Age-old Evil awakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding chiller, launching October 2025 across premium platforms

A terrifying ghostly scare-fest from narrative craftsman / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an ancient malevolence when unknowns become instruments in a cursed maze. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping chronicle of struggle and prehistoric entity that will redefine the fear genre this fall. Directed by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and immersive film follows five strangers who emerge sealed in a wilderness-bound house under the menacing rule of Kyra, a young woman claimed by a biblical-era scriptural evil. Anticipate to be absorbed by a narrative event that merges bodily fright with timeless legends, dropping on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a legendary motif in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is flipped when the dark entities no longer appear outside the characters, but rather deep within. This portrays the most sinister facet of the victims. The result is a gripping inner struggle where the conflict becomes a constant tug-of-war between purity and corruption.


In a abandoned no-man's-land, five teens find themselves caught under the dark control and overtake of a shadowy female presence. As the group becomes submissive to deny her influence, isolated and targeted by beings inconceivable, they are cornered to wrestle with their inner demons while the seconds brutally draws closer toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease deepens and relationships crack, demanding each individual to examine their existence and the structure of volition itself. The hazard accelerate with every passing moment, delivering a frightening tale that combines ghostly evil with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to uncover ancestral fear, an power rooted in antiquity, feeding on inner turmoil, and navigating a being that tests the soul when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra meant evoking something darker than pain. She is blind until the spirit seizes her, and that evolution is harrowing because it is so private.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for digital release beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—delivering viewers across the world can watch this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its intro video, which has pulled in over 100K plays.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, presenting the nightmare to scare fans abroad.


Experience this cinematic path of possession. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to explore these chilling revelations about the mind.


For teasers, on-set glimpses, and announcements from the cast and crew, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across Instagram and Twitter and visit our horror hub.





Contemporary horror’s sea change: 2025 in focus U.S. Slate blends biblical-possession ideas, art-house nightmares, together with brand-name tremors

Ranging from last-stand terror steeped in legendary theology and stretching into canon extensions plus incisive indie visions, 2025 is lining up as the most stratified and calculated campaign year in a decade.

Call it full, but it is also focused. Major studios stabilize the year by way of signature titles, in tandem streamers crowd the fall with first-wave breakthroughs in concert with mythic dread. Meanwhile, the independent cohort is riding the afterglow of a record-setting 2024 festival season. Since Halloween is the prized date, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The fall stretch is the proving field, notably this year, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are exacting, thus 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige fear returns

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 deepens the push.

the Universal camp lights the fuse with a headline swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. set for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Eli Craig directs with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s slate drops the final chapter inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson returns, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: old school creep, trauma as narrative engine, along with eerie supernatural rules. This run ups the stakes, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The next entry deepens the tale, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It lands in December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Firsts: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a body horror chamber piece starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative featuring Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. That possession comes from within, not without, flips the trope and aligns Young & Cursed with a growing trend in horror, intimate character studies that dress themselves in the skin of 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 canny scheduling. No heavy handed lore. No franchise baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

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

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, as Tribeca’s genre wing angles 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.

Series Horror: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. 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.

Emerging Currents

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

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

Originals on platforms bite harder
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Cinemas are a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

The Road Ahead: Fall pileup, winter curveball

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The forthcoming 2026 Horror season: next chapters, new stories, as well as A stacked Calendar aimed at jolts

Dek The new genre calendar stacks at the outset with a January logjam, subsequently spreads through midyear, and pushing into the holiday frame, balancing series momentum, new concepts, and strategic release strategy. Studios and streamers are committing to smart costs, theatrical leads, and social-fueled campaigns that turn these films into mainstream chatter.

Horror momentum into 2026

This category has proven to be the sturdy play in programming grids, a vertical that can lift when it breaks through and still insulate the drag when it under-delivers. After 2023 reconfirmed for greenlighters that low-to-mid budget pictures can lead mainstream conversation, 2024 kept energy high with signature-voice projects and quiet over-performers. The upswing rolled into 2025, where reawakened brands and awards-minded projects confirmed there is a market for a variety of tones, from continued chapters to one-and-done originals that resonate abroad. The takeaway for 2026 is a lineup that presents tight coordination across companies, with obvious clusters, a blend of known properties and new concepts, and a refocused priority on cinema windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium digital rental and subscription services.

Buyers contend the space now performs as a versatile piece on the slate. The genre can arrive on virtually any date, provide a sharp concept for teasers and short-form placements, and outstrip with crowds that respond on opening previews and keep coming through the follow-up frame if the movie connects. On the heels of a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 pattern reflects trust in that dynamic. The year kicks off with a crowded January run, then primes spring and early summer for counterweight, while carving room for a late-year stretch that stretches into holiday-adjacent weekends and into the next week. The gridline also highlights the increasing integration of indie distributors and home platforms that can develop over weeks, grow buzz, and go nationwide at the proper time.

Another broad trend is franchise tending across unified worlds and long-running brands. Studios are not just mounting another chapter. They are aiming to frame ongoing narrative with a marquee sheen, whether that is a title design that signals a re-angled tone or a casting choice that reconnects a new installment to a heyday. At the alongside this, the creative leads behind the marquee originals are doubling down on material texture, practical effects and site-specific worlds. That mix produces the 2026 slate a robust balance of home base and unexpected turns, which is what works overseas.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount establishes early momentum with two prominent plays that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the heart, positioning the film as both a cross-generational handoff and a origin-leaning character-centered film. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the story approach announces a roots-evoking campaign without going over the last two entries’ sisters thread. Count on a promo wave centered on brand visuals, character spotlights, and a two-beat trailer plan hitting late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will foreground. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will hunt four-quadrant chatter through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format enabling quick turns to whatever leads horror talk that spring.

Universal has three specific projects. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is elegant, sorrow-tinged, and easily pitched: a grieving man installs an intelligent companion that escalates into a fatal companion. The date slots it at the front of a busy month, with marketing at Universal likely to mirror odd public stunts and brief clips that threads longing and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a title reveal to become an earned moment closer to the teaser. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele titles are set up as filmmaker events, with a teaser that holds back and a second trailer wave that signal tone without plot the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor creates space for Universal to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has made clear that a flesh-and-blood, on-set effects led mix can feel high-value on a mid-range budget. Position this as a splatter summer horror surge that embraces global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio rolls out two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, extending a trusty supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is selling as a reset 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 mission to serve both fans and new audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build assets around environmental design, and monster craft, elements that can fuel deluxe auditorium demand and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in minute detail and textual fidelity, this time orbiting lycan myth. Focus has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is supportive.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Platform strategies for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s releases transition to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a cadence that optimizes both premiere heat and sign-up spikes in the tail. Prime Video combines licensed content with global originals and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data supports it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library pulls, using featured rows, horror hubs, and handpicked rows to stretch the tail on aggregate take. Netflix remains opportunistic about own-slate titles and festival grabs, finalizing horror entries near launch and positioning as event drops premieres with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a hybrid of selective theatrical runs and accelerated platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown appetite to acquire select projects with recognized filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for monthly activity when the genre conversation ramps.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 corridor with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is clean: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, upgraded for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the autumn weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, managing the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then leveraging the year-end corridor to increase reach. That positioning has served the company well for filmmaker-first horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception prompts. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using select theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their community.

Balance of brands and originals

By proportion, the 2026 slate bends toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit franchise value. The risk, as ever, is viewer burnout. The go-to fix is to market each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is elevating character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is floating a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-tinted vision from a fresh helmer. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a crash-survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, news the cast-creatives package is familiar enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Comparable trends from recent years announce the logic. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that kept clean windows did not preclude a parallel release from succeeding when the brand was potent. In 2024, art-forward horror over-performed in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they pivot perspective and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters shot in tandem, builds a path for marketing to connect the chapters through character and theme and to keep materials circulating without lulls.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The creative meetings behind this year’s genre point to a continued emphasis on tactile, place-driven 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 aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that spotlights creep and texture rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a period English setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in trade spotlights and department features before rolling out a teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and drives shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta-horror reset that centers its original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster realization and design, which match well with con floor moments and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel essential. Look for trailers that underscore hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that land in premium houses.

From winter to holidays

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

Late Q1 and spring tee up summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

August into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil follows September 18, a late-September window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited pre-release reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to hold in chatter into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift card usage.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces 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 loss-struck man’s intelligent companion shifts into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: tone-first 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 struggle to survive on a remote island as the power balance of power swivels and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to menace, built on Cronin’s on-set craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting setup that filters its scares through a youngster’s unreliable inner lens. Rating: rating pending. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-built and star-led spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A spoof revival that targets today’s horror trends and true crime fascinations. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: shoot planned 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 breaks out, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a different family tethered to old terrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival-first horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: not yet rated. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: pending. Production: active. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and bone-deep menace. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 and why now

Three execution-level forces define this lineup. First, production that decelerated or shuffled in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX 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 out-earned straight-to-streaming drops. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on social-ready stingers from test screenings, precision scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

The slot calculus is real. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can lead a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for wide PLF deployment without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The search for sleepers continues in Q1, where lower and mid-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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first unexpected 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, soundcraft, and framing 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, Ready To Roar

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand heft where it matters, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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 last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.