Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases mythic darkness, a nightmare fueled horror thriller, arriving Oct 2025 on top streamers

An bone-chilling mystic nightmare movie from dramatist / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an age-old horror when guests become conduits in a demonic ceremony. Launching October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a intense story of continuance and prehistoric entity that will reconstruct fear-driven cinema this scare season. Brought to life by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and tone-heavy fearfest follows five young adults who are stirred sealed in a wilderness-bound structure under the oppressive grip of Kyra, a possessed female consumed by a two-thousand-year-old sacrosanct terror. Anticipate to be ensnared by a cinematic display that intertwines visceral dread with biblical origins, landing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a classic element in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is reimagined when the presences no longer descend from elsewhere, but rather inside their minds. This represents the most sinister element of all involved. The result is a relentless identity crisis where the events becomes a intense confrontation between heaven and hell.


In a abandoned wild, five figures find themselves cornered under the malevolent rule and grasp of a shadowy entity. As the protagonists becomes helpless to resist her rule, marooned and attacked by powers beyond reason, they are confronted to battle their inner demons while the seconds brutally pushes forward toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear amplifies and bonds shatter, forcing each figure to evaluate their identity and the notion of decision-making itself. The risk grow with every beat, delivering a terror ride that combines ghostly evil with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to dive into ancestral fear, an threat before modern man, feeding on emotional vulnerability, and questioning a entity that redefines identity when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra meant channeling something far beyond human desperation. She is unaware until the curse activates, and that pivot is emotionally raw because it is so emotional.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for worldwide release beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—delivering subscribers internationally can watch this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its release of trailer #1, which has gathered over massive response.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, offering the tale to thrill-seekers globally.


Mark your calendar for this soul-jarring descent into darkness. Stream *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to survive these ghostly lessons about the mind.


For featurettes, extra content, and insider scoops from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursed across online outlets and visit the film’s website.





Modern horror’s sea change: calendar year 2025 domestic schedule blends archetypal-possession themes, underground frights, paired with returning-series thunder

Ranging from fight-to-live nightmare stories suffused with mythic scripture and stretching into brand-name continuations as well as focused festival visions, 2025 is lining up as the most stratified as well as deliberate year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. Major studios lock in tentpoles with established lines, in tandem digital services flood the fall with first-wave breakthroughs as well as ancient terrors. Across the art-house lane, the independent cohort is surfing the uplift of a banner 2024 fest year. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The fall stretch is the proving field, yet in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are intentional, which means 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: High-craft horror returns

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 scales the plan.

the Universal banner leads off the quarter with an audacious swing: a refashioned Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Under director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. Booked into mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Under Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

At summer’s close, Warner’s pipeline bows the concluding entry of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

The Black Phone 2 follows. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson re boards, and the memorable motifs return: throwback unease, trauma explicitly handled, and eerie supernatural logic. Here the stakes rise, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Capping the big ticket run 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, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It posts in December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Firsts: Economy, maximum dread

While the big screen favors titles you know, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Led by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a body horror duet anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. 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.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend led by Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this story returns 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 smart play. No overstuffed canon. No brand fatigue. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Franchise Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, led by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Trends to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror retakes ground
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation, these are the new metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical release is 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.

The Road Ahead: Autumn density and winter pivot

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

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



The forthcoming 2026 chiller lineup: Sequels, fresh concepts, plus A stacked Calendar aimed at screams

Dek The arriving scare calendar clusters from the jump with a January traffic jam, before it stretches through the mid-year, and carrying into the December corridor, balancing brand equity, creative pitches, and strategic alternatives. Studios and platforms are relying on efficient budgets, cinema-first plans, and social-driven marketing that position the slate’s entries into four-quadrant talking points.

The genre’s posture for 2026

Horror filmmaking has established itself as the predictable counterweight in studio lineups, a pillar that can grow when it resonates and still mitigate the liability when it underperforms. After 2023 showed executives that modestly budgeted entries can drive pop culture, 2024 kept energy high with visionary-driven titles and word-of-mouth wins. The tailwind pushed into 2025, where revived properties and arthouse crossovers proved there is demand for multiple flavors, from franchise continuations to one-and-done originals that carry overseas. The result for the 2026 slate is a calendar that shows rare alignment across the major shops, with obvious clusters, a equilibrium of familiar brands and first-time concepts, and a refocused stance on exclusive windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium rental and digital services.

Studio leaders note the horror lane now works like a schedule utility on the schedule. Horror can launch on most weekends, furnish a quick sell for trailers and short-form placements, and overperform with viewers that line up on opening previews and continue through the next pass if the title hits. Following a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 layout exhibits certainty in that model. The year commences with a front-loaded January lineup, then taps spring and early summer for audience offsets, while keeping space for a September to October window that flows toward Halloween and afterwards. The map also highlights the increasing integration of indie distributors and streaming partners that can platform a title, build word of mouth, and grow at the sweet spot.

A notable top-line trend is legacy care across interlocking continuities and established properties. Major shops are not just turning out another return. They are moving to present story carry-over with a sense of event, whether that is a title presentation that suggests a re-angled tone or a lead change that ties a next entry to a foundational era. At the alongside this, the filmmakers behind the eagerly awaited originals are embracing material texture, special makeup and location-forward worlds. That alloy provides the 2026 slate a smart balance of familiarity and discovery, which is how the films export.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount leads early with two marquee bets that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the lead, signaling it as both a cross-generational handoff and a origin-leaning character-forward chapter. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the artistic posture points to a heritage-honoring treatment without looping the last two entries’ sibling arc. Anticipate a campaign leaning on franchise iconography, first images of characters, and a rollout cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical 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 reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will play up. As a summer relief option, this one will seek wide appeal through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format fitting quick adjustments to whatever defines trend lines that spring.

Universal has three differentiated lanes. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is elegant, soulful, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man purchases an digital partner that mutates into a deadly partner. The date locates it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to reprise eerie street stunts and brief clips that threads attachment and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a name unveil to become an event moment closer to the first trailer. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele’s pictures are treated as event films, with a minimalist tease and a later trailer push that shape mood without giving away the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date creates space for Universal to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has demonstrated that a tactile, practical-effects forward aesthetic can feel deluxe on a efficient spend. Look for a blood-soaked summer horror hit that spotlights global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio places two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, sustaining a proven supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is selling as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both fans and new audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build materials around lore, and monster design, elements that can drive PLF interest and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by textural authenticity and dialect, this time orbiting lycan myth. Focus has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is warm.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform strategies for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre slate window into copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a stair-step that amplifies both week-one demand and sign-up momentum in the late-window. Prime Video interleaves licensed films with international acquisitions and limited cinema engagements when the data points to it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in archive usage, using timely promos, Halloween hubs, and featured rows to increase tail value on the annual genre haul. Netflix remains opportunistic about first-party entries and festival acquisitions, scheduling horror entries near launch and making event-like drops with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a dual-phase of targeted cinema placements and quick platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has been willing to take on select projects with prestige directors or celebrity-led packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for sustained usage when the genre conversation peaks.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 lane 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 angle is uncomplicated: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, elevated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has indicated a standard theatrical run for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the October weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, piloting the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then turning to the year-end corridor to open out. That positioning has been successful for elevated genre with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception justifies. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using precision theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their membership.

IP versus fresh ideas

By volume, 2026 tips toward the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use brand equity. The watch-out, as ever, is fatigue. The go-to fix is to market each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is leading with character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is floating a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a French sensibility from a rising filmmaker. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the bundle is comforting enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and preview-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years contextualize the approach. In 2023, a cinema-first model that held distribution windows did not foreclose a day-date move from winning when the brand was sticky. In 2024, art-forward horror punched above its weight in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they reorient and widen scale. 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 two-film strategy, with chapters shot consecutively, enables marketing to cross-link entries through protagonists and motifs and to leave creative active without doldrums.

Creative tendencies and craft

The filmmaking conversations behind these films point to a continued move toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that foregrounds texture and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and era-correct language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely pre-sell this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft features before rolling out a teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and sparks shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta pivot that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on monster work and world-building, which favor convention activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel essential. Look for trailers that underscore surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that shine in top rooms.

From winter to holidays

January is heavy. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid heftier brand moves. The month wraps 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 real, but the tone spread affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth carries.

Late Q1 and spring build the summer base. Paramount’s Scream 7 lands February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Late summer into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a late-September window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited disclosures that center concept over reveals.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and holiday card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s algorithmic partner evolves into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back 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: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her severe boss struggle to survive on a rugged island as the hierarchy upends and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to dread, based on Cronin’s practical craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting narrative that twists the horror of a child’s inconsistent perspective. Rating: forthcoming. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-backed and celebrity-led occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that targets in-vogue horror tropes and true crime fervors. Rating: to be announced. 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 bursts, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further reopens, with a another family snared by older hauntings. Rating: TBA. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on true survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: forthcoming. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: TBA. Production: continuing. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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 raw menace. Rating: TBD. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three workable forces structure this lineup. First, production that downshifted or re-sequenced in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify meme-ready beats from test screenings, controlled scare clips calibrated to Thursday preview timing, and experiential Check This Out pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

A fourth factor is programming math. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will coexist across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

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 aggressive PLF bookings 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 lean-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 shock over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Anticipate a robust 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.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces 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 bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate 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 win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, sonics, 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, Lined Up To Scare

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand heft where it matters, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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, produce clean trailers, lock the reveals, and let the gasps sell the seats.