Primordial Dread Ascends within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nightmare fueled supernatural thriller, rolling out October 2025 across top streamers

A terrifying paranormal suspense film from cinematographer / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an prehistoric force when strangers become victims in a supernatural conflict. Debuting this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching narrative of resistance and ancient evil that will remodel horror this fall. Created by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and atmospheric feature follows five figures who regain consciousness ensnared in a wilderness-bound wooden structure under the sinister control of Kyra, a mysterious girl occupied by a prehistoric sacred-era entity. Be warned to be ensnared by a visual presentation that merges visceral dread with biblical origins, streaming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a recurring theme in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is redefined when the presences no longer originate from beyond, but rather from deep inside. This illustrates the most sinister side of these individuals. The result is a intense spiritual tug-of-war where the story becomes a constant struggle between purity and corruption.


In a abandoned no-man's-land, five teens find themselves confined under the malevolent influence and curse of a obscure entity. As the companions becomes unable to break her influence, disconnected and tormented by forces mind-shattering, they are thrust to acknowledge their raw vulnerabilities while the moments without pause moves toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease rises and associations implode, demanding each protagonist to reflect on their personhood and the idea of self-determination itself. The intensity magnify with every minute, delivering a nightmarish journey that merges otherworldly suspense with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to channel core terror, an power beyond time, manifesting in fragile psyche, and questioning a entity that peels away humanity when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra was about accessing something more primal than sorrow. She is clueless until the control shifts, and that evolution is bone-chilling because it is so unshielded.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for digital release beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing streamers around the globe can engage with this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its first trailer, which has been viewed over strong viewer count.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, extending the thrill to global fright lovers.


Experience this unforgettable journey into fear. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to uncover these fearful discoveries about our species.


For teasers, set experiences, and news straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across Instagram and Twitter and visit our horror hub.





Today’s horror major pivot: 2025 U.S. lineup melds legend-infused possession, signature indie scares, in parallel with brand-name tremors

Kicking off with grit-forward survival fare saturated with mythic scripture to series comebacks as well as cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is coalescing into horror’s most layered and carefully orchestrated year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. major banners hold down the year with familiar IP, in parallel OTT services load up the fall with first-wave breakthroughs as well as old-world menace. At the same time, indie storytellers is buoyed by the carry of a banner 2024 fest year. As Halloween stays the prime week, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, however this time, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are methodical, which means 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Premium genre swings back

The top end is active. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 compounds the move.

the Universal banner leads off the quarter with a confident swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in an immediate now. Guided by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. arriving mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Under Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer eases, Warner Bros. drops the final chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson is back, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: period tinged dread, trauma explicitly handled, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The bar is raised this go, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The continuation widens the legend, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It hits in December, locking down the winter tail.

Digital Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

While theaters lean on names and sequels, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, an intimate body horror unraveling with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

Also notable is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable led by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It is an astute call. No heavy handed lore. No IP hangover. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Lines: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts 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.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, guided by Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

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

Streamers grow fangs
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. 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 remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Projection: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The forthcoming 2026 Horror slate: installments, fresh concepts, as well as A Crowded Calendar engineered for Scares

Dek: The brand-new terror slate packs early with a January crush, following that extends through peak season, and deep into the festive period, fusing legacy muscle, creative pitches, and strategic counterplay. Studio marketers and platforms are betting on tight budgets, exclusive theatrical windows first, and viral-minded pushes that convert these offerings into all-audience topics.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The genre has proven to be the predictable swing in distribution calendars, a corner that can grow when it resonates and still insulate the exposure when it underperforms. After 2023 reassured top brass that lean-budget fright engines can lead the zeitgeist, 2024 maintained heat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and surprise hits. The trend translated to 2025, where resurrections and prestige plays highlighted there is an opening for many shades, from continued chapters to original one-offs that travel well. The aggregate for 2026 is a run that shows rare alignment across the industry, with obvious clusters, a spread of known properties and new packages, and a recommitted stance on exclusive windows that feed downstream value on PVOD and streaming.

Buyers contend the horror lane now operates like a flex slot on the slate. Horror can open on open real estate, generate a easy sell for creative and social clips, and outpace with ticket buyers that respond on Thursday nights and hold through the week two if the film works. Coming out of a production delay era, the 2026 cadence signals belief in that model. The year gets underway with a weighty January block, then targets spring into early summer for balance, while making space for a autumn stretch that stretches into All Hallows period and into post-Halloween. The map also illustrates the greater integration of specialized labels and streaming partners that can stage a platform run, build word of mouth, and scale up at the proper time.

A further high-level trend is brand strategy across connected story worlds and storied titles. Big banners are not just rolling another chapter. They are looking to package story carry-over with a must-see charge, whether that is a title design that suggests a re-angled tone or a cast configuration that threads a latest entry to a initial period. At the simultaneously, the visionaries behind the most anticipated originals are celebrating tactile craft, real effects and concrete locations. That combination produces the 2026 slate a solid mix of recognition and freshness, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount establishes early momentum with two marquee projects that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the spine, marketing it as both a baton pass and a return-to-roots character-first story. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach conveys a throwback-friendly framework without recycling the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Plan for a rollout built on recognizable motifs, character spotlights, and a two-beat trailer plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will double down on. As a summer alternative, this one will drive mass reach through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format permitting quick updates to whatever tops the social talk that spring.

Universal has three separate pushes. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is elegant, melancholic, and high-concept: a grieving man purchases an algorithmic mate that turns into a lethal partner. The date lines it up at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s team likely to renew eerie street stunts and snackable content that fuses attachment and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a name unveil to become an fan moment closer to the initial promo. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele’s releases are marketed as filmmaker events, with a concept-forward tease and a later creative that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor allows Universal to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a raw, makeup-driven style can feel deluxe on a mid-range budget. Expect a splatter summer horror blast that pushes global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio mounts two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, holding a reliable supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is marketing as a new take 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 mission to serve both franchise faithful and curious audiences. The fall slot allows Sony to build campaign creative around lore, and creature design, elements that can amplify premium booking interest and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues Eggers’ run of period horror built on careful craft and dialect, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus Features has already set the date for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is strong.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform plans for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s horror titles shift to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a cadence that expands both initial urgency and subscription bumps in the later window. Prime Video stitches together licensed titles with worldwide entries and limited runs in theaters when the data signals it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in archive usage, using prominent placements, horror hubs, and curated rows to sustain interest on the 2026 genre total. Netflix keeps options open about Netflix originals and festival wins, finalizing horror entries with shorter lead times and eventizing launches with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a laddered of targeted cinema placements and prompt platform moves that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown a willingness to take on select projects with top-tier auteurs or name-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a critical input for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation builds.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 track with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is clear: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, elevated for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the late stretch.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday frame to increase reach. That positioning has been successful for prestige horror with audience crossover. 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 reasonable expectation is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception justifies. Look 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 in parallel, using targeted theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Known brands versus new stories

By number, 2026 favors the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap brand equity. The challenge, as ever, is brand erosion. The practical approach is to market each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is underscoring character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a Francophone tone from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and talent-first projects provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a survival chiller premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. useful reference Werwulf roots in era detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the assembly is assuring enough to drive advance ticketing and advance-audience nights.

Recent comps make sense of the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that observed windows did not hamper a day-date move from performing when the brand was compelling. In 2024, precision craft horror outperformed in PLF. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they change perspective and 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 double feature plan, with chapters shot in tandem, provides the means for marketing to thread films through personae and themes and to sustain campaign assets without extended gaps.

How the films are being made

The filmmaking conversations behind the 2026 entries forecast a continued lean toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that centers atmosphere and fear rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and guild coverage before rolling out a preview 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 aimed at visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and creates shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta-horror reset that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will fly or stall on monster realization and design, which work nicely for expo activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel key. Look for trailers that accent hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that shine in top rooms.

Calendar cadence

January is stacked. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody 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 stiff, but the spread of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth spreads.

Post-January through spring seed summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Shoulder season into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a opaque tease strategy and limited advance reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and holiday card usage.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s intelligent companion unfolds into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man 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: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 difficult boss try to survive on a uninhabited island as the power balance of power inverts and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to fright, anchored by Cronin’s on-set craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting story that interrogates the horror of a child’s unreliable perceptions. Rating: rating pending. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A satirical comeback that needles hot-button genre motifs and true-crime crazes. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites ignites, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a new household bound to returning horrors. Rating: TBD. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on pure survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: pending. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: closely held. Rating: TBD. Production: moving forward. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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-specific language and primal menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026, why now

Three practical forces organize this lineup. First, production that decelerated or re-slotted in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on repeatable beats from test screenings, select scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, offering breathing room for genre entries that can lead a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will stack across five weekends, which helps each film cultivate buzz on its own. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can use 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 fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 underdog chase 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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout 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. Anticipate a robust PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience cadence through 2026

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

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, soundscape, and visuals 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 Looks Exciting

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand power where it counts, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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, deliver taut trailers, guard the secrets, and let the gasps sell the seats.