Age-old Horror Awakens in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding horror feature, launching Oct 2025 on top streaming platforms

This hair-raising spiritual suspense film from dramatist / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an timeless force when newcomers become instruments in a fiendish struggle. Releasing on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish tale of living through and age-old darkness that will reconstruct scare flicks this Halloween season. Guided by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and claustrophobic screenplay follows five characters who wake up stuck in a far-off cabin under the dark influence of Kyra, a central character haunted by a 2,000-year-old ancient fiend. Arm yourself to be absorbed by a audio-visual spectacle that fuses bone-deep fear with ancient myths, unleashing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a long-standing concept in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is redefined when the fiends no longer arise beyond the self, but rather from their psyche. This illustrates the deepest facet of the cast. The result is a gripping identity crisis where the suspense becomes a unforgiving struggle between innocence and sin.


In a desolate no-man's-land, five figures find themselves imprisoned under the evil rule and infestation of a secretive spirit. As the youths becomes unable to resist her curse, marooned and chased by unknowns inconceivable, they are driven to endure their inner demons while the clock harrowingly ticks onward toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia grows and ties crack, pushing each cast member to question their essence and the foundation of independent thought itself. The threat surge with every tick, delivering a paranormal ride that harmonizes paranormal dread with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to dive into pure dread, an presence that predates humanity, operating within our fears, and navigating a curse that strips down our being when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra needed manifesting something rooted in terror. She is insensitive until the possession kicks in, and that evolution is soul-crushing because it is so raw.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be released for viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—so that subscribers anywhere can watch this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its first preview, which has pulled in over strong viewer count.


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


Be sure to catch this visceral spiral into evil. Join *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to acknowledge these fearful discoveries about mankind.


For bonus footage, production news, and announcements from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursed across platforms and visit our horror hub.





American horror’s inflection point: the 2025 cycle U.S. release slate interlaces legend-infused possession, signature indie scares, plus series shake-ups

Ranging from grit-forward survival fare inspired by primordial scripture as well as franchise returns plus cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is lining up as the most variegated in tandem with tactically planned year in recent memory.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. top-tier distributors lock in tentpoles by way of signature titles, at the same time OTT services load up the fall with fresh voices paired with old-world menace. On another front, the independent cohort is carried on the momentum of a record-setting 2024 festival season. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, but this year, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are methodical, which means 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: High-craft horror returns

The top end is active. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s schedule lights the fuse with a confident swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in a clear present-tense world. Led by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. targeting mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Under Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

When summer fades, Warner Bros. Pictures rolls out the capstone from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Even with a familiar chassis, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson re boards, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: throwback unease, trauma as narrative engine, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This time the stakes climb, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It bows in December, pinning the winter close.

Digital Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a close quarters body horror study led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale featuring Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. 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. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of 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 clever angle. No bloated mythology. No IP hangover. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Series Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

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

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, steered by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Dials to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror returns
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

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

Forward View: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The 2026 Horror lineup: installments, filmmaker-first projects, in tandem with A Crowded Calendar aimed at screams

Dek: The upcoming scare slate crowds right away with a January pile-up, after that runs through the summer months, and straight through the late-year period, mixing legacy muscle, fresh ideas, and calculated offsets. The big buyers and platforms are leaning into tight budgets, theater-first strategies, and buzz-forward plans that elevate these offerings into cross-demo moments.

Where horror stands going into 2026

Horror filmmaking has become the most reliable play in annual schedules, a genre that can break out when it breaks through and still cushion the liability when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year re-taught executives that modestly budgeted scare machines can steer mainstream conversation, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with festival-darling auteurs and under-the-radar smashes. The run pushed into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and arthouse crossovers showed there is a lane for multiple flavors, from legacy continuations to filmmaker-driven originals that perform internationally. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a run that is strikingly coherent across the major shops, with clear date clusters, a blend of legacy names and first-time concepts, and a revived eye on exhibition windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium digital and digital services.

Planners observe the category now works like a wildcard on the programming map. The genre can premiere on open real estate, generate a sharp concept for marketing and reels, and overperform with audiences that lean in on Thursday previews and continue through the subsequent weekend if the release connects. After a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 layout shows faith in that approach. The slate commences with a front-loaded January run, then primes spring and early summer for balance, while making space for a fall corridor that pushes into the Halloween corridor and into early November. The program also includes the ongoing integration of specialized imprints and streaming partners that can grow from platform, ignite recommendations, and go nationwide at the timely point.

An added macro current is franchise tending across interlocking continuities and storied titles. Studio teams are not just greenlighting another follow-up. They are trying to present ongoing narrative with a heightened moment, whether that is a title presentation that announces a recalibrated tone or a lead change that connects a next film to a classic era. At the concurrently, the writer-directors behind the marquee originals are returning to in-camera technique, real effects and concrete locations. That convergence provides 2026 a healthy mix of trust and newness, which is how the films export.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount defines the early cadence with two high-profile bets that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, presenting it as both a cross-generational handoff and a classic-mode relationship-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance telegraphs a nostalgia-forward mode without covering again the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Anticipate a campaign fueled by franchise iconography, character spotlights, and a two-beat trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will emphasize. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will go after large awareness through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format supporting quick shifts to whatever shapes genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three distinct entries. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is simple, somber, and big-hook: a grieving man onboards an virtual partner that unfolds into a perilous partner. The date sets it at the front of a stacked January, with the marketing arm likely to replay eerie street stunts and snackable content that threads longing and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a branding reveal to become an attention spike closer to the debut look. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. His projects are sold as creative events, with a teaser that holds back and a follow-up trailer set that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date gives Universal room to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has long shown that a in-your-face, makeup-driven mix can feel elevated on a controlled budget. Look for a red-band summer horror charge that embraces offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio sets two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, preserving a bankable supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is billing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both devotees and casuals. The fall slot affords Sony time to build promo materials around setting detail, and monster aesthetics, elements that can accelerate deluxe auditorium demand and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by immersive craft and language, this time circling werewolf lore. The company has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is glowing.

How the platforms plan to play it

Digital strategies for 2026 run on proven patterns. The Universal horror run flow to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a structure that elevates both week-one demand and sign-up spikes in the tail. Prime Video blends licensed titles with worldwide buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library pulls, using prominent placements, October hubs, and programmed rows to keep attention on the annual genre haul. Netflix stays nimble about first-party entries and festival buys, dating horror entries with shorter lead times and making event-like go-lives with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a dual-phase of precision releases and rapid platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a discrete basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to invest in select projects with prestige directors or A-list packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation heats up.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 track with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is direct: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, recalibrated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the fall weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday dates to go wider. That positioning has helped for arthouse horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception allows. Expect 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 in parallel, using small theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their user base.

Known brands versus new stories

By skew, 2026 tips toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit household recognition. The trade-off, as ever, is staleness. The standing approach is to brand each entry as a new angle. Paramount is foregrounding character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-tinted vision from a hot helmer. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and visionary-led titles keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the deal build is steady enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years make sense of the model. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that honored streaming windows did not obstruct a day-date try from working when the brand was strong. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror surged in premium large format. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they alter lens and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters filmed consecutively, creates space for marketing to bridge entries through character and theme and to continue assets in field without extended gaps.

How the films are being made

The production chatter behind the upcoming entries signal a continued turn toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns navigate here with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that highlights mood and dread rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft spotlights before rolling out a teaser that leans on mood over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and earns shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta reframe that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster work and world-building, which match well with fan conventions and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel key. Look for trailers that emphasize precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in big rooms.

How the year maps out

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 tonal palate cleanser amid larger brand plays. 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 legit, but the mix of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Early-year through spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Late-season stretch leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a minimalist tease strategy and limited information drops that trade in concept over detail.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift-card burn.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s DNA. 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 sorrowing man’s machine mate escalates into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete 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 hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

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 be swallowed by a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: atmospheric 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 work to survive on a far-flung island as the pecking order inverts and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal 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 chill, based on Cronin’s practical craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting chiller that channels the fear through a kid’s shifting POV. Rating: to be announced. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed and star-led supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that targets current genre trends and true crime fervors. Rating: pending. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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 surges, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further extends again, with a different family caught in old terrors. Rating: TBA. 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: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A clean reboot designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival-core horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: TBD. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: ongoing. 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 time-true diction and ancient menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 lands now

Three operational forces drive this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or shuffled in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming landings. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage bite-size scare clips from test screenings, precision scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will cluster across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. 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 efficient band. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, 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 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 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, 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 momentum and variety. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing 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 fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, sound, and visual design 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, Lined Up To Scare

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand equity where it matters, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of 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, edit tight trailers, keep the secrets, and let the gasps sell the seats.