who lived it, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across platforms and visit the movie portal.





Today’s horror inflection point: the 2025 season American release plan blends old-world possession, independent shockers, together with IP aftershocks

Beginning with life-or-death fear drawn from old testament echoes and onward to IP renewals in concert with pointed art-house angles, 2025 is coalescing into the richest as well as blueprinted year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. studio powerhouses bookend the months with established lines, as premium streamers flood the fall with unboxed visions set against ancient terrors. In the indie lane, the artisan tier is catching the backdraft of 2024’s record festival wave. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. A fat September–October lane is customary now, and in 2025, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are precise, hence 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige terror resurfaces

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s pipeline begins the calendar with a headline swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in an immediate now. From director Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. timed for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Helmed by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

At summer’s close, the WB camp sets loose the finale from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Granted the structure is classic, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the tone that worked before is intact: nostalgic menace, trauma explicitly handled, and eerie supernatural logic. The stakes escalate here, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It posts in December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a body horror chamber piece pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend with Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It reads as sharp positioning. No bloated mythology. No franchise baggage. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

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

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Long Running Lines: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, guided by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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.

Emerging Currents

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror resurges
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Outlook: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The coming 2026 fear cycle: installments, standalone ideas, and also A Crowded Calendar optimized for Scares

Dek: The upcoming scare calendar crowds from day one with a January bottleneck, after that spreads through summer corridors, and running into the holiday stretch, combining franchise firepower, fresh ideas, and strategic offsets. Studios and platforms are prioritizing cost discipline, box-office-first windows, and influencer-ready assets that elevate these films into four-quadrant talking points.

The genre’s posture for 2026

This space has become the steady tool in distribution calendars, a lane that can break out when it lands and still insulate the downside when it stumbles. After the 2023 year demonstrated to decision-makers that responsibly budgeted scare machines can steer audience talk, 2024 kept energy high with filmmaker-forward plays and unexpected risers. The carry carried into 2025, where legacy revivals and critical darlings showed there is a lane for a variety of tones, from returning installments to standalone ideas that translate worldwide. The upshot for 2026 is a grid that feels more orchestrated than usual across the industry, with planned clusters, a mix of legacy names and new packages, and a tightened commitment on theatrical windows that fuel later windows on premium home window and digital services.

Planners observe the category now works like a versatile piece on the programming map. Horror can kick off on open real estate, create a sharp concept for promo reels and short-form placements, and outpace with moviegoers that show up on Thursday nights and maintain momentum through the subsequent weekend if the movie works. Post a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 layout exhibits faith in that logic. The calendar rolls out with a thick January band, then taps spring and early summer for balance, while carving room for a late-year stretch that connects to the Halloween corridor and afterwards. The calendar also shows the stronger partnership of specialty arms and digital platforms that can platform and widen, grow buzz, and grow at the inflection point.

Another broad trend is brand curation across connected story worlds and legacy franchises. Distribution groups are not just producing another installment. They are seeking to position lineage with a premium feel, whether that is a title treatment that broadcasts a refreshed voice or a casting pivot that ties a incoming chapter to a early run. At the same time, the auteurs behind the eagerly awaited originals are doubling down on on-set craft, physical gags and specific settings. That fusion produces 2026 a solid mix of trust and freshness, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount fires first with two spotlight projects that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the focus, signaling it as both a succession moment and a DNA-forward relationship-driven entry. Production is active in Atlanta, and the directional approach suggests a throwback-friendly mode without going over the last two entries’ sibling arc. Look for a marketing run built on legacy iconography, first-look character reveals, and a trailer cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June navigate here 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will emphasize. As a summer contrast play, this one will chase wide buzz through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format enabling quick shifts to whatever dominates trend lines that spring.

Universal has three distinct entries. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is straightforward, melancholic, and concept-forward: a grieving man purchases an AI companion that turns into a murderous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a busy month, with the marketing arm likely to bring back creepy live activations and short reels that threads affection and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a branding reveal to become an fan moment closer to the initial tease. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May this content while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. The filmmaker’s films are presented as must-see filmmaker statements, with a concept-forward tease and a subsequent trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The prime October weekend gives the studio room to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has made clear that a tactile, makeup-driven mix can feel premium on a controlled budget. Look for a splatter summer horror charge that maximizes foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio lines up two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, continuing a steady supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what the studio is positioning as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both fans and curious audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build campaign pieces around lore, and creature builds, elements that can accelerate premium booking interest and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by obsessive craft and language, this time focused on werewolf legend. Focus Features has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is glowing.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on known playbooks. The studio’s horror films shift to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a structure that elevates both launch urgency and subscription bumps in the later phase. Prime Video blends third-party pickups with worldwide entries and brief theater runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in library pulls, using well-timed internal promotions, October hubs, and collection rows to extend momentum on overall cume. Netflix retains agility about originals and festival pickups, finalizing horror entries tight to release and positioning as event drops drops with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a hybrid of targeted cinema placements and accelerated platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has proven amenable to acquire select projects with accomplished filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for sustained usage when the genre conversation surges.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is curating a 2026 arc with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is clean: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, modernized for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the autumn weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then relying on the December frame to increase reach. That positioning has paid off for filmmaker-driven genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception warrants. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using limited runs to fuel evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By share, the 2026 slate leans toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit marquee value. The risk, as ever, is overexposure. The pragmatic answer is to frame each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is foregrounding character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-inflected take from a fresh helmer. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and director-driven titles bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the package is familiar enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and first-night audiences.

Recent comps clarify the playbook. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that kept clean windows did not stop a simultaneous release test from hitting when the brand was trusted. In 2024, director-craft horror surged in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they change perspective and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses 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 filmed consecutively, creates space for marketing to relate entries through character and theme and to keep assets in-market without pause points.

How the look and feel evolve

The director conversations behind these films point to a continued lean toward hands-on, location-grounded 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 completed filming and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that underscores unease and texture rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in feature stories and department features before rolling out a first look that elevates tone over story, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and gathers shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta refresh that centers an original star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature work and production design, which favor fan-con activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel definitive. Look for trailers that center razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that land in premium houses.

The schedule at a glance

January is stacked. 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 somber counterpoint amid larger brand plays. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the tonal variety makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

Q1 into Q2 set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with heritage buzz. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The 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 comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can deliver 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 cycled through premium screens.

Late summer into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a early fall window that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a slow-reveal plan and limited advance reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and holiday card usage.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge 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 mourning man’s machine mate mutates into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her hard-edged boss struggle to survive on a cut-off island as the power balance of power reverses and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

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 renewed vision that returns the monster to dread, grounded in Cronin’s material craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting premise that toys with the chill of a child’s shaky impressions. Rating: to be announced. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed and star-led supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A parody return that targets current genre trends and true crime fixations. Rating: undetermined. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites bursts, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a fresh family entangled with older hauntings. Rating: pending. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A new start designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-core horror over action spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: TBD. Production: proceeding. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

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 ancient menace. Rating: pending. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026 lands now

Three execution-level forces shape this lineup. First, production that stalled or rearranged in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often use fewer click to read more locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming landings. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest social-ready stingers from test screenings, precision scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can command a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will compete across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, 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 compound over time, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, 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 visual texture, aural 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 Shapes Up Strong

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand heft where it matters, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the gasps sell the seats.