Mythic Evil awakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding chiller, launching October 2025 across premium platforms

An blood-curdling occult thriller from storyteller / director Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an mythic curse when guests become pawns in a demonic contest. Debuting this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking story of continuance and old world terror that will redefine the horror genre this Halloween season. Created by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and shadowy screenplay follows five people who regain consciousness stuck in a far-off cottage under the sinister power of Kyra, a troubled woman dominated by a biblical-era religious nightmare. Get ready to be immersed by a filmic venture that fuses intense horror with mystical narratives, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a historical foundation in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is reimagined when the demons no longer develop from a different plane, but rather from within. This illustrates the darkest dimension of these individuals. The result is a enthralling mind game where the plotline becomes a unforgiving conflict between good and evil.


In a barren forest, five campers find themselves trapped under the fiendish dominion and haunting of a haunted female figure. As the cast becomes vulnerable to combat her influence, isolated and hunted by forces unfathomable, they are compelled to battle their darkest emotions while the seconds mercilessly moves toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion amplifies and relationships erode, urging each individual to reflect on their character and the notion of conscious will itself. The consequences mount with every tick, delivering a terror ride that harmonizes supernatural terror with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to uncover elemental fright, an power rooted in antiquity, manifesting in emotional vulnerability, and testing a evil that challenges autonomy when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra was centered on something rooted in terror. She is unseeing until the evil takes hold, and that metamorphosis is bone-chilling because it is so emotional.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—allowing households from coast to coast can witness this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its intro video, which has earned over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, making the film to international horror buffs.


Mark your calendar for this life-altering descent into hell. Explore *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to dive into these unholy truths about the psyche.


For teasers, on-set glimpses, and promotions from inside the story, follow @YACFilm across social media and visit youngandcursed.com.





Current horror’s inflection point: calendar year 2025 U.S. rollouts blends primeval-possession lore, underground frights, and franchise surges

Ranging from survivor-centric dread grounded in scriptural legend and stretching into IP renewals set beside incisive indie visions, 2025 is shaping up as horror’s most layered in tandem with precision-timed year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. Major studios lock in tentpoles using marquee IP, while subscription platforms crowd the fall with first-wave breakthroughs and ancestral chills. On the festival side, festival-forward creators is carried on the momentum of a record-setting 2024 festival season. As Halloween stays the prime week, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, yet in 2025, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are methodical, therefore 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Premium genre swings back

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s pipeline sets the tone with a headline swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in a clear present-tense world. From director Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. timed for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Eli Craig directs with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

By late summer, the WB camp drops the final chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Despite a known recipe, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re teams, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: nostalgic menace, trauma centered writing, and a cold supernatural calculus. The ante is higher this round, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The follow up digs further into canon, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, courting teens and the thirty something base. It lands in December, buttoning the final window.

Digital Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, an intimate body horror unraveling including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable 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 film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within 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 reads as sharp positioning. No overstuffed canon. No IP hangover. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy IP: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, with Francis Lawrence directing, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Signals and Trends

Mythic lanes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror swings back
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Badges become bargaining chips
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Season Ahead: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The coming 2026 terror calendar year ahead: continuations, filmmaker-first projects, plus A packed Calendar designed for Scares

Dek The emerging terror season packs up front with a January wave, thereafter carries through June and July, and straight through the holidays, braiding franchise firepower, novel approaches, and data-minded counterplay. Major distributors and platforms are betting on efficient budgets, theatrical leads, and shareable marketing that transform these releases into cross-demo moments.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

This space has solidified as the consistent play in studio calendars, a space that can spike when it breaks through and still buffer the risk when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year reassured top brass that lean-budget fright engines can lead the zeitgeist, the following year continued the surge with visionary-driven titles and slow-burn breakouts. The upswing moved into 2025, where reawakened brands and premium-leaning entries underscored there is capacity for a variety of tones, from series extensions to one-and-done originals that carry overseas. The takeaway for 2026 is a programming that reads highly synchronized across the field, with mapped-out bands, a equilibrium of marquee IP and novel angles, and a tightened focus on exclusive windows that increase tail monetization on premium on-demand and streaming.

Studio leaders note the space now slots in as a schedule utility on the distribution slate. Horror can arrive on a wide range of weekends, supply a tight logline for creative and reels, and overperform with moviegoers that appear on previews Thursday and stick through the week two if the movie satisfies. Following a production delay era, the 2026 setup telegraphs confidence in that logic. The slate gets underway with a weighty January run, then uses spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while saving space for a autumn push that stretches into spooky season and into November. The schedule also includes the increasing integration of specialty distributors and SVOD players that can build gradually, stoke social talk, and roll out at the sweet spot.

A second macro trend is IP stewardship across unified worlds and long-running brands. The studios are not just making another continuation. They are setting up lore continuity with a occasion, whether that is a graphic identity that telegraphs a re-angled tone or a star attachment that bridges a new entry to a initial period. At the in tandem, the filmmakers behind the high-profile originals are prioritizing tactile craft, practical effects and site-specific worlds. That combination offers the 2026 slate a healthy mix of recognition and unexpected turns, which is how the genre sells abroad.

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

Paramount leads early with two big-ticket moves that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the lead, steering it as both a lineage transfer and a rootsy character-driven entry. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance signals a nostalgia-forward mode without looping the last two entries’ sisters storyline. A campaign is expected fueled by brand visuals, first-look character reveals, and a promo sequence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

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 paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will lean on. As a summer relief option, this one will hunt four-quadrant chatter through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick reframes to whatever dominates the conversation that spring.

Universal has three specific plays. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is tight, tragic, and premise-first: a grieving man installs an algorithmic mate that evolves into a murderous partner. The date places it at the front of a stacked January, with marketing at Universal likely to revisit uncanny live moments and short reels that melds devotion and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a proper title to become an event moment closer to the teaser. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. his comment is here The filmmaker’s films are set up as director events, with a concept-forward tease and a subsequent trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The Halloween runway gives Universal room to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has long shown that a gritty, makeup-driven approach can feel top-tier on a tight budget. Look for a blood-and-grime summer horror rush that leans into overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio deploys two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, sustaining a dependable supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is framing as a fresh restart 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 explicit mandate to serve both devotees and first-timers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build materials around environmental design, and monster design, elements that can fuel PLF interest and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on careful craft and textual fidelity, this time focused on werewolf legend. The imprint has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is supportive.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform tactics for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s releases transition to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a sequence that enhances both initial urgency and sub growth in the later phase. Prime Video balances acquired titles with international acquisitions and limited runs in theaters when the data signals it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in catalog discovery, using seasonal hubs, October hubs, and curated rows to prolong the run on overall cume. Netflix plays opportunist about first-party entries and festival pickups, locking in horror entries near launch and elevating as drops launches with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a staged of targeted theatrical exposure and quick platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a situational basis. The platform has been willing to invest in select projects with top-tier auteurs or star-led packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation ramps.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 lane with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is uncomplicated: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, retooled for modern audio-visual craft. 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 traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the back half.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, Young & Cursed shepherding the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday slot to expand. That positioning has helped for director-led genre with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception allows. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using limited theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their community.

Legacy titles versus originals

By proportion, 2026 tilts in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness marquee value. The watch-out, as ever, is diminishing returns. The near-term solution is to market each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is elevating character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-flavored turn from a fresh helmer. Those choices have a peek at these guys count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries add air. 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, centers Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the team and cast is known enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Comps from the last three years outline the template. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that preserved streaming windows did not stop a hybrid test from delivering when the brand was potent. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror outperformed in premium screens. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel new when they reorient and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, creates space for marketing to thread films through protagonists and motifs and to keep assets in-market without doldrums.

How the films are being made

The production chatter behind 2026 horror point to a continued shift toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that elevates creep and texture rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and medieval diction, a combination that can make for textured sound and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that withholds plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and drives shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta refresh that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on monster aesthetics and world-building, which align with convention activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel compelling. Look for trailers that foreground precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that land in big rooms.

Calendar cadence

January is packed. Universal’s 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 quiet contrast amid heavier IP. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the variety of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Early-year through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into 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 light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a pre-October slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited information drops that favor idea over plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and holiday gift-card burn.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s digital partner becomes something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete 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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

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: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. 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 prickly boss fight to survive on a desolate island as the power balance of power swivels and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to chill, founded on Cronin’s tactile craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting chiller that mediates the fear via a minor’s unsteady point of view. Rating: forthcoming. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that satirizes today’s horror trends and true-crime manias. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming slated for 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 bursts, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new clan snared by long-buried horrors. Rating: TBD. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survival-core horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: TBA. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: proceeding. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

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-precise speech and bone-deep menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the moment is 2026

Three operational forces frame this lineup. First, production that paused or migrated in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more strict 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 landings. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine turnkey scare beats from test screenings, metered scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will coexist across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, soundcraft, and visual design that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Shapes Up Strong

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand equity where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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, craft precise trailers, protect the mystery, and let the gasps sell the seats.