Ancient Evil awakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding feature, bowing Oct 2025 on top streaming platforms

An spine-tingling ghostly horror tale from storyteller / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an age-old evil when unrelated individuals become subjects in a supernatural ceremony. Debuting this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking account of struggle and ancient evil that will reimagine the horror genre this harvest season. Helmed by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and cinematic film follows five figures who come to ensnared in a wilderness-bound house under the unfriendly sway of Kyra, a young woman inhabited by a millennia-old Old Testament spirit. Be prepared to be captivated by a immersive outing that combines gut-punch terror with mystical narratives, coming on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a well-established concept in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is reimagined when the monsters no longer develop from a different plane, but rather inside them. This echoes the deepest part of the group. The result is a enthralling spiritual tug-of-war where the narrative becomes a intense confrontation between heaven and hell.


In a bleak backcountry, five campers find themselves cornered under the possessive sway and domination of a uncanny woman. As the cast becomes unable to evade her rule, stranded and pursued by beings ungraspable, they are thrust to stand before their worst nightmares while the clock without pity winds toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread builds and bonds dissolve, driving each member to doubt their self and the foundation of freedom of choice itself. The risk escalate with every instant, delivering a horror experience that marries mystical fear with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to awaken deep fear, an malevolence that existed before mankind, working through inner turmoil, and exposing a spirit that peels away humanity when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra called for internalizing something far beyond human desperation. She is unseeing until the curse activates, and that metamorphosis is deeply unsettling because it is so visceral.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for audience access beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—making sure customers around the globe can witness this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its initial teaser, which has seen over notable views.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, offering the tale to fans of fear everywhere.


Tune in for this soul-jarring voyage through terror. Face *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to dive into these fearful discoveries about our species.


For previews, set experiences, and insider scoops from behind the lens, follow @YACMovie across Facebook and TikTok and visit our spooky domain.





Contemporary horror’s Turning Point: 2025 U.S. rollouts braids together biblical-possession ideas, underground frights, alongside returning-series thunder

Running from last-stand terror infused with old testament echoes all the way to canon extensions in concert with acutely observed indies, 2025 looks like horror’s most layered and tactically planned year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. studio majors lock in tentpoles with established lines, while platform operators pack the fall with debut heat set against legend-coded dread. In the indie lane, the independent cohort is fueled by the kinetic energy from a record 2024 festival run. With Halloween holding the peak, the other windows are mapped with care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, but this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are precise, therefore 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Premium genre swings back

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s pipeline lights the fuse with a confident swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, inside today’s landscape. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Slated for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Eli Craig directs anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early reactions hint at fangs.

When summer tapers, Warner Bros. Pictures sets loose the finale from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

The Black Phone 2 follows. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson re teams, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: throwback unease, trauma driven plotting, plus otherworld rules that chill. The stakes escalate here, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, grows the animatronic horror lineup, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It bows in December, securing the winter cap.

SVOD Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Directed by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a body horror duet anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Also rising is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative starring Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of 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 dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. That is a savvy move. No overweight mythology. No canon weight. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Lines: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

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.

Trend Lines

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror swings back
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Near Term Outlook: Fall stack and winter swing card

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The 2026 fright season: returning titles, new stories, plus A busy Calendar aimed at jolts

Dek: The current genre slate clusters from the jump with a January cluster, before it spreads through summer, and straight through the holidays, weaving brand equity, creative pitches, and calculated offsets. Major distributors and platforms are relying on efficient budgets, big-screen-first runs, and social-driven marketing that elevate the slate’s entries into all-audience topics.

How the genre looks for 2026

The field has solidified as the consistent play in release strategies, a vertical that can spike when it catches and still hedge the downside when it fails to connect. After 2023 reminded strategy teams that responsibly budgeted scare machines can drive the national conversation, the following year continued the surge with high-profile filmmaker pieces and sleeper breakouts. The upswing rolled into 2025, where re-entries and elevated films signaled there is capacity for a spectrum, from brand follow-ups to fresh IP that export nicely. The takeaway for 2026 is a schedule that shows rare alignment across distributors, with intentional bunching, a equilibrium of brand names and original hooks, and a refocused priority on theater exclusivity that power the aftermarket on premium on-demand and subscription services.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now operates like a swing piece on the calendar. The genre can debut on most weekends, offer a clean hook for previews and TikTok spots, and overperform with moviegoers that respond on preview nights and maintain momentum through the subsequent weekend if the offering hits. Emerging from a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 mapping signals conviction in that setup. The calendar gets underway with a front-loaded January run, then targets spring into early summer for counterweight, while keeping space for a autumn stretch that runs into spooky season and past Halloween. The calendar also reflects the greater integration of indie distributors and streaming partners that can launch in limited release, spark evangelism, and broaden at the strategic time.

A notable top-line trend is brand strategy across brand ecosystems and legacy franchises. Big banners are not just pushing another chapter. They are seeking to position connection with a sense of event, whether that is a title presentation that indicates a refreshed voice or a casting pivot that binds a next entry to a foundational era. At the concurrently, the creative leads behind the most anticipated originals are championing practical craft, practical gags and distinct locales. That pairing hands the 2026 slate a vital pairing of home base and freshness, which is the formula for international play.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount plants an early flag with two headline bets that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the spine, positioning the film as both a passing of the torch and a origin-leaning character-focused installment. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture points to a nostalgia-forward angle without looping the last two entries’ sibling arc. Look for a marketing run centered on signature symbols, first images of characters, and a trailer cadence slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will double down on. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will seek wide appeal through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format allowing quick reframes to whatever shapes the social talk that spring.

Universal has three unique strategies. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is straightforward, somber, and commercial: a grieving man installs an algorithmic mate that mutates into a lethal partner. The date positions it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to revisit uncanny live moments and short-form creative that threads devotion and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets 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 public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a branding reveal to become an attention spike closer to the early tease. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele titles are marketed as signature events, with a teaser that reveals little and a subsequent trailers that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The late-month date affords Universal to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has long shown that a blood-soaked, physical-effects centered method can feel top-tier on a moderate cost. Position this as a splatter summer horror hit that embraces offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio launches two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, holding a consistent supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is describing as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both players and novices. The fall slot provides the studio time to build campaign creative around narrative world, and creature design, elements that can boost large-format demand and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by immersive craft and archaic language, this time steeped in lycan lore. Focus Features has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is supportive.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Digital strategies for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s releases head to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a structure that amplifies both initial urgency and platform bumps in the later window. Prime Video stitches together third-party pickups with global originals and short theatrical plays when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in catalog discovery, using curated hubs, spooky hubs, and curated strips to maximize the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix keeps flexible about first-party entries and festival deals, confirming horror entries toward the drop and framing as events drops with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a dual-phase of precision theatrical plays and swift platform pivots that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has shown a willingness to invest in select projects with established auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation peaks.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 pipeline with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is simple: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, retooled for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the October weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, shepherding the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then deploying the Christmas window to increase reach. That positioning has delivered for auteur horror 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 regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception drives. Anticipate 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 together, using small theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Franchise entries versus originals

By proportion, the 2026 slate skews toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit fan equity. The concern, as ever, is brand wear. The pragmatic answer is to position each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is emphasizing core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-inflected take from a buzzed-about director. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and talent-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the cast-creatives package is grounded enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday-night turnout.

Comparable trends from recent years illuminate the strategy. In 2023, a theater-first model that maintained windows did not block a day-date try from succeeding when the brand was powerful. In 2024, director-craft horror surged in premium screens. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they alter lens and elevate scope. 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 double Source feature plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, enables marketing to link the films through character spine and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without long gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The director conversations behind this year’s genre indicate a continued preference for in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that leans on mood and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in deep-dive features and guild coverage before rolling out a tone piece that leans on mood over plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and produces shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta pivot that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster work and world-building, which work nicely for fan conventions and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel compelling. Look for trailers that spotlight precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that explode in larger rooms.

Calendar cadence

January is stacked. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid marquee brands. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the palette of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth endures.

Post-January through spring seed summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

End of summer through fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a transitional slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited information drops that lean on concept not plot.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and check over here gift card usage.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s digital partner escalates into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. 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 demanding boss scramble to survive on a desolate island as the power balance inverts and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to fear, anchored by Cronin’s on-set craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production 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 intimate haunting story that refracts terror through a youth’s flickering internal vantage. Rating: forthcoming. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A genre lampoon that pokes at modern genre fads and true crime fascinations. Rating: pending. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites erupts, with this page an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further extends again, with a another family tethered to past horrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-core horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: undetermined. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in progress. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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: not yet rated. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. 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: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three nuts-and-bolts forces organize this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or re-slotted in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and shorter schedules. 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 out-earned straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest turnkey scare beats from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

The slot calculus is real. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, making room for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will jostle across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The sleeper-hit 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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, 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 sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, sonics, and picture 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 Strong 2026 Horizon

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is franchise muscle where it helps, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the fear sell the seats.