Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts ancient terror, a hair raising horror feature, bowing October 2025 on global platforms

An hair-raising supernatural horror tale from creator / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an age-old fear when outsiders become victims in a demonic ceremony. Streaming this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking journey of survival and prehistoric entity that will revolutionize fear-driven cinema this scare season. Produced by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and shadowy cinema piece follows five strangers who wake up stranded in a cut-off hideaway under the unfriendly dominion of Kyra, a haunted figure possessed by a two-thousand-year-old biblical demon. Ready yourself to be immersed by a immersive experience that merges gut-punch terror with biblical origins, unleashing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a time-honored motif in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is radically shifted when the demons no longer descend beyond the self, but rather within themselves. This illustrates the most primal element of the group. The result is a intense psychological battle where the suspense becomes a unforgiving fight between virtue and vice.


In a desolate outland, five teens find themselves marooned under the sinister grip and infestation of a unidentified spirit. As the ensemble becomes paralyzed to break her control, left alone and attacked by forces unfathomable, they are required to reckon with their greatest panics while the final hour brutally counts down toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust intensifies and alliances fracture, compelling each character to question their essence and the principle of personal agency itself. The consequences surge with every minute, delivering a cinematic nightmare that weaves together unearthly horror with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to extract basic terror, an curse from ancient eras, embedding itself in emotional vulnerability, and navigating a spirit that strips down our being when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra meant evoking something outside normal anguish. She is in denial until the spirit seizes her, and that transition is emotionally raw because it is so deep.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be available for horror fans beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—giving watchers around the globe can face this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its release of trailer #1, which has gathered over a viral response.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, spreading the horror to scare fans abroad.


Join this heart-stopping path of possession. Enter *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to face these ghostly lessons about free will.


For cast commentary, director cuts, and insider scoops from behind the lens, follow @YACFilm across fan hubs and visit our film’s homepage.





American horror’s major pivot: 2025 across markets U.S. rollouts integrates myth-forward possession, independent shockers, stacked beside brand-name tremors

Kicking off with endurance-driven terror steeped in old testament echoes through to brand-name continuations alongside cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 is lining up as the most complex in tandem with deliberate year in ten years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. leading studios stabilize the year with known properties, in parallel platform operators flood the fall with emerging auteurs in concert with legend-coded dread. Meanwhile, horror’s indie wing is drafting behind the backdraft of 2024’s record festival wave. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, yet in 2025, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are exacting, as a result 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: High-craft horror returns

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s schedule begins the calendar with a bold swing: a modernized Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in a modern-day environment. From director Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. timed for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Helmed by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

At summer’s close, Warner’s pipeline launches the swan song of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

The Black Phone 2 follows. Once set for early summer, the October pivot signals belief. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the memorable motifs return: retro dread, trauma foregrounded, plus otherworld rules that chill. The ante is higher this round, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The new chapter enriches the lore, thickens the animatronic pantheon, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It hits in December, cornering year end horror.

SVOD Originals: No Budget, No Problem

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

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a body horror chamber piece including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it looks like a certain fall stream.

In the mix sits Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable with 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 project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

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 Underneath: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. 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.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It is canny scheduling. No swollen lore. No continuity burden. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy Lines: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

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

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, from Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Trends Worth Watching

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror returns
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

The Road Ahead: Fall stack and winter swing card

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The new chiller Year Ahead: Sequels, Originals, in tandem with A hectic Calendar geared toward shocks

Dek The upcoming scare year crowds from the jump with a January pile-up, thereafter rolls through the mid-year, and running into the holiday frame, braiding legacy muscle, fresh ideas, and strategic counterprogramming. Studios with streamers are leaning into tight budgets, box-office-first windows, and platform-native promos that frame horror entries into national conversation.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror has turned into the steady swing in studio lineups, a pillar that can grow when it clicks and still cushion the floor when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year proved to studio brass that modestly budgeted pictures can command the discourse, the following year continued the surge with director-led heat and surprise hits. The momentum translated to the 2025 frame, where re-entries and awards-minded projects signaled there is space for many shades, from brand follow-ups to fresh IP that resonate abroad. The aggregate for 2026 is a schedule that shows rare alignment across distributors, with strategic blocks, a spread of familiar brands and novel angles, and a sharpened strategy on big-screen windows that increase tail monetization on paid VOD and SVOD.

Buyers contend the horror lane now operates like a flex slot on the grid. Horror can roll out on open real estate, generate a easy sell for teasers and reels, and overperform with audiences that appear on previews Thursday and sustain through the second weekend if the offering hits. Emerging from a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 mapping underscores faith in that dynamic. The calendar rolls out with a front-loaded January lineup, then uses spring and early summer for balance, while making space for a autumn stretch that extends to the Halloween frame and into November. The gridline also reflects the expanded integration of boutique distributors and platforms that can develop over weeks, spark evangelism, and roll out at the optimal moment.

An added macro current is series management across shared universes and established properties. Distribution groups are not just greenlighting another entry. They are trying to present lineage with a marquee sheen, whether that is a title presentation that signals a new tone or a casting pivot that binds a latest entry to a classic era. At the same time, the directors behind the most buzzed-about originals are doubling down on physical effects work, physical gags and place-driven backdrops. That blend gives the 2026 slate a lively combination of recognition and unexpected turns, which is how the genre sells abroad.

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

Paramount marks the early tempo with two prominent pushes that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, steering it as both a passing of the torch and a origin-leaning relationship-driven entry. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach conveys a fan-service aware framework without covering again the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Count on a promo wave anchored in legacy iconography, first-look character reveals, and a staggered trailer plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also reboots 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 in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will double down on. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will seek large awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format allowing quick adjustments to whatever leads the social talk that spring.

Universal has three clear projects. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is tidy, sorrow-tinged, and commercial: a grieving man implements an artificial companion that shifts into a murderous partner. The date sets it at the front of a thick month, with the Universal machine likely to replay uncanny live moments and bite-size content that threads companionship and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a public title to become an marketing beat closer to the initial promo. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele projects are set up as marquee events, with a minimalist tease and a next wave of trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The late-month date affords Universal to lead 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, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has shown that a gnarly, prosthetic-heavy strategy can feel premium on a controlled budget. Frame it as a hard-R summer horror rush that centers foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio rolls out two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, preserving a dependable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch builds quietly. The studio has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is presenting as a reset for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both loyalists and newcomers. The fall slot provides the studio time to build artifacts around universe detail, and creature effects, elements that can lift premium format interest and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in meticulous craft and archaic language, this time focused on werewolf legend. The specialty arm has already locked the day for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is strong.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Digital strategies for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s releases window into copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a ordering that elevates both week-one demand and subscription bumps in the later phase. Prime Video interleaves catalogue additions with global pickups and limited cinema engagements when the data backs it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library pulls, using curated hubs, Halloween hubs, and programmed rows to prolong the run on the annual genre haul. Netflix keeps options open about first-party entries and festival additions, finalizing horror entries closer to launch and positioning as event drops premieres with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a staged of precision releases and rapid platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a selective basis. The platform has signaled readiness to purchase select projects with acclaimed directors or star packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for retention when the genre conversation surges.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 pipeline with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is clean: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, upgraded for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a theatrical-first plan for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the September weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through festival season if the cut is ready, then using the holiday slot to go wider. That positioning has been successful for filmmaker-driven genre with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception allows. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using limited theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their audience.

IP versus fresh ideas

By count, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage franchise value. The caveat, as ever, is overexposure. The near-term solution is to position each entry as a new angle. Paramount is foregrounding character-first this content legacy in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-accented approach from a ascendant talent. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles provide the air. 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, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the bundle is known enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Past-three-year patterns outline the strategy. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that respected streaming windows did not deter a day-date move from paying off when the brand was trusted. In 2024, director-craft horror punched above its weight in premium screens. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they change perspective and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters filmed consecutively, creates space for marketing to thread films through character arcs and themes and to hold creative in the market without long gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft conversations behind the upcoming entries foreshadow a continued tilt toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that foregrounds grain and menace rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and era-correct language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in craft journalism and craft spotlights before rolling out a teaser that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and generates shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta pivot that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature craft and set design, which favor expo activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel must-have. Look for trailers that center pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that shine in top rooms.

Month-by-month map

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 somber counterpoint amid big-brand pushes. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the menu of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth sustains.

Late Q1 and spring tee up summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was aligned with genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges 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 lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Late summer into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited previews that elevate concept over story.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card spend.

Title snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s digital partner evolves into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography 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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem 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 journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: ambience-forward adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss try to survive on a uninhabited island as the chain of command inverts and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

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 fresh reimagining that returns the monster to terror, based on Cronin’s in-camera craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting narrative that plays with the horror of a child’s uncertain perspective. Rating: forthcoming. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A parody reboot that satirizes today’s horror trends and true-crime manias. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites surges, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: cameras rolling 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 opens again, with a new clan snared by long-buried horrors. Rating: TBD. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward true survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: TBA. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: closely held. Rating: TBA. Production: underway. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on antique diction and elemental menace. Rating: TBA. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why 2026, why now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces define this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or re-slotted in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming releases. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on meme-ready beats from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, 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 stealth-hit search 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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first his comment is here 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. 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, 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 compound over time, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, sonics, 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.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is recognizable IP where it plays, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, lock the reveals, and let the screams sell the seats.