Age-old Horror reawakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nightmare fueled thriller, debuting Oct 2025 across major platforms

This haunting paranormal horror tale from writer / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an primordial entity when unfamiliar people become tokens in a cursed maze. Debuting on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing saga of struggle and age-old darkness that will revamp horror this autumn. Produced by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and claustrophobic film follows five characters who regain consciousness stuck in a hidden shack under the hostile sway of Kyra, a female lead possessed by a timeless religious nightmare. Be prepared to be drawn in by a cinematic outing that combines instinctive fear with mythic lore, coming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a long-standing concept in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is subverted when the spirits no longer appear beyond the self, but rather from their core. This symbolizes the most sinister version of the players. The result is a relentless spiritual tug-of-war where the suspense becomes a merciless battle between purity and corruption.


In a desolate backcountry, five souls find themselves contained under the dark grip and domination of a mysterious spirit. As the characters becomes unable to deny her will, isolated and attacked by terrors mind-shattering, they are obligated to acknowledge their raw vulnerabilities while the clock unforgivingly moves toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust amplifies and teams splinter, coercing each individual to challenge their personhood and the idea of autonomy itself. The risk surge with every passing moment, delivering a chilling narrative that harmonizes supernatural terror with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to extract deep fear, an entity before modern man, manifesting in our fears, and examining a darkness that forces self-examination when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra meant channeling something beyond human emotion. She is in denial until the invasion happens, and that change is soul-crushing because it is so deep.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for on-demand beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—so that users globally can be part of this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its first trailer, which has collected over strong viewer count.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, taking the terror to international horror buffs.


Witness this visceral path of possession. Stream *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to experience these spiritual awakenings about inner darkness.


For exclusive trailers, set experiences, and news straight from the filmmakers, follow @YACFilm across media channels and visit the movie portal.





Current horror’s major pivot: 2025 for genre fans U.S. calendar braids together old-world possession, independent shockers, in parallel with returning-series thunder

Ranging from fight-to-live nightmare stories grounded in mythic scripture to IP renewals in concert with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is emerging as the most complex paired with tactically planned year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. studio powerhouses stabilize the year with established lines, as platform operators prime the fall with emerging auteurs together with ancestral chills. At the same time, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is buoyed by the kinetic energy from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, however this time, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are calculated, which means 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Premium genre swings back

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 presses the advantage.

the Universal camp begins the calendar with a big gambit: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, inside today’s landscape. Under director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. dated for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Eli Craig directs with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer wanes, the Warner lot sets loose the finale within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re teams, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: retro dread, trauma in the foreground, with ghostly inner logic. The bar is raised this go, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The follow up digs further into canon, broadens the animatronic terror cast, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It hits in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a close quarters body horror study including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is virtually assured for fall.

Also notable is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable featuring Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of 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 looks like sharp programming. No swollen lore. No IP hangover. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy Lines: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, steered by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Trends to Watch

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror resurges
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

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

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

The Road Ahead: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

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

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The upcoming chiller calendar year ahead: installments, filmmaker-first projects, in tandem with A hectic Calendar aimed at nightmares

Dek: The emerging horror calendar packs early with a January wave, after that spreads through the warm months, and running into the late-year period, weaving brand heft, untold stories, and savvy release strategy. Studios with streamers are leaning into tight budgets, box-office-first windows, and social-driven marketing that shape these films into water-cooler talk.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror marketplace has proven to be the surest lever in studio lineups, a segment that can expand when it resonates and still cushion the drag when it stumbles. After 2023 demonstrated to decision-makers that mid-range scare machines can lead pop culture, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with director-led heat and stealth successes. The momentum translated to the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and festival-grade titles highlighted there is an opening for many shades, from legacy continuations to non-IP projects that travel well. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a roster that presents tight coordination across players, with purposeful groupings, a mix of brand names and new packages, and a reinvigorated commitment on release windows that power the aftermarket on PVOD and platforms.

Studio leaders note the space now performs as a flex slot on the programming map. Horror can launch on most weekends, deliver a simple premise for ad units and shorts, and overperform with demo groups that line up on preview nights and continue through the week two if the movie satisfies. Exiting a production delay era, the 2026 rhythm signals faith in that setup. The year starts with a busy January corridor, then uses spring and early summer for contrast, while carving room for a autumn stretch that pushes into the fright window and beyond. The program also shows the expanded integration of specialized labels and subscription services that can nurture a platform play, fuel WOM, and scale up at the strategic time.

A further high-level trend is franchise tending across connected story worlds and heritage properties. Studio teams are not just rolling another chapter. They are trying to present lore continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a graphic identity that signals a new vibe or a ensemble decision that reconnects a new installment to a vintage era. At the alongside this, the filmmakers behind the eagerly awaited originals are leaning into material texture, practical effects and place-driven backdrops. That alloy provides the 2026 slate a healthy mix of assurance and newness, which is what works overseas.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount sets the tone early with two centerpiece entries that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the heart, presenting it as both a legacy handover and a heritage-centered character study. Production is active in Atlanta, and the creative stance indicates a memory-charged campaign without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive anchored in brand visuals, character spotlights, and a promo sequence arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will feature. As a summer counter-slot, this one will go after wide buzz through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick redirects to whatever drives pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three discrete plays. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is crisp, soulful, and premise-first: a grieving man implements an synthetic partner that grows into a killer companion. The date locates it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to iterate on creepy live activations and bite-size content that interweaves longing and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a name unveil to become an fan moment closer to the initial promo. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. His entries are framed as signature events, with a hinting teaser and a later creative that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The late-month date offers Universal room to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has proven that a tactile, in-camera leaning strategy can feel elevated on a lean spend. Position this as a gore-forward summer horror charge that pushes foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio sets two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, maintaining a consistent supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is billing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both longtime followers and new audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign pieces around canon, and creature design, elements that can amplify format premiums and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends Eggers’ run of period horror defined by careful craft and textual fidelity, this time steeped in lycan lore. The company has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is positive.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform tactics for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s genre slate move to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a cadence that optimizes both week-one demand and sign-up momentum in the late-window. Prime Video stitches together acquired titles with worldwide entries and limited runs in theaters when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their edges in back-catalog play, using timely promos, Halloween hubs, and collection rows to sustain interest on the horror cume. Netflix retains agility about internal projects and festival buys, confirming horror entries on shorter runways and positioning as event drops go-lives with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a dual-phase of precision releases and accelerated platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a selective basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to take on select projects with award winners or name-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation peaks.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 slate with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is direct: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, updated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has positioned a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the September weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday corridor to broaden. That positioning has shown results for elevated genre with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception merits. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using mini theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their audience.

Series vs standalone

By weight, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit name recognition. The challenge, as ever, is overexposure. The near-term solution is to sell each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is underscoring character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a clean-slate build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French sensibility from a hot helmer. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the package is steady enough to build pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

Recent-year comps help explain the logic. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that kept streaming intact did not hamper a day-date try from paying off when the brand was powerful. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror exceeded expectations in premium screens. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they change perspective and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends 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 produced back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to cross-link entries through character web and themes and to keep assets alive without long breaks.

Creative tendencies and craft

The shop talk behind the year’s horror hint at a continued lean toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will have a peek at these guys not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that elevates tone and tension rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in craft journalism and artisan spotlights before rolling out a first look that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and drives shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a self-referential reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster aesthetics and world-building, which play well in fan-con activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel definitive. Look for trailers that accent surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that benefit on big speakers.

How the year maps out

January is busy. 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 wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the palette of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth sustains.

Post-January through spring stage summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s 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 underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Shoulder season into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a transitional slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited previews that stress concept over spoilers.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and holiday gift-card burn.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s AI companion escalates into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a unsettled 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 demanding boss claw to survive on a rugged island as the power balance of power shifts and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to nightmare, based on Cronin’s practical effects and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting chiller that interrogates the dread of a child’s mercurial interpretations. Rating: pending. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal 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 satire sequel that lampoons present-day genre chatter and true-crime buzz. Rating: undetermined. Production: filming slated 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 breaks out, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a another family tethered to past horrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A restart designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward classic survival-horror tone over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: undetermined. Production: underway. 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 period-specific language and bone-deep menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 lands now

Three workable forces inform this lineup. First, production that stalled or re-sequenced in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on clippable moments from test screenings, curated scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

The slot calculus is real. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can control a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will cluster across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where midrange-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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first surprise 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April brings back a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, soundcraft, and visual design 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 Shapes Up Strong

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is recognizable IP where it plays, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the chills sell the seats.