Antediluvian Evil Returns within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding supernatural thriller, launching Oct 2025 on major platforms

An chilling paranormal suspense story from creator / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an age-old nightmare when strangers become tokens in a malevolent experiment. Going live this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, the YouTube platform, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing story of continuance and primordial malevolence that will remodel scare flicks this fall. Brought to life by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and gothic film follows five young adults who wake up stranded in a hidden shack under the sinister power of Kyra, a cursed figure controlled by a ancient biblical demon. Steel yourself to be seized by a immersive journey that harmonizes instinctive fear with ancient myths, hitting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a historical motif in motion pictures. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is redefined when the forces no longer originate from an outside force, but rather from deep inside. This embodies the most sinister part of the group. The result is a enthralling moral showdown where the events becomes a constant confrontation between righteousness and malevolence.


In a remote backcountry, five individuals find themselves stuck under the ghastly rule and possession of a secretive being. As the victims becomes submissive to oppose her power, abandoned and attacked by beings beyond comprehension, they are thrust to face their emotional phantoms while the hours harrowingly winds toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread mounts and ties collapse, forcing each figure to contemplate their personhood and the integrity of autonomy itself. The risk intensify with every minute, delivering a chilling narrative that integrates demonic fright with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to dig into basic terror, an force from ancient eras, channeling itself through psychological breaks, and confronting a power that peels away humanity when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra meant channeling something beyond human emotion. She is oblivious until the entity awakens, and that transition is harrowing because it is so emotional.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for worldwide release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—so that users anywhere can engage with this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, live to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its intro video, which has been viewed over a viral response.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, taking the terror to global fright lovers.


Don’t miss this unforgettable ride through nightmares. Enter *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to explore these spiritual awakenings about the psyche.


For cast commentary, filmmaker commentary, and announcements from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across your socials and visit the movie’s homepage.





The horror genre’s tipping point: 2025 in focus U.S. Slate braids together primeval-possession lore, festival-born jolts, plus Franchise Rumbles

Ranging from survival horror steeped in primordial scripture and including returning series as well as surgical indie voices, 2025 is shaping up as the most complex along with blueprinted year in the past ten years.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. Major studios bookend the months by way of signature titles, in tandem streaming platforms load up the fall with discovery plays alongside legend-coded dread. On the festival side, the independent cohort is carried on the afterglow of 2024’s record festival wave. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are calculated, and 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige terror resurfaces

The top end is active. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 capitalizes.

the Universal camp leads off the quarter with a statement play: a modernized Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Steered by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. Booked into mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Led by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

By late summer, the WB camp launches the swan song from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Even with a familiar chassis, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the memorable motifs return: old school creep, trauma in the foreground, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The ante is higher this round, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The return delves further into myth, stretches the animatronic parade, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It books December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streamer Exclusives: Modest spend, serious shock

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

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a body horror chamber piece with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Also notable is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable with Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, 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.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It is a smart play. No puffed out backstory. No legacy baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Franchise Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake 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, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, under Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Key Trends

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror ascends again
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Season Ahead: Autumn Overload and the Winter Wildcard

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The coming 2026 spook slate: returning titles, standalone ideas, paired with A loaded Calendar geared toward goosebumps

Dek: The arriving terror cycle lines up from the jump with a January cluster, and then rolls through the warm months, and well into the December corridor, blending name recognition, novel approaches, and tactical counterprogramming. Studio marketers and platforms are focusing on tight budgets, theatrical-first rollouts, and buzz-forward plans that frame these offerings into mainstream chatter.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The horror marketplace has become the dependable option in studio slates, a segment that can surge when it performs and still cushion the liability when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year showed executives that disciplined-budget fright engines can dominate social chatter, the following year continued the surge with high-profile filmmaker pieces and slow-burn breakouts. The head of steam pushed into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and premium-leaning entries highlighted there is capacity for diverse approaches, from sequel tracks to standalone ideas that play globally. The aggregate for 2026 is a grid that shows rare alignment across companies, with defined corridors, a mix of familiar brands and new concepts, and a refocused emphasis on exclusive windows that fuel later windows on premium rental and SVOD.

Studio leaders note the category now acts as a plug-and-play option on the slate. The genre can arrive on virtually any date, deliver a simple premise for marketing and social clips, and lead with patrons that show up on Thursday previews and return through the subsequent weekend if the film hits. Coming out of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 pattern telegraphs trust in that dynamic. The year starts with a weighty January stretch, then primes spring and early summer for alternate plays, while making space for a autumn push that reaches into the Halloween corridor and beyond. The calendar also shows the ongoing integration of indie arms and SVOD players that can platform and widen, spark evangelism, and broaden at the timely point.

A parallel macro theme is franchise tending across connected story worlds and legacy IP. Distribution groups are not just producing another sequel. They are shaping as story carry-over with a sense of event, whether that is a art treatment that telegraphs a reframed mood or a casting choice that threads a fresh chapter to a first wave. At the simultaneously, the creative leads behind the marquee originals are leaning into material texture, special makeup and location-forward worlds. That mix offers 2026 a solid mix of known notes and unexpected turns, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount fires first with two centerpiece bets that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, framing it as both a passing of the torch and a DNA-forward character-focused installment. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the tonal posture signals a roots-evoking angle without going over the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Expect a marketing push rooted in legacy iconography, character spotlights, and a trailer cadence hitting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will emphasize. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will generate general-audience talk through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format supporting quick pivots to whatever leads the social talk that spring.

Universal has three clear lanes. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is elegant, sorrow-tinged, and easily pitched: a grieving man installs an AI companion that mutates into a murderous partner. The date nudges it to the front of a thick month, with Universal’s marketing likely to iterate on creepy live activations and bite-size content that threads attachment and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a title reveal to become an PR pop closer to the early tease. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele’s pictures are presented as marquee events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second wave of trailers that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor lets the studio to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has proven that a tactile, physical-effects centered mix can feel top-tier on a mid-range budget. Frame it as a viscera-heavy summer horror shock that embraces international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio books two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, maintaining a bankable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is positioning as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both diehards and fresh viewers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build materials around world-building, and creature design, elements that can amplify format premiums and cosplayer momentum.

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 advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by careful craft and linguistic texture, this time orbiting lycan myth. The label has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is robust.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s slate shift to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a pacing that fortifies both opening-weekend urgency and sign-up spikes in the downstream. Prime Video continues to mix licensed titles with worldwide buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu work their edges in back-catalog play, using timely promos, Halloween hubs, and featured rows to sustain interest on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix stays nimble about in-house releases and festival wins, scheduling horror entries on shorter runways and positioning as event drops premieres with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a one-two of targeted theatrical exposure and short jumps to platform that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a selective basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to purchase select projects with name filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for platform stickiness when the genre conversation surges.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 pipeline 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 setup is straightforward: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, elevated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the October weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through select festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the Christmas window to widen. That positioning has shown results for director-led genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception prompts. Anticipate 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 concert, using boutique theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

IP versus fresh ideas

By volume, 2026 leans toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on franchise value. The risk, as ever, is brand erosion. The workable fix is to brand each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is underscoring character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-inflected take from a emerging director. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the assembly is familiar enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Past-three-year patterns clarify the method. In 2023, a exclusive window model that honored streaming windows did not deter a hybrid test from hitting when the brand was potent. In 2024, director-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 widen scale. 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 linked-chapter plan, with chapters shot back-to-back, permits marketing to tie installments through personae and themes and to continue assets in field without hiatuses.

How the look and feel evolve

The craft rooms behind this year’s genre foreshadow a continued move toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming 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 permitting budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in long-lead features and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for red-band excess, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and earns shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta pivot that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature design and production design, which fit with fan conventions and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel must-have. Look for trailers that center pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that land in premium houses.

From winter to holidays

January is heavy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a foggy reset amid bigger brand plays. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller 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 sticks.

Early-year through spring tee up summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late-season stretch leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited teasers that favor idea over plot.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can win the holiday when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and holiday card usage.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s machine mate shifts into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished 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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

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 abrasive boss fight to survive on a cut-off island as the control balance turns and fear crawls. 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 to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to nightmare, founded on Cronin’s in-camera craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting setup that toys with the horror of a child’s tricky POV. Rating: TBA. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed and star-led paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that lampoons present-day genre chatter and true-crime buzz. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 detonates, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new family entangled with long-buried horrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival-first horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: TBD. Production: active. 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-accurate language and elemental fear. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. 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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why 2026 and why now

Three workable forces organize this lineup. First, production that slowed or reshuffled in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest bite-size scare clips from test screenings, metered scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

There is also the slotting calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can seize a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will compete across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, 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 Source 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 value-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to work those windows. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two 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 bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, sonics, 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 Robust 2026 On Deck

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand equity where it matters, fresh vision where it counts, 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, protect the mystery, and let the frights sell the seats.