Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases mythic darkness, a hair raising feature, launching October 2025 across major platforms

A eerie otherworldly suspense film from creator / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an archaic horror when strangers become instruments in a fiendish maze. Dropping October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing saga of continuance and archaic horror that will reconstruct genre cinema this October. Crafted by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and moody thriller follows five strangers who arise trapped in a cut-off cottage under the unfriendly control of Kyra, a troubled woman inhabited by a prehistoric religious nightmare. Get ready to be shaken by a motion picture venture that fuses visceral dread with arcane tradition, hitting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a classic concept in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is flipped when the entities no longer appear beyond the self, but rather internally. This portrays the darkest version of the cast. The result is a riveting mind game where the plotline becomes a unyielding face-off between light and darkness.


In a remote backcountry, five campers find themselves isolated under the possessive influence and overtake of a obscure female figure. As the survivors becomes unable to reject her grasp, abandoned and chased by spirits unimaginable, they are compelled to confront their worst nightmares while the seconds without pity winds toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion rises and associations implode, coercing each cast member to scrutinize their existence and the concept of volition itself. The risk amplify with every tick, delivering a terror ride that weaves together otherworldly suspense with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to channel primitive panic, an darkness that existed before mankind, filtering through psychological breaks, and dealing with a force that strips down our being when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra needed manifesting something far beyond human desperation. She is in denial until the control shifts, and that flip is terrifying because it is so unshielded.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for on-demand beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—providing horror lovers across the world can experience this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, currently showing to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its original promo, which has seen over massive response.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, bringing the film to thrill-seekers globally.


Witness this haunted journey into fear. Join *Young & Cursed* this launch day to explore these spiritual awakenings about inner darkness.


For teasers, making-of footage, and social posts from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across Facebook and TikTok and visit the movie’s homepage.





Today’s horror decisive shift: 2025 across markets U.S. calendar melds myth-forward possession, microbudget gut-punches, paired with Franchise Rumbles

Spanning last-stand terror rooted in ancient scripture and including returning series plus sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 stands to become the most complex combined with precision-timed year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. major banners bookend the months with established lines, in tandem subscription platforms front-load the fall with first-wave breakthroughs plus archetypal fear. At the same time, festival-forward creators is drafting behind the echoes from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, distinctly in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are exacting, as a result 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 scales the plan.

the Universal banner sets the tone with a confident swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, but a crisp modern milieu. Steered by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. targeting mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Under Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early reactions hint at fangs.

By late summer, the Warner Bros. banner launches the swan song inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson resumes command, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: nostalgic menace, trauma in the foreground, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The stakes escalate here, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, broadens the animatronic terror cast, bridging teens and legacy players. It opens in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Platform Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While cinemas swing on series strength, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a tight space body horror vignette with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Then there is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable starring Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. That is a savvy move. No puffed out backstory. No IP hangover. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Badges as Fuel

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

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

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 premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy IP: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, steered by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Key Trends

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

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

Originals on platforms bite harder
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Big screen is a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Season Ahead: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The oncoming terror cycle: next chapters, fresh concepts, And A brimming Calendar optimized for screams

Dek: The brand-new scare season loads in short order with a January glut, from there carries through the summer months, and pushing into the holidays, fusing IP strength, new voices, and savvy counterplay. Studios and platforms are relying on responsible budgets, cinema-first plans, and social-driven marketing that position genre titles into cross-demo moments.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The genre has emerged as the sturdy play in annual schedules, a genre that can grow when it clicks and still buffer the risk when it stumbles. After 2023 reminded top brass that cost-conscious horror vehicles can dominate social chatter, 2024 carried the beat with festival-darling auteurs and surprise hits. The upswing rolled into 2025, where reawakened brands and awards-minded projects confirmed there is space for diverse approaches, from franchise continuations to original one-offs that carry overseas. The end result for the 2026 slate is a programming that seems notably aligned across the industry, with strategic blocks, a mix of familiar brands and new concepts, and a refocused priority on theater exclusivity that increase tail monetization on premium home window and OTT platforms.

Schedulers say the horror lane now functions as a flex slot on the grid. The genre can debut on open real estate, deliver a easy sell for trailers and reels, and outpace with demo groups that line up on Thursday previews and maintain momentum through the second frame if the picture pays off. Following a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 cadence demonstrates conviction in that logic. The year opens with a thick January band, then uses spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while carving room for a October build that runs into the fright window and into early November. The calendar also illustrates the deeper integration of boutique distributors and subscription services that can grow from platform, build word of mouth, and widen at the right moment.

A second macro trend is IP cultivation across ongoing universes and classic IP. The companies are not just making another return. They are moving to present story carry-over with a sense of event, whether that is a title presentation that announces a new tone or a casting move that threads a fresh chapter to a initial period. At the parallel to that, the writer-directors behind the top original plays are celebrating physical effects work, special makeup and location-forward worlds. That alloy produces 2026 a solid mix of comfort and unexpected turns, which is how the genre sells abroad.

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

Paramount opens strong with two centerpiece entries that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the spine, steering it as both a cross-generational handoff and a classic-mode character study. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the artistic posture telegraphs a heritage-honoring angle without repeating the last two entries’ family thread. The studio is likely to mount a drive fueled by classic imagery, early character teases, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm aimed at late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also relaunches 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 on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will feature. As a counterweight in summer, this one will chase wide buzz through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format making room for quick shifts to whatever drives the discourse that spring.

Universal has three unique projects. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is tight, heartbroken, and concept-forward: a grieving man implements an synthetic partner that turns into a dangerous lover. The date puts it at the front of a packed window, with Universal’s team likely to renew strange in-person beats and micro spots that interlaces longing and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a title drop to become an PR pop closer to the first trailer. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. His projects are branded as creative events, with a mystery-first teaser and a second beat that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The spooky-season slot opens a lane to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has long shown that a in-your-face, practical-first execution can feel high-value on a efficient spend. Frame it as a blood-soaked summer horror jolt that centers global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio places two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, sustaining a evergreen supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is describing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both players and novices. The fall slot affords Sony time to build artifacts around universe detail, and practical creature work, elements that can drive IMAX and PLF uptake 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 Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in minute detail and period language, this time driven by werewolf stories. Focus Features has Check This Out already staked the slot for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is strong.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform windowing in 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre entries feed copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a cadence that enhances both premiere heat and sub growth in the back half. Prime Video will mix licensed content with international acquisitions and limited runs in theaters when the data backs it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library curation, using timely promos, horror hubs, and curated strips to sustain interest on lifetime take. Netflix keeps flexible about Netflix films and festival wins, securing horror entries toward the drop and positioning as event drops rollouts with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a tiered of selective theatrical runs and short jumps to platform that drives paid trials from buzz. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has been willing to acquire select projects with prestige directors great post to read or A-list packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly activity when the genre conversation swells.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 lane with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is direct: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, recalibrated for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a cinema-first plan for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the late stretch.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday corridor to increase reach. That positioning has delivered for auteur horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception allows. Watch 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 in tandem, using select theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Franchises versus originals

By count, 2026 leans toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on fan equity. The challenge, as ever, is viewer burnout. The preferred tactic is to sell each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is centering character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French sensibility from a new voice. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and director-first projects deliver oxygen. 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, puts Rachel McAdams into a stranded survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the cast-creatives package is comforting enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Recent-year comps outline the strategy. In 2023, a cinema-first model that kept streaming intact did not preclude a dual release from delivering when the brand was compelling. In 2024, director-craft horror surged in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they reorient and raise the stakes. 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 paired-chapter approach, with chapters shot back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to bridge entries through character and theme and to maintain a flow of assets without dead zones.

How the films are being made

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the year’s horror foreshadow a continued tilt toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that underscores texture and dread rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft coverage 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 exports well in red-band trailers and earns shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a self-aware reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will win or lose on monster realization and design, which play well in fan conventions and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel compelling. Look for trailers that accent razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that explode in larger rooms.

How the year maps out

January is stacked. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid larger brand plays. The month wraps 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 meaningful, but the spread of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth carries.

February through May build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls 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 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 PLF.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited plot reveals that center concept over reveals.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and holiday gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s algorithmic partner evolves into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 severe boss struggle to survive on a rugged island as the hierarchy upends and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to menace, based on Cronin’s on-set craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting story that filters its scares through a young child’s unreliable POV. Rating: forthcoming. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-grade and headline-actor led ghost thriller.

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 spoof revival that needles contemporary horror memes and true crime fixations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites surges, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a new clan tethered to ancient dread. Rating: to be announced. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A fresh restart designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-driven horror over action fireworks. Rating: forthcoming. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: forthcoming. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and elemental fear. Rating: pending. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why 2026 lands now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces frame this lineup. First, production that decelerated or shifted in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming landings. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on turnkey scare beats from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, making room for genre entries that can command 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 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 leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

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

The sleeper chase 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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially Source when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, efficient placements, 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 detail, soundcraft, 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.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is franchise muscle where it helps, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver 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, deliver taut trailers, lock the reveals, and let the shocks sell the seats.