Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed awakens ancient dread, a chilling horror thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on top streamers

One terrifying ghostly horror tale from cinematographer / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an prehistoric force when outsiders become conduits in a malevolent experiment. Available this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking episode of perseverance and archaic horror that will reconstruct the fear genre this Halloween season. Guided by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and tone-heavy cinema piece follows five unacquainted souls who are stirred sealed in a unreachable house under the malignant sway of Kyra, a mysterious girl occupied by a antiquated scriptural evil. Get ready to be shaken by a theatrical presentation that intertwines raw fear with ancestral stories, dropping on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a iconic theme in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is subverted when the monsters no longer arise from a different plane, but rather from their core. This illustrates the most terrifying element of the players. The result is a bone-chilling spiritual tug-of-war where the story becomes a unyielding confrontation between divinity and wickedness.


In a forsaken natural abyss, five youths find themselves caught under the ominous grip and grasp of a elusive female presence. As the companions becomes submissive to oppose her will, detached and pursued by beings ungraspable, they are pushed to endure their inner horrors while the seconds unforgivingly pushes forward toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread builds and relationships fracture, forcing each individual to contemplate their identity and the idea of decision-making itself. The consequences grow with every minute, delivering a paranormal ride that fuses occult fear with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to channel ancestral fear, an presence before modern man, channeling itself through our fears, and questioning a spirit that threatens selfhood when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra meant evoking something unfamiliar to reason. She is blind until the control shifts, and that shift is terrifying because it is so unshielded.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for audience access beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—allowing subscribers everywhere can watch this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its release of trailer #1, which has collected over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, making the film to thrill-seekers globally.


Experience this heart-stopping ride through nightmares. Confront *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to explore these spiritual awakenings about our species.


For bonus footage, set experiences, and social posts straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursed across media channels and visit youngandcursed.com.





Today’s horror Turning Point: the year 2025 U.S. calendar braids together myth-forward possession, Indie Shockers, alongside brand-name tremors

Beginning with pressure-cooker survival tales inspired by legendary theology and stretching into legacy revivals together with surgical indie voices, 2025 is emerging as the most stratified along with calculated campaign year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. studio powerhouses are anchoring the year with known properties, simultaneously OTT services pack the fall with discovery plays as well as old-world menace. In the indie lane, festival-forward creators is fueled by the backdraft from a record 2024 festival run. With Halloween holding the peak, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, however this time, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are methodical, hence 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige fear returns

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

the Universal banner opens the year with a risk-forward move: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, instead in a current-day frame. Led by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. targeting mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Under Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

When summer tapers, Warner Bros. drops the final chapter within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Scott Derrickson returns, and the memorable motifs return: nostalgic menace, trauma as text, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This time, the stakes are raised, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, grows the animatronic horror lineup, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It hits in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a two hander body horror spiral fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Also notable is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga starring Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in 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 legacy baggage. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Series Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in 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.

Dials to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Forecast: Autumn density and winter pivot

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. 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 brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The next scare year to come: Sequels, non-franchise titles, alongside A packed Calendar tailored for jolts

Dek The emerging scare year crowds right away with a January wave, after that flows through the summer months, and running into the festive period, combining series momentum, new voices, and calculated counterplay. The major players are focusing on right-sized spends, theatrical-first rollouts, and influencer-ready assets that convert these releases into cross-demo moments.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

Horror filmmaking has become the dependable release in studio lineups, a space that can scale when it catches and still buffer the risk when it doesn’t. After 2023 showed executives that low-to-mid budget entries can lead cultural conversation, 2024 extended the rally with festival-darling auteurs and surprise hits. The upswing fed into 2025, where revived properties and critical darlings showed there is an opening for several lanes, from sequel tracks to non-IP projects that scale internationally. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a roster that seems notably aligned across the major shops, with defined corridors, a harmony of household franchises and fresh ideas, and a refocused eye on big-screen windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium digital and streaming.

Insiders argue the genre now serves as a utility player on the distribution slate. Horror can debut on most weekends, create a easy sell for creative and social clips, and over-index with fans that turn out on preview nights and maintain momentum through the next pass if the picture pays off. Post a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 layout demonstrates conviction in that equation. The year commences with a thick January band, then uses spring and early summer for balance, while saving space for a autumn push that carries into the Halloween corridor and into early November. The program also includes the expanded integration of specialized imprints and streamers that can stage a platform run, stoke social talk, and roll out at the sweet spot.

A second macro trend is IP cultivation across unified worlds and classic IP. The companies are not just turning out another installment. They are setting up threaded continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a typeface approach that broadcasts a new tone or a cast configuration that reconnects a new entry to a vintage era. At the concurrently, the directors behind the most watched originals are prioritizing on-set craft, physical gags and grounded locations. That mix gives the 2026 slate a confident blend of assurance and newness, which is what works overseas.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount sets the tone early with two marquee projects that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the spine, marketing it as both a lineage transfer and a heritage-centered character-first story. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture points to a classic-referencing strategy without recycling the last two entries’ family thread. Plan for a rollout centered on legacy iconography, intro reveals, and a staggered trailer plan targeting late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will double down on. As a summer contrast play, this one will drive wide appeal through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format enabling quick switches to whatever drives horror talk that spring.

Universal has three separate lanes. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is simple, heartbroken, and concept-forward: a grieving man implements an algorithmic mate that escalates into a perilous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a thick month, with marketing at Universal likely to bring back off-kilter promo beats and quick hits that interweaves devotion and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a proper title to become an headline beat closer to the first trailer. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. His entries are treated as event films, with a teaser with minimal detail and a second beat that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The spooky-season slot opens a lane to own 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 is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has demonstrated that a flesh-and-blood, on-set effects led approach can feel top-tier on a tight budget. Expect a viscera-heavy summer horror shock that centers international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio lines up two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, sustaining a trusty supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is billing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both loyalists and fresh viewers. The fall slot provides the studio time to build promo materials around canon, and creature builds, elements that can fuel format premiums and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror built on careful craft and textual fidelity, this time circling werewolf lore. The imprint has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is favorable.

Platform lanes and windowing

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal titles window into copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a tiered path that amplifies both premiere heat and sign-up spikes in the back half. Prime Video continues to mix licensed titles with worldwide buys and small theatrical windows when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in archive usage, using seasonal hubs, seasonal hubs, and featured rows to stretch the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix plays opportunist about internal projects and festival snaps, slotting horror entries on shorter runways and elevating as drops launches with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a dual-phase of tailored theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working direct-to-fan channels in the get redirected here months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a discrete basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to take on select projects with award winners or star packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for monthly activity when the genre conversation peaks.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 runway with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is tight: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, elevated for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the October weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, guiding the film through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then using the Christmas window to expand. That positioning has paid off for filmmaker-first horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception allows. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using limited runs to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Known brands versus new stories

By weight, 2026 is weighted toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on fan equity. The challenge, as ever, is viewer burnout. The near-term solution is to pitch each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is elevating core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a Francophone tone from a fresh helmer. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and auteur plays add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s 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 clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the team and cast is assuring enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and early previews.

Recent comps illuminate the method. In 2023, a exclusive window model that kept streaming intact did not obstruct a simultaneous release test from performing when the brand was strong. In 2024, art-forward horror rose in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they angle differently and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, allows marketing to bridge entries through protagonists and motifs and to continue assets in field without pause points.

Craft and creative trends

The filmmaking conversations behind this year’s genre indicate a continued move toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that spotlights unease and texture rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in feature stories and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a tease that withholds plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and produces shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta-horror reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature work and production design, which match well with convention activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel must-have. Look for trailers that underscore fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that play in premium auditoriums.

The schedule at a glance

January is loaded. Universal’s 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 quiet contrast amid marquee brands. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the menu of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth carries.

Q1 into Q2 set up the summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now can this contact form handle big openers. Universal’s 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 heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished More about the author their premium pass.

August and September into October leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a early fall window that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a opaque tease strategy and limited previews that center concept over reveals.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus 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 earns with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card burn.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s digital partner turns into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

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 surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: aura-driven 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 claw to survive on a cut-off island as the control dynamic reverses and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to fear, grounded in Cronin’s practical effects and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting tale that teases the fear of a child’s mercurial impressions. Rating: not yet rated. Production: completed. 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 back in creative roles. Logline: {A parody reboot that needles of-the-moment horror beats and true crime preoccupations. Rating: undetermined. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 detonates, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a unlucky family snared by long-buried horrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survival horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: pending. Production: moving forward. 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-accurate language and elemental dread. Rating: pending. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the moment is 2026

Three grounded forces drive this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or shifted in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming drops. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on social-ready stingers from test screenings, metered scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

Calendar math also matters. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will stack across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 stealth-hit search 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 is set up to maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, soundcraft, 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 Is Well Positioned

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is IP strength where it matters, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the shocks sell the seats.