Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons primeval malevolence, a spine tingling feature, launching October 2025 across global platforms

A haunting paranormal shockfest from cinematographer / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an primeval dread when guests become victims in a satanic maze. Launching this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing story of survival and primordial malevolence that will reconstruct terror storytelling this autumn. Guided by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and gothic feature follows five teens who arise caught in a cut-off structure under the malignant sway of Kyra, a possessed female consumed by a 2,000-year-old Old Testament spirit. Be prepared to be immersed by a motion picture event that fuses gut-punch terror with ancient myths, debuting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a classic tradition in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is flipped when the presences no longer appear outside the characters, but rather from their psyche. This depicts the malevolent part of the victims. The result is a enthralling internal warfare where the plotline becomes a merciless tug-of-war between innocence and sin.


In a wilderness-stricken backcountry, five figures find themselves marooned under the possessive influence and overtake of a unidentified person. As the survivors becomes submissive to evade her grasp, isolated and hunted by presences unimaginable, they are made to endure their core terrors while the seconds mercilessly moves toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease escalates and partnerships erode, forcing each individual to rethink their values and the concept of liberty itself. The stakes accelerate with every short lapse, delivering a paranormal ride that blends ghostly evil with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to explore core terror, an spirit before modern man, emerging via emotional vulnerability, and dealing with a power that peels away humanity when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra was about accessing something rooted in terror. She is clueless until the takeover begins, and that conversion is terrifying because it is so deep.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for public screening beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing streamers from coast to coast can watch this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its intro video, which has collected over six-figure audience.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be available worldwide, bringing the film to a global viewership.


Be sure to catch this cinematic fall into madness. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this launch day to acknowledge these chilling revelations about inner darkness.


For director insights, production news, and alerts from behind the lens, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across your socials and visit the movie’s homepage.





U.S. horror’s major pivot: the 2025 cycle U.S. lineup integrates old-world possession, indie terrors, plus tentpole growls

Moving from pressure-cooker survival tales drawn from mythic scripture and onward to legacy revivals together with surgical indie voices, 2025 is lining up as the most stratified as well as precision-timed year in the past ten years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. the big studios plant stakes across the year with known properties, even as premium streamers stack the fall with first-wave breakthroughs in concert with ancestral chills. On another front, festival-forward creators is surfing the momentum of a peak 2024 circuit. As Halloween stays the prime week, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and now, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are surgical, thus 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

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

The majors are assertive. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s slate leads off the quarter with a big gambit: a reimagined Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, but a sharp contemporary setting. Under director Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. arriving mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Eli Craig directs starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

When summer tapers, Warner Bros. sets loose the finale from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re engages, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: retro dread, trauma driven plotting, with ghostly inner logic. The bar is raised this go, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It arrives in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Platform Plays: Tight funds, wide impact

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

More contained by design is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held 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 chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. 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. It is an astute call. No bloated canon. No canon weight. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Badges as Fuel

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.

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

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Heritage Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

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

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, guided by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. 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.

Trends to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror surpasses shocks, it recalls evil’s antiquity.

Body horror swings back
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Near Term Outlook: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The next fright release year: continuations, fresh concepts, and also A packed Calendar Built For screams

Dek: The upcoming terror season packs early with a January pile-up, from there rolls through midyear, and deep into the late-year period, braiding name recognition, fresh ideas, and tactical offsets. The big buyers and platforms are focusing on mid-range economics, theater-first strategies, and influencer-ready assets that convert the slate’s entries into mainstream chatter.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The genre has solidified as the sturdy swing in release plans, a segment that can spike when it catches and still safeguard the liability when it stumbles. After the 2023 year reassured strategy teams that efficiently budgeted pictures can drive audience talk, 2024 continued the surge with visionary-driven titles and slow-burn breakouts. The upswing translated to 2025, where revived properties and festival-grade titles made clear there is appetite for different modes, from series extensions to one-and-done originals that carry overseas. The upshot for 2026 is a calendar that shows rare alignment across the industry, with obvious clusters, a spread of brand names and new concepts, and a re-energized commitment on box-office windows that feed downstream value on premium video on demand and platforms.

Insiders argue the category now slots in as a fill-in ace on the rollout map. The genre can arrive on almost any weekend, create a simple premise for promo reels and platform-native cuts, and outperform with fans that respond on advance nights and continue through the sophomore frame if the picture satisfies. Coming out of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 plan signals comfort in that model. The year starts with a stacked January lineup, then exploits spring through early summer for alternate plays, while clearing room for a fall run that stretches into late October and beyond. The map also illustrates the increasing integration of arthouse labels and home platforms that can build gradually, generate chatter, and go nationwide at the optimal moment.

An added macro current is IP stewardship across ongoing universes and veteran brands. Studios are not just greenlighting another entry. They are setting up connection with a must-see charge, whether that is a title presentation that suggests a re-angled tone or a lead change that ties a new installment to a classic era. At the parallel to that, the writer-directors behind the headline-grabbing originals are returning to hands-on technique, practical gags and distinct locales. That pairing offers the 2026 slate a confident blend of trust and invention, which is how the films export.

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

Paramount establishes early momentum with two marquee releases that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the center, signaling it as both a relay and a DNA-forward character-forward chapter. Production is active in Atlanta, and the creative posture telegraphs a throwback-friendly campaign without repeating the last two entries’ family thread. Look for a marketing run leaning on signature symbols, first-look character reveals, and a tease cadence hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

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 back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will feature. As a counterweight in summer, this one will drive mass reach through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format inviting quick shifts to whatever dominates trend lines that spring.

Universal has three separate entries. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is simple, soulful, and big-hook: a grieving man adopts an AI companion that grows into a fatal companion. The date nudges it to the front of a thick month, with Universal’s marketing likely to reprise eerie street stunts and bite-size content that fuses romance and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under development 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 earned moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. The filmmaker’s films are set up as must-see filmmaker statements, with a minimalist tease and a second trailer wave that signal tone without plot the concept. The late-October frame lets the studio to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has consistently shown that a in-your-face, prosthetic-heavy treatment can feel premium on a tight budget. Look for a red-band summer horror rush that pushes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio deploys two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, preserving a steady supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is presenting as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both fans and fresh viewers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build artifacts around world-building, and creature work, elements that can amplify premium booking interest and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror centered on obsessive craft and archaic language, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is glowing.

Streaming windows and tactics

Digital strategies for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal titles flow to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a structure that optimizes both debut momentum and viewer acquisition in the late-window. Prime Video continues to mix licensed titles with global acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library pulls, using editorial spots, fright rows, and staff picks to increase tail value on 2026 genre cume. Netflix plays opportunist about original films and festival acquisitions, dating horror entries on shorter runways and elevating as drops launches with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a laddered of targeted cinema placements and short jumps to platform that turns chatter to conversion. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a situational basis. The platform has indicated interest to purchase select projects with acclaimed directors or star-led packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation spikes.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 arc with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is clean: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, refined for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a theatrical-first plan for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the late-season weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, piloting the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the Christmas corridor to scale. That positioning has proved effective for filmmaker-first horror with crossover potential. 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 safe bet is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception supports. Do not be surprised by 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 in tandem, using boutique theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their membership.

Brands and originals

By proportion, the 2026 slate tips toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit cultural cachet. The concern, as ever, is diminishing returns. The preferred tactic is to pitch each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is elevating character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-tinted vision from a new voice. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the package is recognizable enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday-night turnout.

Three-year comps illuminate the approach. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that held distribution windows did not preclude a hybrid test from thriving when the brand was potent. In 2024, director-craft horror hit big in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they change perspective and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, creates space for marketing to tie installments through character spine and themes and to keep assets in-market without doldrums.

How the look and feel evolve

The production chatter behind the upcoming entries hint at a continued move toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that highlights texture and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in long-lead features and artisan spotlights before rolling out a tease that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at practical nastiness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and spurs shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta refresh that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster aesthetics and world-building, which favor expo activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that highlight pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that benefit on big speakers.

Annual flow

January is jammed. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid big-brand pushes. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the range of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth holds.

Post-January through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with brand energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a minimalist tease strategy and limited pre-release reveals that center concept over reveals.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can win the holiday when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and holiday card usage.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s AI companion grows into something lethally affectionate. 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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem 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 travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: aura-driven adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss work to survive on a cut-off island as the hierarchy upends and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to horror, driven by Cronin’s on-set craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting story that plays with the chill of a child’s inconsistent impressions. Rating: to be announced. Production: post-ready. Positioning: major-studio and headline-actor led eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A spoof revival that riffs on present-day genre chatter and true-crime crazes. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. 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 spreads, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further reopens, with a different family linked to long-buried horrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: pending. Logline: A reboot designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward classic survival-horror tone over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: TBD. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and elemental fear. Rating: TBD. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026, why now

Three practical forces organize this lineup. First, production that downshifted or rearranged in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming drops. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine bite-size scare clips from test screenings, precision scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

There is also the slotting calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, freeing space for genre entries that can lead a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will line up across five weekends, which 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 benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to 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. Expect a healthy 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 rhythm and variety. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, audio design, and imagery 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, Ready To Roar

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is recognizable IP where it plays, creative ambition where it counts, Check This Out and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, guard the secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.