Primeval Horror Reawakens within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding shocker, debuting Oct 2025 on major platforms

One terrifying ghostly nightmare movie from screenwriter / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an ancient malevolence when foreigners become pawns in a cursed ceremony. Streaming on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful episode of struggle and archaic horror that will reimagine scare flicks this ghoul season. Brought to life by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and moody film follows five unknowns who awaken ensnared in a remote structure under the unfriendly will of Kyra, a tormented girl dominated by a two-thousand-year-old sacrosanct terror. Get ready to be absorbed by a immersive venture that combines visceral dread with legendary tales, premiering on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a mainstay element in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is reversed when the spirits no longer manifest externally, but rather from deep inside. This suggests the malevolent element of the protagonists. The result is a emotionally raw identity crisis where the story becomes a unyielding confrontation between innocence and sin.


In a desolate woodland, five figures find themselves sealed under the malicious effect and possession of a unidentified character. As the companions becomes vulnerable to oppose her rule, stranded and targeted by terrors unfathomable, they are required to battle their darkest emotions while the time without pause strikes toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease intensifies and friendships crack, prompting each member to reflect on their existence and the structure of personal agency itself. The hazard escalate with every heartbeat, delivering a terror ride that fuses mystical fear with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to extract deep fear, an power that existed before mankind, influencing fragile psyche, and examining a presence that questions who we are when volition is erased.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra demanded embodying something beyond human emotion. She is clueless until the evil takes hold, and that shift is haunting because it is so intimate.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for on-demand beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—allowing customers from coast to coast can engage with this chilling supernatural event.


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


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, making the film to a worldwide audience.


Be sure to catch this bone-rattling path of possession. Experience *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to acknowledge these fearful discoveries about our species.


For bonus footage, set experiences, and insider scoops from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across your favorite networks and visit youngandcursed.com.





Contemporary horror’s Turning Point: 2025 across markets domestic schedule braids together biblical-possession ideas, art-house nightmares, alongside tentpole growls

From survivor-centric dread drawn from primordial scripture to returning series as well as focused festival visions, 2025 appears poised to be the most complex along with strategic year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. top-tier distributors lay down anchors through proven series, in tandem OTT services saturate the fall with new perspectives paired with legend-coded dread. On the independent axis, indie storytellers is drafting behind the momentum of a banner 2024 fest year. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, however this time, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are surgical, therefore 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige terror resurfaces

The top end is active. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s pipeline kicks off the frame with a marquee bet: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in a modern-day environment. Guided by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. dated for mid January, it is part of the new strategy to own the box office’s winter dead zone with prestige horror instead of dumping ground thrillers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Helmed by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

At summer’s close, the WB camp launches the swan song of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, 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 also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re teams, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: retrograde shiver, trauma explicitly handled, and eerie supernatural logic. Here the stakes rise, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The next entry deepens the tale, stretches the animatronic parade, speaking to teens and older millennials. It drops in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a tight space body horror vignette featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. From writer director 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. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. That is a savvy move. No puffed out backstory. No brand fatigue. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Franchise Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. 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 opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, from Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Key Trends

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror swings back
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Outlook: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

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 must claw for air. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The new Horror calendar year ahead: installments, non-franchise titles, plus A busy Calendar engineered for chills

Dek: The emerging genre cycle packs right away with a January crush, thereafter runs through summer corridors, and pushing into the late-year period, combining series momentum, new voices, and strategic alternatives. Studios and platforms are doubling down on right-sized spends, box-office-first windows, and platform-native promos that position genre titles into water-cooler talk.

Horror momentum into 2026

The genre has grown into the predictable tool in annual schedules, a category that can accelerate when it performs and still protect the exposure when it underperforms. After 2023 reassured studio brass that mid-range pictures can galvanize cultural conversation, the following year sustained momentum with director-led heat and unexpected risers. The upswing translated to 2025, where reboots and arthouse crossovers underscored there is capacity for a variety of tones, from brand follow-ups to director-led originals that travel well. The end result for 2026 is a slate that looks unusually coordinated across the market, with mapped-out bands, a blend of brand names and untested plays, and a recommitted strategy on theater exclusivity that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium digital and home platforms.

Executives say the horror lane now behaves like a plug-and-play option on the programming map. The genre can open on most weekends, generate a simple premise for teasers and UGC-friendly snippets, and overperform with patrons that lean in on Thursday nights and hold through the next weekend if the title satisfies. On the heels of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 layout reflects belief in that approach. The year begins with a thick January run, then plants flags in spring and early summer for balance, while making space for a September to October window that carries into the Halloween frame and beyond. The layout also highlights the tightening integration of indie arms and streaming partners that can develop over weeks, generate chatter, and widen at the inflection point.

A parallel macro theme is brand strategy across ongoing universes and legacy IP. The players are not just releasing another installment. They are shaping as connection with a marquee sheen, whether that is a brandmark that suggests a refreshed voice or a talent selection that ties a next film to a first wave. At the concurrently, the visionaries behind the most buzzed-about originals are prioritizing material texture, practical gags and vivid settings. That convergence provides 2026 a lively combination of assurance and discovery, which is the formula for international play.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount sets the tone early with two prominent pushes that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the heart, framing it as both a lineage transfer and a foundation-forward character-driven entry. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the narrative stance signals a classic-referencing approach without replaying the last two entries’ sibling arc. Count on a promo wave stacked with classic imagery, character spotlights, and a promo sequence targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will stress. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will drive general-audience talk through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick shifts to whatever owns the conversation that spring.

Universal has three specific releases. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is tidy, somber, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man brings home an digital partner that unfolds into a killer companion. The date sets it at the front of a packed window, with the Universal machine likely to reprise viral uncanny stunts and short-cut promos that interweaves intimacy and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a proper title to become an PR pop closer to the initial tease. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele titles are sold as event films, with a opaque teaser and a follow-up trailer set that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The late-month date allows Universal to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has demonstrated that a raw, on-set effects led mix can feel elevated on a disciplined budget. Frame it as a gore-forward summer horror shot that spotlights international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio sets two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, continuing a evergreen supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is marketing as a ground-zero 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 sharper mandate to serve both diehards and first-timers. The fall slot lets Sony to build artifacts around environmental design, and monster craft, elements that can increase premium booking interest and convention buzz.

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 builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by careful craft and linguistic texture, this time focused on werewolf legend. The distributor has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is positive.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s genre slate window into copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a ordering that expands both FOMO and sub growth in the tail. Prime Video stitches together licensed films with international acquisitions and short theatrical plays when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library pulls, using editorial spots, fright rows, and programmed rows to sustain interest on overall cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about originals and festival wins, confirming horror entries tight to release and staging as events debuts with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a laddered of precision theatrical plays and quick platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be critical 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+ cherry-picks horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown appetite to pick up select projects with prestige directors or star packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for sustained usage when the genre conversation builds.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 runway with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is uncomplicated: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, recalibrated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has suggested a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the autumn weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday dates to open out. That positioning has worked well for filmmaker-driven genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception warrants. Be ready for 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 boutique theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their subs.

Known brands versus new stories

By proportion, 2026 leans in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage franchise value. The watch-out, as ever, is diminishing returns. The go-to fix is to package each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is underscoring character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a continental coloration from a emerging director. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and director-driven titles keep oxygen in the system. 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, places Rachel McAdams into a island survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the bundle is steady enough to generate pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

The last three-year set help explain the template. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that kept clean windows did not preclude a same-day experiment from delivering when the brand was potent. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror over-performed in PLF. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they reorient and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, enables marketing to cross-link entries through personae and themes and to keep assets alive without hiatuses.

Creative tendencies and craft

The filmmaking conversations behind the upcoming entries signal a continued shift toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that underscores texture and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for textured sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in long-lead features and department features before rolling out a mood teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has delivered 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 sells overseas in red-band trailers and spurs shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a self-aware reset that centers its original star. Resident Evil will Get More Info thrive or struggle on creature execution and sets, which lend themselves to booth activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel primary. Look for trailers that emphasize hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that land in premium houses.

How the year maps out

January is loaded. 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 foggy reset amid macro-brand pushes. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the tone spread ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth sticks.

February through May build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads 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 playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can pop 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 run their PLF course.

August into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder season window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited plot reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card burn.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production rolls. Logline: Sidney click site returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s synthetic partner grows into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back 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 ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: gothic-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 demanding boss try to survive on a remote island as the power balance of power flips and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 modern reconception that returns the monster to dread, driven by Cronin’s in-camera craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting scenario that channels the fear through a kid’s shifting inner lens. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-financed and toplined haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that needles today’s horror trends and true crime fervors. Rating: TBD. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 flares, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a young family linked to ancient dread. Rating: TBA. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A new start designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in classic survival-horror tone over action fireworks. Rating: TBD. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: not yet rated. Production: moving forward. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on antique diction and primordial menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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

Why 2026 lands now

Three operational forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that decelerated or rearranged in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming placements. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work bite-size scare clips from test screenings, select scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can seize a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will stack across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the target range. 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 Get More Info most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The underdog chase continues in Q1, where lean-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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, 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 beat and breadth. January is a array, 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 goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, sound, and image-making 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 adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is IP strength where it matters, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of 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, shape lean trailers, guard the secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.