Ancient Horror Rises in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nightmare fueled horror feature, launching October 2025 across premium platforms

This hair-raising spiritual scare-fest from creator / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an forgotten dread when newcomers become tools in a supernatural ritual. Airings begin on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping tale of resistance and forgotten curse that will resculpt fear-driven cinema this October. Guided by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and cinematic fearfest follows five people who arise trapped in a far-off shelter under the hostile power of Kyra, a cursed figure claimed by a ancient scriptural evil. Get ready to be enthralled by a screen-based outing that combines raw fear with folklore, landing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a time-honored narrative in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is flipped when the fiends no longer emerge from elsewhere, but rather internally. This embodies the most terrifying facet of these individuals. The result is a harrowing inner struggle where the plotline becomes a relentless contest between heaven and hell.


In a abandoned woodland, five friends find themselves contained under the unholy control and possession of a obscure woman. As the team becomes incapable to combat her dominion, stranded and pursued by presences unnamable, they are required to endure their soulful dreads while the final hour unceasingly edges forward toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety intensifies and ties dissolve, forcing each person to reflect on their essence and the integrity of liberty itself. The stakes accelerate with every short lapse, delivering a scare-fueled ride that marries spiritual fright with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to uncover primal fear, an threat from prehistory, filtering through human fragility, and exposing a force that peels away humanity when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra was about accessing something far beyond human desperation. She is insensitive until the spirit seizes her, and that flip is shocking because it is so unshielded.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for audience access beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—delivering fans in all regions can watch this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its initial teaser, which has attracted over notable views.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, spreading the horror to a global viewership.


Be sure to catch this visceral voyage through terror. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to survive these spiritual awakenings about inner darkness.


For bonus footage, director cuts, and insider scoops from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across online outlets and visit the movie portal.





Current horror’s decisive shift: calendar year 2025 U.S. lineup braids together old-world possession, underground frights, paired with IP aftershocks

Kicking off with life-or-death fear grounded in ancient scripture to IP renewals paired with acutely observed indies, 2025 is lining up as the most stratified and calculated campaign year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. major banners stabilize the year by way of signature titles, while digital services front-load the fall with new perspectives set against primordial unease. On the festival side, independent banners is fueled by the kinetic energy from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. With Halloween holding the peak, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, distinctly in 2025, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are calculated, and 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal camp kicks off the frame with a bold swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Directed by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. set for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. From director Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer winds down, Warner Bros. delivers the closing chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Though the outline is tried, 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.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re teams, and those signature textures resurface: retro dread, trauma as narrative engine, and eerie supernatural logic. Here the stakes rise, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The next entry deepens the tale, broadens the animatronic terror cast, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It drops in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Offerings: Low budgets, big teeth

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a tight space body horror vignette with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

On the docket is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

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

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Authored and directed 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 the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is a smart play. No swollen lore. No IP hangover. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s 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, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy IP: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. 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, under Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

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.

Trends to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror ascends again
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

The big screen is a trust exercise
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

The Road Ahead: Fall saturation and a winter joker

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, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The new fright year to come: Sequels, universe starters, plus A hectic Calendar calibrated for nightmares

Dek The fresh genre season builds from the jump with a January wave, and then rolls through summer corridors, and deep into the year-end corridor, balancing marquee clout, new voices, and smart counterplay. Distributors with platforms are leaning into cost discipline, theater-first strategies, and viral-minded pushes that elevate horror entries into cross-demo moments.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The field has solidified as the steady release in programming grids, a lane that can scale when it clicks and still hedge the drag when it underperforms. After the 2023 year demonstrated to decision-makers that disciplined-budget chillers can dominate audience talk, the following year held pace with buzzy auteur projects and word-of-mouth wins. The trend rolled into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and elevated films confirmed there is an opening for varied styles, from ongoing IP entries to fresh IP that export nicely. The takeaway for 2026 is a grid that appears tightly organized across players, with intentional bunching, a combination of household franchises and new packages, and a tightened emphasis on exclusive windows that increase tail monetization on premium on-demand and home streaming.

Planners observe the horror lane now serves as a schedule utility on the rollout map. Horror can premiere on a wide range of weekends, deliver a simple premise for ad units and UGC-friendly snippets, and exceed norms with crowds that appear on early shows and maintain momentum through the next weekend if the feature lands. Post a work stoppage lag, the 2026 rhythm indicates comfort in that dynamic. The year kicks off with a busy January corridor, then targets spring into early summer for audience offsets, while saving space for a September to October window that pushes into the Halloween frame and into early November. The map also features the increasing integration of specialized imprints and streamers that can platform and widen, spark evangelism, and expand at the optimal moment.

A second macro trend is franchise tending across shared universes and long-running brands. The companies are not just greenlighting another chapter. They are looking to package story carry-over with a headline quality, whether that is a graphic identity that telegraphs a recalibrated tone or a casting move that threads a next film to a vintage era. At the concurrently, the filmmakers behind the top original plays are prioritizing practical craft, special makeup and vivid settings. That blend yields the 2026 slate check my blog a smart balance of recognition and invention, which is how horror tends to travel globally.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount establishes early momentum with two centerpiece moves that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the center, signaling it as both a lineage transfer and a rootsy character study. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture telegraphs a legacy-leaning mode without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. A campaign is expected rooted in classic imagery, character previews, and a rollout cadence landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

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 reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will play up. As a summer alternative, this one will generate wide appeal through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format permitting quick reframes to whatever owns trend lines that spring.

Universal has three separate plays. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is elegant, sorrow-tinged, and easily pitched: a grieving man installs an machine companion that escalates into a murderous partner. The date positions it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s campaign likely to replay strange in-person beats and short reels that mixes intimacy and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a final title to become an earned moment closer to the first look. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele projects are positioned as must-see filmmaker statements, with a mystery-first teaser and a next wave of trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date gives Universal room to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a tactile, physical-effects centered style can feel premium on a middle budget. Position this as a red-band summer horror hit that maximizes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio deploys two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, carrying a dependable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what Sony is billing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both players and general audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build artifacts around narrative world, and monster aesthetics, elements that can drive IMAX and PLF uptake and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by careful craft and language, this time engaging werewolf myth. Focus has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is supportive.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform plans for 2026 run on stable tracks. The studio’s horror films head to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a cadence that fortifies both first-week urgency and viewer acquisition in the later window. Prime Video balances outside acquisitions with worldwide entries and limited cinema engagements when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu work their edges in deep cuts, using curated hubs, spooky hubs, and curated rows to lengthen the tail on the 2026 genre total. Netflix keeps flexible about own-slate titles and festival pickups, dating horror entries near launch and eventizing rollouts with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a hybrid of focused cinema runs and rapid platforming that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has shown a willingness to purchase select projects with prestige directors or star packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for monthly activity when the genre conversation builds.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 corridor 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 simple: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, retooled for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the September weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, guiding the film through festival season if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday frame to scale. That positioning has worked well for prestige horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception prompts. Be ready for 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 hand in hand, using mini theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Brands and originals

By weight, 2026 leans toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on marquee value. The caveat, as ever, is brand wear. The pragmatic answer is to brand each entry as a new angle. Paramount is leading with character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-inflected take from a fresh helmer. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a known weblink brand, the team and cast is steady enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Three-year comps illuminate the approach. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that held distribution windows did not preclude a hybrid test from working when the brand was sticky. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror punched above its weight in premium screens. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they reorient and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends 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 produced back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to bridge entries through character web and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without hiatuses.

Technique and craft currents

The craft rooms behind the 2026 slate hint at a continued move toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-first approach 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 spotlights texture and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and era-true language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in feature stories and craft spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that leans on mood over plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for red-band excess, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and gathers shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta pivot that centers an original star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature execution and sets, which work nicely for convention activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that accent pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that benefit on big speakers.

From winter to holidays

January is loaded. 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 atmospheric change-up amid bigger brand plays. The month concludes 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 stiff, but the palette of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

Late Q1 and spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The 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 underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can connect 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 rotated off PLF.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil follows September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited advance reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift card usage.

Title briefs within the narrative

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s virtual companion mutates into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal 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 ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: tone-first 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 difficult boss claw to survive on a isolated island as the power balance of power upends and suspicion grows. 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 not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to menace, anchored by Cronin’s physical craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting tale that mediates the fear via a little one’s flickering subjective lens. Rating: pending. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-grade and A-list fronted paranormal 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 satire sequel that targets hot-button genre motifs and true crime fascinations. Rating: undetermined. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites breaks out, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new clan caught in old terrors. Rating: TBA. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A fresh restart designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival-core horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: pending. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: TBA. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and elemental fear. Rating: TBD. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. 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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three grounded forces define this lineup. First, production that stalled or shuffled in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more disciplined 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 releases. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work clippable moments from test screenings, managed scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, making room for genre entries that can lead a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will line up 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.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where value-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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. 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 goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, optimized footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, aural design, 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, Lined Up To Scare

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is recognizable IP where it plays, 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, protect the mystery, and let the screams sell the seats.