Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons ancient dread, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, landing Oct 2025 on top streamers

An spine-tingling otherworldly suspense film from storyteller / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an primordial force when passersby become instruments in a diabolical trial. Hitting screens on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing saga of continuance and old world terror that will revolutionize scare flicks this cool-weather season. Created by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and shadowy suspense flick follows five strangers who find themselves locked in a wilderness-bound shack under the aggressive influence of Kyra, a mysterious girl dominated by a legendary biblical force. Prepare to be immersed by a screen-based ride that integrates soul-chilling terror with arcane tradition, hitting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a well-established theme in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is inverted when the presences no longer manifest from beyond, but rather inside their minds. This mirrors the most terrifying element of the cast. The result is a bone-chilling internal warfare where the conflict becomes a perpetual clash between divinity and wickedness.


In a desolate woodland, five campers find themselves cornered under the malevolent grip and domination of a secretive female presence. As the youths becomes unresisting to oppose her dominion, left alone and tracked by evils unfathomable, they are pushed to encounter their greatest panics while the clock ruthlessly ticks onward toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear swells and friendships collapse, forcing each person to scrutinize their values and the principle of decision-making itself. The cost rise with every second, delivering a nightmarish journey that integrates otherworldly suspense with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to uncover raw dread, an malevolence born of forgotten ages, manipulating fragile psyche, and examining a presence that threatens selfhood when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra needed manifesting something beneath mortal despair. She is innocent until the takeover begins, and that metamorphosis is terrifying because it is so private.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for streaming beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—providing viewers in all regions can enjoy this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its original promo, which has racked up over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, spreading the horror to lovers of terror across nations.


Make sure to see this gripping path of possession. Join *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to face these unholy truths about human nature.


For film updates, set experiences, and promotions from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursed across entertainment pages and visit the film’s website.





Today’s horror pivotal crossroads: the year 2025 stateside slate blends legend-infused possession, independent shockers, alongside tentpole growls

Running from grit-forward survival fare steeped in mythic scripture and extending to canon extensions plus surgical indie voices, 2025 stands to become the most variegated paired with blueprinted year in recent memory.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. Top studios hold down the year with established lines, at the same time streamers stack the fall with discovery plays set against legend-coded dread. Across the art-house lane, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is drafting behind the backdraft of a banner 2024 fest year. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, and now, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are calculated, so 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Premium genre swings back

The top end is active. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s slate leads off the quarter with a bold swing: a modernized Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, inside today’s landscape. With Leigh Whannell at the helm anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. arriving mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Steered by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer eases, the WB camp rolls out the capstone from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Scott Derrickson returns, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: vintage toned fear, trauma as text, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The bar is raised this go, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The return delves further into myth, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, bridging teens and legacy players. It drops in December, locking down the winter tail.

Platform Originals: No Budget, No Problem

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a body horror duet including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Then there is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga led by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It reads as sharp positioning. No bloated canon. No continuity burden. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Heritage Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior 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. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, steered by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If packaged well, it could track like 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.

Dials to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror reemerges
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
The filler era wanes for platform horror. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Outlook: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The oncoming fright cycle: entries, standalone ideas, and also A packed Calendar Built For nightmares

Dek: The brand-new horror slate clusters up front with a January glut, from there extends through midyear, and running into the year-end corridor, braiding series momentum, untold stories, and smart calendar placement. Studios and platforms are focusing on efficient budgets, theatrical leads, and social-fueled campaigns that frame these films into all-audience topics.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The genre has grown into the predictable option in annual schedules, a lane that can surge when it resonates and still safeguard the losses when it falls short. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for greenlighters that modestly budgeted chillers can lead cultural conversation, the following year continued the surge with signature-voice projects and unexpected risers. The tailwind fed into 2025, where revivals and prestige plays signaled there is capacity for a variety of tones, from ongoing IP entries to original one-offs that play globally. The takeaway for 2026 is a slate that seems notably aligned across distributors, with strategic blocks, a combination of recognizable IP and original hooks, and a tightened eye on theater exclusivity that fuel later windows on premium digital and digital services.

Buyers contend the category now behaves like a swing piece on the grid. Horror can bow on numerous frames, furnish a quick sell for spots and reels, and lead with demo groups that appear on opening previews and return through the second weekend if the entry lands. Coming out of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 plan indicates assurance in that setup. The calendar commences with a weighty January run, then exploits spring through early summer for counterweight, while keeping space for a September to October window that flows toward the Halloween frame and into the next week. The map also includes the stronger partnership of arthouse labels and subscription services that can platform a title, grow buzz, and roll out at the right moment.

A second macro trend is franchise tending across linked properties and legacy IP. Studios are not just making another return. They are seeking to position threaded continuity with a headline quality, whether that is a typeface approach that conveys a reframed mood or a ensemble decision that ties a upcoming film to a foundational era. At the simultaneously, the helmers behind the headline-grabbing originals are embracing practical craft, in-camera effects and specific settings. That convergence provides 2026 a robust balance of recognition and shock, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount establishes early momentum with two high-profile moves that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the lead, angling it as both a handoff and a foundation-forward character study. Production is active in Atlanta, and the story approach telegraphs a memory-charged approach without replaying the last two entries’ sisters thread. Plan for a rollout driven by brand visuals, character previews, and a rollout cadence landing toward 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 re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will emphasize. As a summer counter-slot, this one will pursue wide appeal through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format supporting quick switches to whatever leads the social talk that spring.

Universal has three discrete pushes. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is tight, soulful, and logline-clear: a grieving man sets up an intelligent companion that mutates into a perilous partner. The date positions it at the front of a thick month, with the marketing arm likely to mirror uncanny-valley stunts and micro spots that hybridizes companionship and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a name unveil to become an attention spike closer to the initial tease. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele projects are marketed as filmmaker events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second beat that shape mood without giving away the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date creates space for Universal to maximize 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, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has consistently shown that a visceral, on-set effects led method can feel deluxe on a moderate cost. Frame it as a blood-soaked summer horror hit that spotlights foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio mounts two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, keeping a dependable supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch builds quietly. The studio has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is positioning as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both franchise faithful and novices. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build campaign creative around world-building, and practical creature work, elements that can lift PLF interest and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on rigorous craft and dialect, this time exploring werewolf lore. The label has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is positive.

Platform lanes and windowing

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on stable tracks. Universal’s slate window into copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a ladder that elevates both launch urgency and subscriber lifts in the downstream. Prime Video pairs licensed titles with global pickups and small theatrical windows when the data backs it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in back-catalog play, using editorial spots, holiday hubs, and featured rows to extend momentum on aggregate take. Netflix remains opportunistic about original films and festival snaps, scheduling horror entries near their drops and staging as events premieres with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a two-step of precision releases and accelerated platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a per-project basis. The platform has indicated interest to purchase select projects with top-tier auteurs or A-list packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 slate with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is clear: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, refined for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the October weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, marshalling the project through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then turning to the year-end corridor to scale. That positioning has shown results for elevated genre with wider appeal. A24, Young & Cursed NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception justifies. Look for 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 as partners, using limited runs to jump-start evangelism that fuels their subs.

Legacy titles versus originals

By count, the 2026 slate tips toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate franchise value. The potential drawback, as ever, is staleness. The practical approach is to position each entry as a new angle. Paramount is centering relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is floating a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-inflected take from a emerging director. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries add 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, puts Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an severe 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 crowds.

Past-three-year patterns frame the template. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that kept streaming intact did not stop a simultaneous release test from winning when the brand was potent. In 2024, precision craft horror hit big in premium large format. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they change perspective and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters filmed consecutively, allows marketing to bridge entries through personae and themes and to continue assets in field without long breaks.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft conversations behind these films foreshadow a continued move toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that highlights atmosphere and fear rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in long-lead features and artisan spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at gristle and gore, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and gathers shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta refresh that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature and environment design, which match well with fan-con activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel key. Look for trailers that highlight disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that shine in top rooms.

The schedule at a glance

January is heavy. 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 moody palate cleanser amid macro-brand pushes. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the spread of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Late winter and spring tee up summer. Scream 7 opens February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s 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 sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is strong. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Back half into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a transitional slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited previews that lean on concept not plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and gift card usage.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to meet 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 bereaved man’s intelligent companion evolves into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a unsettled 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 difficult boss claw to survive on a cut-off island as the hierarchy reverses and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to nightmare, founded on Cronin’s hands-on craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 residential haunting piece that filters its scares through a young child’s unsteady personal vantage. Rating: TBD. Production: picture-locked. 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 send-up revival that pokes at of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime buzz. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further reopens, with a young family tethered to long-buried horrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A restart designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: undetermined. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: undetermined. Production: active. 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 historical diction and bone-deep menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 and why now

Three grounded forces inform this lineup. First, production that downshifted or re-sequenced in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly 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, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on bite-size scare clips from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, making room for genre entries that can lead a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will line up across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

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 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 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 work those windows. 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. 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.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own see here titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, audio design, and visuals that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Looks Exciting

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is name recognition where it counts, filmmaker 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the gasps sell the seats.