Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed revives primeval horror, a pulse pounding shocker, premiering Oct 2025 on major streaming services

An hair-raising mystic scare-fest from narrative craftsman / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an timeless horror when newcomers become pawns in a diabolical ordeal. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing account of staying alive and timeless dread that will revamp the horror genre this spooky time. Visualized by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and claustrophobic film follows five people who snap to stuck in a cut-off wooden structure under the menacing grip of Kyra, a female presence controlled by a time-worn religious nightmare. Be prepared to be hooked by a screen-based spectacle that integrates soul-chilling terror with mythic lore, hitting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a mainstay theme in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is inverted when the beings no longer emerge from elsewhere, but rather internally. This embodies the most sinister part of the protagonists. The result is a bone-chilling moral showdown where the emotions becomes a intense push-pull between virtue and vice.


In a barren backcountry, five teens find themselves trapped under the possessive rule and curse of a haunted character. As the team becomes unresisting to withstand her will, stranded and tracked by unknowns beyond reason, they are compelled to endure their darkest emotions while the clock harrowingly moves toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion swells and teams splinter, pushing each person to contemplate their identity and the nature of liberty itself. The pressure amplify with every beat, delivering a cinematic nightmare that fuses unearthly horror with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to dig into deep fear, an evil from prehistory, operating within emotional fractures, and examining a evil that tests the soul when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra was about accessing something outside normal anguish. She is unaware until the curse activates, and that flip is terrifying because it is so private.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for audience access beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring fans no matter where they are can watch this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its initial teaser, which has earned over 100,000 views.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, extending the thrill to horror fans worldwide.


Do not miss this visceral journey into fear. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to witness these unholy truths about human nature.


For previews, production insights, and insider scoops from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across online outlets and visit our spooky domain.





U.S. horror’s pivotal crossroads: calendar year 2025 U.S. rollouts integrates archetypal-possession themes, indie terrors, stacked beside Franchise Rumbles

Spanning survivor-centric dread infused with ancient scripture and extending to canon extensions and surgical indie voices, 2025 appears poised to be the most complex along with strategic year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. studio majors lock in tentpoles with known properties, concurrently digital services pack the fall with fresh voices in concert with mythic dread. On another front, horror’s indie wing is carried on the momentum from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, yet in 2025, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are surgical, hence 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Elevated fear reclaims ground

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s distribution arm begins the calendar with a risk-forward move: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, instead in a current-day frame. Guided by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. targeting mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Eli Craig directs anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

As summer eases, the WB camp bows the concluding entry from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Granted the structure is classic, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson re boards, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: throwback unease, trauma driven plotting, and eerie supernatural logic. Here the stakes rise, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The follow up digs further into canon, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It books December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streamer Exclusives: Modest spend, serious shock

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a room scale body horror descent fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it looks like a certain fall stream.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale led by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. From writer director 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 unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is a clever angle. No puffed out backstory. No series drag. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Long Running Lines: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, steered by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Emerging Currents

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror reemerges
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

The big screen is a trust exercise
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

What’s Next: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The forthcoming 2026 fright lineup: returning titles, universe starters, alongside A Crowded Calendar tailored for shocks

Dek: The brand-new scare season lines up in short order with a January bottleneck, before it runs through the summer months, and pushing into the festive period, fusing brand equity, untold stories, and smart offsets. Studios and platforms are betting on responsible budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and platform-native promos that frame these releases into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

Horror has shown itself to be the sturdy play in programming grids, a category that can break out when it performs and still hedge the drag when it misses. After the 2023 year reminded strategy teams that cost-conscious genre plays can galvanize social chatter, the following year maintained heat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and sleeper breakouts. The energy carried into the 2025 frame, where revived properties and premium-leaning entries confirmed there is room for a spectrum, from continued chapters to original one-offs that scale internationally. The takeaway for 2026 is a roster that presents tight coordination across the industry, with defined corridors, a spread of known properties and first-time concepts, and a recommitted commitment on theatrical windows that increase tail monetization on PVOD and subscription services.

Planners observe the space now serves as a plug-and-play option on the grid. The genre can arrive on most weekends, supply a simple premise for ad units and shorts, and outperform with patrons that appear on Thursday nights and keep coming through the week two if the offering hits. Emerging from a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 configuration underscores assurance in that logic. The slate starts with a weighty January corridor, then plants flags in spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while making space for a autumn push that reaches into Halloween and into early November. The gridline also spotlights the continuing integration of arthouse labels and subscription services that can nurture a platform play, fuel WOM, and go nationwide at the right moment.

A parallel macro theme is IP stewardship across unified worlds and long-running brands. Studios are not just mounting another continuation. They are setting up threaded continuity with a specialness, whether that is a title design that telegraphs a new vibe or a star attachment that bridges a latest entry to a early run. At the meanwhile, the directors behind the high-profile originals are leaning into physical effects work, real effects and grounded locations. That interplay provides the 2026 slate a lively combination of familiarity and invention, which is why the genre exports well.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount establishes early momentum with two prominent bets that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the center, framing it as both a handoff and a foundation-forward relationship-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the directional approach signals a roots-evoking mode without recycling the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Anticipate a campaign anchored in franchise iconography, character spotlights, and a two-beat trailer plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

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 joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will emphasize. As a summer relief option, this one will drive broad awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format inviting quick switches to whatever tops trend lines that spring.

Universal has three discrete entries. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is efficient, soulful, and high-concept: a grieving man installs an AI companion that becomes a perilous partner. The date slots it at the front of a heavy month, with marketing at Universal likely to mirror strange in-person beats and quick hits that interweaves affection and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a name unveil to become an earned moment closer to the debut look. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele’s work are marketed as auteur events, with a concept-forward tease and a second wave of trailers that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot lets the studio to own 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, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has shown that a blood-soaked, hands-on effects approach can feel deluxe on a controlled budget. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror surge that maximizes worldwide reach, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio launches two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, carrying a reliable supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is selling as a new foundation 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 focus to serve both loyalists and first-timers. The fall slot lets Sony to build materials around lore, and creature design, elements that can amplify format premiums and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror grounded in meticulous craft and historical speech, this time set against lycan legends. The imprint has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a bold stance in Eggers as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is glowing.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s slate land on copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a ladder that enhances both initial urgency and sub growth in the tail. Prime Video stitches together catalogue additions with global pickups and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library engagement, using prominent placements, holiday hubs, and programmed rows to increase tail value on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix retains agility about in-house releases and festival pickups, finalizing horror entries near launch and positioning as event drops arrivals with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a hybrid of targeted theatrical exposure and prompt platform moves that drives paid trials from buzz. That will play 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+ assesses case by case horror on a curated basis. The platform has shown appetite to acquire select projects with acclaimed directors or headline-cast packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for monthly engagement when the genre conversation swells.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is curating a 2026 lane with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is straightforward: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, upgraded for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the October weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, guiding the film through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday frame to expand. That positioning has paid off for prestige horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception allows. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using limited theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their user base.

Balance of brands and originals

By proportion, 2026 bends toward the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage brand equity. The watch-out, as ever, is audience fatigue. The preferred tactic is to frame each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is spotlighting character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is promising a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French-flavored turn from a emerging director. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and auteur plays deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the packaging is recognizable enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

The last three-year set contextualize the plan. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that kept streaming intact did not deter a dual release from working when the brand was trusted. In 2024, auteur craft horror hit big in PLF. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel new when they alter lens and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-step approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to interlace chapters through character arcs and themes and to keep materials circulating without doldrums.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The filmmaking conversations behind 2026 horror signal a continued bias toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that centers texture and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in craft profiles and department features before rolling out a initial teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and creates shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a self-referential reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster realization and design, which match well with booth activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel essential. Look for trailers that underscore pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that sing on PLF.

Calendar cadence

January is busy. 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 quiet contrast amid headline IP. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the palette of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth spreads.

Post-January through spring prime the summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a his comment is here spring frame that once was aligned with 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 underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

End of summer through fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a shoulder season window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a opaque tease strategy and limited information drops that favor idea over plot.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card use.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s founding notes. 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 widowed man’s intelligent companion becomes something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography 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 zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: gothic-game 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 struggle to survive on a far-flung island as the control dynamic tilts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to menace, built on Cronin’s on-set craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. 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 scenario that toys with the horror of a child’s unreliable senses. Rating: rating pending. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-built and toplined 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 parody reboot that needles in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fixations. Rating: TBD. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 flares, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: shooting 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: forthcoming. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new family snared by ancient dread. Rating: undetermined. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survivalist horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: forthcoming. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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: pending. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: specialty holiday horror poised for crafts recognition.

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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026, why now

Three grounded forces frame 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, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest social-ready stingers from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Calendar math also matters. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, providing runway for genre entries that can command a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will jostle across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 disciplined-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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a smorgasbord, 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 gnarly, 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 seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, disciplined footprints, 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 tactility, audio design, and cinematography 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, Lined Up To Scare

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand power where it counts, auteur intent 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, hold the mystery, and let the shocks sell the seats.