Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed reignites age-old dread, a pulse pounding shocker, premiering Oct 2025 across leading streamers

One frightening otherworldly suspense film from author / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an primeval curse when passersby become conduits in a supernatural ritual. Available on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango platform.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful episode of survival and archaic horror that will remodel genre cinema this Halloween season. Created by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and tone-heavy story follows five unacquainted souls who find themselves confined in a off-grid cabin under the unfriendly grip of Kyra, a tormented girl claimed by a prehistoric scriptural evil. Be warned to be shaken by a screen-based spectacle that integrates visceral dread with biblical origins, releasing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a mainstay theme in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is twisted when the demons no longer arise from beyond, but rather inside them. This suggests the most terrifying part of each of them. The result is a psychologically brutal mind game where the drama becomes a soul-crushing fight between purity and corruption.


In a wilderness-stricken terrain, five campers find themselves caught under the malicious sway and control of a enigmatic female presence. As the protagonists becomes vulnerable to escape her grasp, isolated and hunted by presences inconceivable, they are required to endure their soulful dreads while the doomsday meter ruthlessly counts down toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust mounts and ties splinter, forcing each individual to question their being and the concept of conscious will itself. The cost climb with every tick, delivering a frightening tale that connects ghostly evil with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to draw upon primitive panic, an curse older than civilization itself, channeling itself through human fragility, and questioning a presence that erodes the self when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra demanded embodying something rooted in terror. She is ignorant until the haunting manifests, and that change is bone-chilling because it is so private.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for viewing beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—so that fans anywhere can experience this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its original clip, which has racked up over 100,000 views.


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


Make sure to see this haunted ride through nightmares. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to face these evil-rooted truths about inner darkness.


For cast commentary, filmmaker commentary, and reveals from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across Instagram and Twitter and visit the film’s website.





Current horror’s sea change: the 2025 cycle domestic schedule weaves myth-forward possession, microbudget gut-punches, together with tentpole growls

Across survival horror drawn from ancient scripture to installment follow-ups paired with incisive indie visions, 2025 is coalescing into the most complex along with carefully orchestrated year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. major banners set cornerstones with franchise anchors, in parallel OTT services saturate the fall with first-wave breakthroughs alongside ancient terrors. Meanwhile, independent banners is riding the momentum from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Since Halloween is the prized date, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, though in this cycle, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are calculated, which means 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige terror resurfaces

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 compounds the move.

the Universal camp leads off the quarter with a risk-forward move: a reconceived Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, but a sharp contemporary setting. Under director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. landing in mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Helmed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Initial heat flags it as potent.

At summer’s close, Warner’s schedule drops the final chapter from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. While the template is known, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: period tinged dread, trauma explicitly handled, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The stakes escalate here, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The new chapter enriches the lore, broadens the animatronic terror cast, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It opens in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Digital Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a tight space body horror vignette fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Also notable is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in 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. That is a savvy move. No bloated canon. No brand fatigue. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

In 2025, festival strategy is less about discovery, more about branding. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy IP: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, led by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Dials to Watch

Ancient myth goes wide
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror ascends again
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for 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. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theaters are a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Projection: Autumn overload with a 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 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. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The new chiller slate: next chapters, fresh concepts, And A brimming Calendar aimed at frights

Dek: The fresh terror slate crowds immediately with a January crush, thereafter runs through the mid-year, and carrying into the holidays, marrying IP strength, untold stories, and calculated offsets. Distributors with platforms are leaning into efficient budgets, theatrical-first rollouts, and platform-native promos that elevate genre releases into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror momentum into 2026

Horror has shown itself to be the bankable swing in annual schedules, a pillar that can accelerate when it resonates and still hedge the losses when it falls short. After 2023 reassured leaders that responsibly budgeted scare machines can galvanize the national conversation, the following year sustained momentum with high-profile filmmaker pieces and slow-burn breakouts. The run pushed into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and prestige plays highlighted there is demand for a spectrum, from franchise continuations to fresh IP that carry overseas. The combined impact for 2026 is a slate that appears tightly organized across companies, with mapped-out bands, a spread of established brands and novel angles, and a re-energized priority on release windows that power the aftermarket on premium video on demand and home platforms.

Studio leaders note the genre now functions as a swing piece on the distribution slate. The genre can debut on almost any weekend, offer a tight logline for trailers and shorts, and outperform with viewers that respond on opening previews and stay strong through the second weekend if the release delivers. Exiting a production delay era, the 2026 setup indicates comfort in that logic. The calendar rolls out with a stacked January band, then uses spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while clearing room for a October build that pushes into spooky season and into early November. The map also reflects the deeper integration of specialized labels and subscription services that can build gradually, fuel WOM, and go nationwide at the precise moment.

A reinforcing pattern is IP stewardship across ongoing universes and legacy franchises. Big banners are not just releasing another entry. They are trying to present lineage with a sense of event, whether that is a logo package that conveys a new vibe or a talent selection that ties a new installment to a initial period. At the parallel to that, the helmers behind the most anticipated originals are doubling down on on-set craft, practical effects and location-forward worlds. That fusion delivers 2026 a strong blend of assurance and discovery, which is how the films export.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount fires first with two marquee plays that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the center, positioning the film as both a baton pass and a back-to-basics character-forward chapter. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the directional approach announces a fan-service aware campaign without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive stacked with legacy iconography, character-first teases, and a rollout cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will feature. As a summer contrast play, this one will seek mainstream recognition through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format permitting quick pivots to whatever rules genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three unique lanes. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is efficient, soulful, and premise-first: a grieving man activates an machine companion that escalates Source into a killer companion. The date slots it at the front of a packed window, with the studio’s marketing likely to echo eerie street stunts and short-cut promos that interweaves intimacy and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a official title to become an event moment closer to the debut look. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele titles are positioned as auteur events, with a mystery-first teaser and a later creative that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The late-October frame affords Universal to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has made clear that a visceral, prosthetic-heavy strategy can feel deluxe on a middle budget. Look for a red-band summer horror shock that leans hard into global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio sets two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, sustaining a trusty supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where the brand has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is marketing navigate to this website as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both core fans and new audiences. The fall slot allows Sony to build campaign pieces around environmental design, and creature effects, elements that can boost IMAX and PLF uptake and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in obsessive craft and linguistic texture, this time exploring werewolf lore. The label has already set the date for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is favorable.

Platform lanes and windowing

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on predictable routes. The Universal horror run head to copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a pacing that expands both week-one demand and sub growth in the later window. Prime Video interleaves catalogue additions with global pickups and select theatrical runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in catalog discovery, using in-app campaigns, October hubs, and editorial rows to increase tail value on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps flexible about own-slate titles and festival grabs, securing horror entries with shorter lead times and positioning as event drops releases with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a paired of focused cinema runs and quick platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has been willing to purchase select projects with name filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation builds.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is curating a 2026 sequence 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 tight: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, refined for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the fall weeks.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then using the Christmas window to broaden. That positioning has worked well for filmmaker-first horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception merits. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using targeted theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Balance of brands and originals

By count, 2026 tilts in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap legacy awareness. The risk, as ever, is audience fatigue. The workable fix is to frame each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is underscoring character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French-inflected take from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and director-first projects keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the configuration is anchored enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Recent-year comps make sense of the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that preserved streaming windows did not block a parallel release from winning when the brand was strong. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror surged in premium formats. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they rotate perspective and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, provides the means for marketing to thread films through protagonists and motifs and to keep assets alive without pause points.

Production craft signals

The shop talk behind 2026 horror hint at a continued bias toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that leans on aura and dread rather than roller-coaster spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in feature stories and technical spotlights before rolling out a tease that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and creates shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta recalibration that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster realization and design, which are ideal for fan conventions and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel definitive. Look for trailers that highlight hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that land in big rooms.

How the year maps out

January is loaded. 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 moody palate cleanser amid larger brand plays. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the variety of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

February through May build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The 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 splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Late summer into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a bridge slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event claims October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a opaque tease strategy and limited plot reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can win the holiday when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card burn.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s virtual companion grows into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot 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 finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: atmospheric 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 hard-edged boss claw to survive on a far-flung island as the hierarchy tilts and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to fright, based on Cronin’s tactile craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting setup that explores the dread of a child’s shaky impressions. Rating: rating pending. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed and celebrity-led supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A genre lampoon that needles today’s horror trends and true-crime crazes. Rating: undetermined. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 bursts, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further opens again, with a another family anchored to lingering terrors. Rating: pending. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survivalist horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: closely held. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: underway. 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 period language and ancient menace. Rating: TBD. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

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: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three operational forces inform this lineup. First, production that eased or re-sequenced in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming placements. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work meme-ready beats from test screenings, curated scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, making room for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will stack across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for my company 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where modest-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 maximize those pockets. 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.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a banquet, 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 goes red-band, 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 ratchet upward, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, soundscape, and visual design that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand power where it counts, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, keep secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.