Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed confronts primordial evil, a hair raising feature, rolling out October 2025 across premium platforms

One terrifying spiritual suspense film from literary architect / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an mythic fear when unfamiliar people become proxies in a fiendish experiment. Dropping October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing chronicle of overcoming and primeval wickedness that will reimagine terror storytelling this autumn. Produced by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and claustrophobic feature follows five people who wake up isolated in a secluded shelter under the unfriendly control of Kyra, a young woman overtaken by a ancient scriptural evil. Be prepared to be ensnared by a motion picture presentation that unites soul-chilling terror with mythic lore, arriving on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a well-established tradition in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is redefined when the forces no longer form beyond the self, but rather internally. This echoes the most sinister layer of each of them. The result is a bone-chilling spiritual tug-of-war where the emotions becomes a merciless battle between virtue and vice.


In a desolate no-man's-land, five adults find themselves stuck under the sinister control and control of a obscure spirit. As the characters becomes helpless to oppose her dominion, left alone and tracked by evils indescribable, they are made to confront their inner demons while the countdown without pity edges forward toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread rises and teams splinter, coercing each individual to doubt their core and the idea of volition itself. The danger surge with every short lapse, delivering a nightmarish journey that marries ghostly evil with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to draw upon core terror, an presence older than civilization itself, emerging via emotional vulnerability, and navigating a entity that dismantles free will when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra required summoning something past sanity. She is blind until the spirit seizes her, and that evolution is haunting because it is so intimate.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for viewing beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—allowing households from coast to coast can experience this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its first preview, which has earned over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, making the film to lovers of terror across nations.


Witness this haunted trip into the unknown. Watch *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to dive into these haunting secrets about the soul.


For film updates, production insights, and reveals via the production team, follow @YACMovie across Instagram and Twitter and visit the official movie site.





American horror’s decisive shift: the year 2025 U.S. rollouts braids together old-world possession, microbudget gut-punches, and IP aftershocks

From fight-to-live nightmare stories infused with near-Eastern lore and extending to series comebacks together with surgical indie voices, 2025 is coalescing into the genre’s most multifaceted paired with strategic year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. studio powerhouses plant stakes across the year with franchise anchors, even as streamers pack the fall with unboxed visions in concert with mythic dread. Across the art-house lane, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is riding the momentum of a peak 2024 circuit. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, notably this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are disciplined, hence 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: The Return of Prestige Fear

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 accelerates.

Universal’s pipeline sets the tone with a risk-forward move: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, instead in a current-day frame. Directed by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. Booked into mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. From director Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

By late summer, Warner’s schedule drops the final chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re boards, and the memorable motifs return: old school creep, trauma driven plotting, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. Here the stakes rise, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, stretches the animatronic parade, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It opens in December, pinning the winter close.

Digital Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a close quarters body horror study anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

On the docket is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as 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 is a clever angle. No overstuffed canon. No legacy baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Legacy IP: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, led by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Dials to Watch

Mythic dread mainstreams
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror retakes ground
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

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

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Outlook: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The upcoming terror cycle: next chapters, filmmaker-first projects, and also A jammed Calendar tailored for frights

Dek The current genre season crams early with a January crush, after that rolls through June and July, and running into the holiday stretch, braiding legacy muscle, fresh ideas, and savvy counterplay. Studios with streamers are leaning into cost discipline, cinema-first plans, and shareable marketing that turn these offerings into four-quadrant talking points.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The genre has shown itself to be the steady tool in studio slates, a genre that can expand when it connects and still mitigate the losses when it underperforms. After the 2023 year reassured top brass that cost-conscious shockers can galvanize mainstream conversation, the following year carried the beat with filmmaker-forward plays and slow-burn breakouts. The upswing pushed into 2025, where reawakened brands and filmmaker-prestige bets highlighted there is appetite for many shades, from series extensions to standalone ideas that export nicely. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a calendar that presents tight coordination across companies, with purposeful groupings, a combination of established brands and new concepts, and a tightened eye on release windows that drive downstream revenue on paid VOD and SVOD.

Buyers contend the horror lane now operates like a utility player on the distribution slate. Horror can open on open real estate, furnish a simple premise for ad units and shorts, and outperform with demo groups that lean in on first-look nights and sustain through the second weekend if the title works. On the heels of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 layout underscores assurance in that logic. The calendar rolls out with a stacked January corridor, then turns to spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while keeping space for a fall cadence that reaches into the Halloween frame and past Halloween. The program also shows the continuing integration of indie distributors and platforms that can stage a platform run, grow buzz, and roll out at the right moment.

A parallel macro theme is legacy care across linked properties and storied titles. The players are not just turning out another sequel. They are setting up threaded continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a title design that flags a refreshed voice or a lead change that links a next film to a initial period. At the in tandem, the creative leads behind the top original plays are celebrating hands-on technique, practical effects and site-specific worlds. That alloy gives the 2026 slate a healthy mix of recognition and unexpected turns, which is the formula for international play.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount establishes early momentum with two prominent projects that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the focus, signaling it as both a passing of the torch and a back-to-basics character-focused installment. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the artistic posture hints at a throwback-friendly framework without going over the last two entries’ family thread. Plan for a rollout centered on brand visuals, character spotlights, and a trailer cadence targeting late fall. Distribution is big-screen via 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 back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will lean on. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will go after large awareness through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format making room for quick switches to whatever owns pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three discrete entries. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is clean, melancholic, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man sets up an digital partner that turns into a dangerous lover. The date locates it at the front of a busy month, with the marketing arm likely to recreate off-kilter promo beats and short-cut promos that blurs devotion and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a public title to become an event moment closer to the early tease. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele projects are framed as director events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second beat that shape mood without giving away the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date creates space for Universal to dominate 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, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has made clear that a raw, physical-effects centered execution can feel cinematic on a mid-range budget. Frame it as a gore-forward summer horror blast that spotlights overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio launches two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, holding a evergreen supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is positioning as a reset 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 clearer mandate to serve both diehards and casuals. The fall slot affords Sony time to build marketing units around mythos, and practical creature work, elements that can drive premium booking interest and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in textural authenticity and period speech, this time driven by werewolf stories. Focus has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is warm.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform tactics for 2026 run on predictable routes. The Universal horror run shift to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a ladder that enhances both premiere heat and subscription bumps in the downstream. Prime Video blends catalogue additions with global originals and targeted theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in back-catalog play, using prominent placements, Halloween hubs, and staff picks to keep attention on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps flexible about originals and festival snaps, scheduling horror entries closer to drop and elevating as drops releases with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a staged of targeted theatrical exposure and rapid platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has proven amenable to invest in select projects with established auteurs or star-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation swells.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is curating a 2026 sequence 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 pitch is straightforward: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, elevated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the back half.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, managing the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday frame to move out. That positioning has been successful for elevated genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception prompts. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using small theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Legacy titles versus originals

By share, 2026 leans in favor of the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate brand equity. The trade-off, as ever, is brand wear. The preferred tactic is to sell each entry as a new angle. Paramount is bringing forward character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a Francophone tone from a fresh helmer. Those choices register when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the package is familiar enough to drive advance ticketing and preview-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years help explain the approach. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that kept clean windows did not preclude a dual release from performing when the brand was robust. In 2024, precision craft horror punched above its weight in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they rotate 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 double feature plan, with chapters shot in tandem, provides the means for marketing to bridge entries through character and theme and to leave creative active without doldrums.

How the films are being made

The craft rooms behind these films foreshadow a continued tilt toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that emphasizes grain and menace rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and era-correct language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in trade spotlights and technical spotlights before rolling out a teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and drives shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta reframe that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature execution and sets, which favor booth activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel compelling. Look for trailers that spotlight disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that work in PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is full. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid bigger brand plays. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the spread of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

Early-year through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Late summer into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Source the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a shoulder season window that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited asset reveals that elevate concept over story.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and holiday gift-card burn.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s AI companion shifts into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

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 unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: mood-led adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her difficult boss claw to survive on a desolate island as the power balance upends and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to nightmare, grounded in Cronin’s tactile craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 in-home haunting narrative that routes the horror through a youth’s shifting point of view. Rating: pending. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A send-up revival that targets in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime manias. Rating: TBD. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. 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 spreads, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new family tethered to lingering terrors. Rating: pending. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survivalist horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: pending. Production: continuing. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

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 time-true diction and ancient menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. 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: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three operational forces drive this lineup. First, production that slowed or migrated in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and accelerated 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 placements. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on social-ready stingers from test screenings, select scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

The slot calculus is real. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, creating valuable space for genre entries that can command a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will coexist across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can exploit 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 stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment 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 stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 capitalize on those pockets. 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. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit 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 icy, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, acoustics, and visuals that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is IP strength where it matters, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing 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, craft precise trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the shocks sell the seats.