Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a hair raising chiller, streaming October 2025 across leading streamers

A bone-chilling ghostly scare-fest from narrative craftsman / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an mythic horror when foreigners become tools in a satanic ritual. Hitting screens on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful tale of continuance and primordial malevolence that will alter scare flicks this ghoul season. Guided by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and eerie thriller follows five individuals who are stirred confined in a secluded shack under the hostile rule of Kyra, a tormented girl inhabited by a timeless ancient fiend. Be warned to be drawn in by a narrative display that combines bodily fright with arcane tradition, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a mainstay trope in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is reimagined when the forces no longer manifest from beyond, but rather within themselves. This represents the shadowy corner of the cast. The result is a edge-of-seat mental war where the suspense becomes a ongoing conflict between heaven and hell.


In a wilderness-stricken backcountry, five individuals find themselves stuck under the fiendish aura and domination of a shadowy character. As the ensemble becomes helpless to combat her grasp, disconnected and tormented by beings unfathomable, they are made to reckon with their core terrors while the deathwatch relentlessly counts down toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion rises and alliances crack, forcing each figure to evaluate their essence and the nature of independent thought itself. The pressure amplify with every beat, delivering a terror ride that fuses otherworldly panic with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to tap into raw dread, an darkness beyond recorded history, working through soul-level flaws, and navigating a darkness that dismantles free will when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra called for internalizing something more primal than sorrow. She is in denial until the possession kicks in, and that flip is soul-crushing because it is so visceral.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for digital release beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—making sure horror lovers globally can dive into this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its original promo, which has been viewed over 100,000 views.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, offering the tale to a global viewership.


Join this cinematic spiral into evil. Join *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to see these chilling revelations about the soul.


For behind-the-scenes access, production news, and promotions straight from the filmmakers, follow @YACMovie across fan hubs and visit the official digital haunt.





The horror genre’s major pivot: the 2025 season U.S. rollouts weaves legend-infused possession, art-house nightmares, paired with legacy-brand quakes

Across survival horror infused with legendary theology all the way to IP renewals as well as sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 appears poised to be the most textured plus carefully orchestrated year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. leading studios bookend the months with familiar IP, in tandem premium streamers load up the fall with unboxed visions in concert with legend-coded dread. At the same time, independent banners is riding the backdraft of 2024’s record festival wave. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, and now, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are precise, therefore 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige terror resurfaces

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 accelerates.

the Universal banner begins the calendar with an audacious swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, but a sharp contemporary setting. With Leigh Whannell at the helm and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. Booked into mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

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 moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer wanes, Warner Bros. unveils the final movement from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Although the framework is familiar, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the memorable motifs return: retrograde shiver, trauma explicitly handled, plus otherworld rules that chill. This pass pushes higher, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The continuation widens the legend, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, bridging teens and legacy players. It books December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Offerings: Economy, maximum dread

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold case horror anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, an intimate body horror unraveling pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Also notable is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable starring Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: 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 With Depth: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It reads as sharp positioning. No overweight mythology. No IP hangover. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Long Running Lines: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Trends to Watch

Old myth goes broad
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror comes roaring back
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

The Road Ahead: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The forthcoming 2026 genre year to come: follow-ups, Originals, paired with A hectic Calendar Built For jolts

Dek The brand-new genre year loads up front with a January wave, from there carries through the summer months, and running into the festive period, blending legacy muscle, new concepts, and tactical offsets. The major players are focusing on tight budgets, cinema-first plans, and viral-minded pushes that frame these pictures into mainstream chatter.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

This category has established itself as the predictable release in distribution calendars, a lane that can accelerate when it clicks and still mitigate the risk when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year reminded studio brass that mid-range genre plays can command pop culture, the following year sustained momentum with signature-voice projects and slow-burn breakouts. The energy rolled into the 2025 frame, where reboots and awards-minded projects made clear there is space for varied styles, from returning installments to original features that export nicely. The aggregate for 2026 is a programming that feels more orchestrated than usual across companies, with strategic blocks, a blend of household franchises and new packages, and a renewed emphasis on cinema windows that enhance post-theatrical value on PVOD and home platforms.

Schedulers say the horror lane now works like a versatile piece on the schedule. Horror can bow on a wide range of weekends, generate a clear pitch for creative and platform-native cuts, and punch above weight with moviegoers that arrive on opening previews and sustain through the next pass if the release works. Coming out of a production delay era, the 2026 layout reflects faith in that engine. The year rolls out with a busy January schedule, then plants flags in spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while clearing room for a autumn push that runs into the fright window and into post-Halloween. The layout also reflects the increasing integration of specialty distributors and SVOD players that can build gradually, ignite recommendations, and roll out at the right moment.

A second macro trend is IP stewardship across linked properties and storied titles. Distribution groups are not just rolling another entry. They are moving to present ongoing narrative with a sense of event, whether that is a title treatment that indicates a recalibrated tone or a cast configuration that anchors a fresh chapter to a heyday. At the alongside this, the visionaries behind the eagerly awaited originals are returning to in-camera technique, in-camera effects and location-forward worlds. That alloy gives the 2026 slate a healthy mix of trust and novelty, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount fires first with two prominent releases that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the spine, steering it as both a passing of the torch and a heritage-centered character-forward chapter. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the authorial approach hints at a nostalgia-forward campaign without recycling the last two entries’ sisters storyline. The studio is likely to mount a drive built on franchise iconography, initial cast looks, and a rollout cadence hitting late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will spotlight. As a summer alternative, this one will build broad awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format inviting quick switches to whatever drives horror talk that spring.

Universal has three discrete pushes. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is straightforward, loss-driven, and logline-clear: a grieving man onboards an machine companion that shifts into a dangerous lover. The date places it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to echo uncanny-valley stunts and micro spots that melds longing and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title reveal to become an headline beat closer to the debut look. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s pictures are presented as marquee events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second trailer wave that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date gives Universal room to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has established that a gritty, makeup-driven execution can feel top-tier on a tight budget. Look for a viscera-heavy summer horror rush that spotlights global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio rolls out two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, maintaining a consistent supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is describing as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both fans and fresh viewers. The fall slot allows Sony to build campaign pieces around universe detail, and creature design, elements that can drive PLF interest and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by historical precision and language, this time set against lycan legends. The distributor has already set the date for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is robust.

Platform lanes and windowing

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s releases shift to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a structure that fortifies both launch urgency and sub growth in the tail. Prime Video combines acquired titles with global pickups and limited cinema engagements when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu work their edges in archive usage, using prominent placements, October hubs, and programmed rows to keep attention on 2026 genre cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about originals and festival deals, scheduling horror entries with shorter lead times and turning into events rollouts with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a one-two of focused cinema runs and quick platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown appetite to pick up select projects with name filmmakers or star packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for platform stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 pipeline with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is direct: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, elevated for modern sound and image. 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 optimistic indicator for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the late-season weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through festival season if the cut is ready, then activating the Christmas corridor to expand. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-driven genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception allows. Be ready for 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 a pair, using boutique theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By weight, 2026 is weighted toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage name recognition. The risk, as ever, is staleness. The operating solution is to frame each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is elevating character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a continental coloration from a hot helmer. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the packaging is assuring enough to drive advance ticketing and first-night audiences.

Past-three-year patterns make sense of the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that maintained windows did not foreclose a parallel release from delivering when the brand was potent. In 2024, art-forward horror exceeded expectations in PLF. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they change perspective and increase ambition. 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 dual-chapter plan, with chapters shot in tandem, enables marketing to thread films through protagonists and motifs and to keep assets in-market without extended gaps.

How the look and feel evolve

The director conversations behind these films suggest a continued move toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that highlights tone and tension rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft coverage before rolling out a mood teaser that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and sparks shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta pivot that centers an original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature work and production design, which lend themselves to convention activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel primary. Look for trailers that accent surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that land in premium houses.

Release calendar overview

January is crowded. 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 brooding contrast amid heftier brand moves. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the mix of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

Late Q1 and spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now backs 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 underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Back half into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a late-September window that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited advance reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and card redemption.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s core. 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 artificial companion evolves into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked 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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: mood-led 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 abrasive boss struggle to survive on a isolated island as the control dynamic shifts and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to chill, anchored by Cronin’s practical effects and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting premise that routes the horror through a child’s uneven POV. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that riffs on of-the-moment horror beats and true crime preoccupations. Rating: TBA. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. 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 surges, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a different family caught in returning horrors. Rating: pending. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A reboot designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-driven horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: TBA. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: closely held. Rating: pending. Production: in progress. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and primal menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 lands now

Three practical forces inform this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or reshuffled in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more measured 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 dumps. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine turnkey scare beats from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

A fourth factor is programming math. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, creating valuable space for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will line up across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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-hit hunt continues in Q1, where lower and 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 this page is set up to capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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 tempo and variety. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, efficient placements, 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 visual texture, sound, and picture that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand equity where it matters, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite 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-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, lock the reveals, and let the gasps sell the seats.