Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes antediluvian malevolence, a nightmare fueled horror thriller, debuting Oct 2025 on leading streamers

An terrifying spectral suspense story from screenwriter / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an primeval dread when guests become victims in a fiendish struggle. Dropping this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing saga of survival and old world terror that will remodel genre cinema this harvest season. Guided by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and claustrophobic screenplay follows five figures who snap to ensnared in a isolated wooden structure under the malignant dominion of Kyra, a troubled woman overtaken by a prehistoric religious nightmare. Brace yourself to be enthralled by a filmic outing that intertwines intense horror with folklore, arriving on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a recurring fixture in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is subverted when the presences no longer manifest beyond the self, but rather through their own souls. This suggests the most primal part of the group. The result is a riveting mental war where the conflict becomes a unforgiving battle between moral forces.


In a unforgiving outland, five adults find themselves isolated under the unholy grip and curse of a secretive entity. As the survivors becomes submissive to withstand her control, disconnected and tracked by spirits beyond reason, they are forced to stand before their soulful dreads while the clock unforgivingly winds toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread intensifies and ties crack, requiring each person to doubt their personhood and the idea of free will itself. The pressure accelerate with every fleeting time, delivering a nightmarish journey that intertwines supernatural terror with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to evoke basic terror, an presence that predates humanity, emerging via mental cracks, and examining a force that questions who we are when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra called for internalizing something more primal than sorrow. She is blind until the demon emerges, and that shift is bone-chilling because it is so emotional.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be released for viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—so that streamers globally can experience this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its original clip, which has seen over massive response.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, exporting the fear to viewers around the world.


Do not miss this mind-warping voyage through terror. Enter *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to see these unholy truths about the human condition.


For bonus footage, filmmaker commentary, and announcements via the production team, follow @YACFilm across entertainment pages and visit youngandcursed.com.





American horror’s inflection point: the 2025 cycle American release plan interlaces old-world possession, indie terrors, together with tentpole growls

Spanning grit-forward survival fare rooted in scriptural legend all the way to canon extensions and cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 stands to become the genre’s most multifaceted together with strategic year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. Top studios lay down anchors with familiar IP, in parallel premium streamers pack the fall with new voices in concert with legend-coded dread. On the festival side, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is surfing the echoes of a record-setting 2024 festival season. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The fall stretch is the proving field, yet in 2025, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are surgical, as a result 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Premium genre swings back

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s pipeline lights the fuse with a statement play: a refreshed Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, but a sharp contemporary setting. Guided by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. Slated for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. From director Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

When summer fades, Warner’s pipeline unveils the final movement inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Despite a known recipe, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re engages, and the memorable motifs return: retrograde shiver, trauma explicitly handled, plus otherworld rules that chill. This time the stakes climb, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The next entry deepens the tale, grows the animatronic horror lineup, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It bows in December, buttoning the final window.

SVOD Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a body horror chamber piece led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is destined for a fall landing.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. 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.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. That is a savvy move. No overweight mythology. No IP hangover. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Long Running Lines: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, from Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

What to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror reemerges
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Forward View: Fall saturation and a winter joker

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The coming 2026 terror calendar year ahead: returning titles, fresh concepts, in tandem with A stacked Calendar optimized for Scares

Dek: The emerging genre season builds up front with a January crush, following that stretches through midyear, and continuing into the late-year period, marrying IP strength, untold stories, and smart counter-scheduling. Studio marketers and platforms are leaning into lean spends, cinema-first plans, and influencer-ready assets that shape these releases into four-quadrant talking points.

Where horror stands going into 2026

Horror has shown itself to be the surest play in distribution calendars, a category that can grow when it clicks and still buffer the risk when it does not. After 2023 reminded strategy teams that cost-conscious genre plays can steer social chatter, 2024 extended the rally with signature-voice projects and quiet over-performers. The trend rolled into 2025, where reawakened brands and prestige plays underscored there is demand for different modes, from franchise continuations to non-IP projects that export nicely. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a slate that shows rare alignment across distributors, with mapped-out bands, a balance of known properties and untested plays, and a sharpened strategy on theatrical windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium home window and home streaming.

Insiders argue the genre now slots in as a swing piece on the schedule. Horror can launch on numerous frames, generate a clear pitch for previews and UGC-friendly snippets, and overperform with moviegoers that line up on previews Thursday and hold through the week two if the title delivers. Exiting a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 rhythm signals trust in that dynamic. The year kicks off with a crowded January block, then turns to spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while holding room for a fall cadence that runs into spooky season and into November. The grid also highlights the expanded integration of arthouse labels and subscription services that can platform a title, build word of mouth, and expand at the optimal moment.

Another broad trend is brand management across shared universes and heritage properties. The studios are not just turning out another chapter. They are moving to present story carry-over with a specialness, whether that is a graphic identity that suggests a new tone or a cast configuration that binds a next entry to a classic era. At the concurrently, the directors behind the most anticipated originals are championing practical craft, on-set effects and distinct locales. That fusion produces the 2026 slate a strong blend of home base and unexpected turns, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

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

Paramount establishes early momentum with two front-of-slate titles that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, presenting it as both a lineage transfer and a back-to-basics relationship-driven entry. Production is active in Atlanta, and the story approach points to a fan-service aware campaign without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Plan for a rollout anchored in legacy iconography, intro reveals, and a staggered trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will play up. As a summer counter-slot, this one will seek general-audience talk through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format inviting quick redirects to whatever leads horror talk that spring.

Universal has three specific bets. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is simple, sorrow-tinged, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man implements an virtual partner that mutates into a harmful mate. The date nudges it to the front of a thick month, with Universal’s marketing likely to echo strange in-person beats and short reels that threads attachment and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a proper title to become an fan moment closer to the teaser. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s pictures are set up as creative events, with a concept-forward tease and a subsequent trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The late-month date allows Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has long shown that a gritty, practical-effects forward strategy can feel deluxe on a disciplined budget. Look for a hard-R summer horror shot that maximizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio rolls out two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, carrying a reliable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is describing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both core fans and newcomers. The fall slot provides the studio time to build campaign creative around setting detail, and monster craft, elements that can increase large-format demand and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror built on immersive craft and historical speech, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is strong.

Digital platform strategies

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s genre entries flow to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a sequence that amplifies both initial urgency and sub growth in the later phase. Prime Video balances outside acquisitions with world buys and limited runs in theaters when the data backs it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in library curation, using prominent placements, genre hubs, and editorial rows to extend momentum on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps options open about Netflix films and festival buys, dating horror entries on shorter runways and staging as events go-lives with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a one-two of focused cinema runs and fast windowing that turns chatter to conversion. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a curated basis. The platform has been willing to buy select projects with top-tier auteurs or A-list packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation peaks.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 lane with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is straightforward: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, retooled for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the October weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, escorting the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday dates to scale. That positioning has served the company well for director-led genre with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception encourages. Do not be surprised by 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 hand in hand, using select theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their membership.

Franchises versus originals

By count, 2026 tips toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on fan equity. The risk, as ever, is staleness. The standing approach is to position each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is foregrounding character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-inflected take from a fresh helmer. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and director-driven titles add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the assembly is anchored enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Comparable trends from recent years help explain the template. In 2023, a exclusive window model that maintained windows did not preclude a hybrid test from winning when the brand was potent. In 2024, art-forward horror exceeded expectations in PLF. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they shift POV and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward 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 lensed back-to-back, lets marketing to link the films through relationships and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without pause points.

How the films are being made

The creative meetings behind this slate telegraph a continued lean toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that centers texture and dread rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and department features before rolling out a preview that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and sparks shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta reframe that centers an original star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature craft and set design, which play well in fan-con activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel definitive. Look for trailers that underscore pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in premium houses.

Annual flow

January is heavy. 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 headline IP. The month winds down 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 real, but the tone spread creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth sustains.

Winter into spring seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now hosts 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 splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

End of summer through fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil follows September 18, a early fall window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a opaque tease strategy and limited pre-release reveals that put concept first.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card use.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s algorithmic partner unfolds into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse 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 stumble upon a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: atmospheric game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her prickly boss work to survive on a desolate island as the pecking order inverts and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 renewed take that returns the monster to chill, driven by Cronin’s practical craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production 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 residential haunting piece that refracts terror through a kid’s shifting POV. Rating: TBA. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-financed and marquee-led spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that pokes at modern genre fads and true crime preoccupations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 erupts, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further reopens, with a fresh family anchored to ancient dread. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: pending. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survivalist horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: undetermined. Production: in progress. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 elemental dread. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why 2026, why now

Three pragmatic forces define this lineup. First, production that stalled or re-slotted in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and shorter schedules. 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 surpassed straight-to-streaming drops. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify reaction-worthy moments from test screenings, curated scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

The slot calculus is real. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will line up across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, 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 sleeper-hit hunt continues in Q1, where disciplined-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 shock over-performer 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, 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 ratchet upward, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, disciplined footprints, 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 materiality, audio design, and imagery that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Ready To Roar

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts navigate to this website update. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand equity where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, guard the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.