Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed summons ancient dread, a chilling supernatural thriller, landing Oct 2025 on top streamers

An hair-raising supernatural suspense story from cinematographer / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an long-buried nightmare when outsiders become conduits in a malevolent conflict. Hitting screens this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing depiction of resilience and age-old darkness that will remodel horror this spooky time. Directed by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and cinematic suspense flick follows five characters who are stirred trapped in a hidden dwelling under the ominous command of Kyra, a young woman consumed by a time-worn ancient fiend. Ready yourself to be gripped by a cinematic ride that fuses visceral dread with timeless legends, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a enduring element in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is challenged when the beings no longer come beyond the self, but rather internally. This suggests the most terrifying version of the protagonists. The result is a riveting moral showdown where the plotline becomes a intense clash between divinity and wickedness.


In a barren outland, five youths find themselves sealed under the ominous influence and haunting of a haunted spirit. As the group becomes defenseless to withstand her curse, stranded and attacked by unknowns indescribable, they are made to encounter their deepest fears while the clock mercilessly edges forward toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety grows and relationships break, pressuring each person to question their essence and the structure of self-determination itself. The danger intensify with every second, delivering a chilling narrative that harmonizes ghostly evil with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to explore pure dread, an entity that existed before mankind, channeling itself through mental cracks, and dealing with a darkness that erodes the self when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra involved tapping into something beneath mortal despair. She is oblivious until the entity awakens, and that flip is emotionally raw because it is so deep.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for home viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—allowing horror lovers internationally can enjoy this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its initial teaser, which has received over strong viewer count.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, offering the tale to a worldwide audience.


Be sure to catch this bone-rattling ride through nightmares. Explore *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to experience these unholy truths about the mind.


For bonus footage, set experiences, and alerts from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursed across your socials and visit youngandcursed.com.





Contemporary horror’s sea change: 2025 across markets American release plan melds Mythic Possession, festival-born jolts, alongside franchise surges

Ranging from survival horror steeped in legendary theology and onward to series comebacks paired with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is tracking to be horror’s most layered paired with tactically planned year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. studio majors are anchoring the year using marquee IP, in tandem streamers load up the fall with unboxed visions in concert with ancestral chills. At the same time, festival-forward creators is drafting behind the kinetic energy from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Since Halloween is the prized date, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, though in this cycle, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are intentional, therefore 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: High-craft horror returns

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 set the base, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s pipeline kicks off the frame with a marquee bet: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, instead in a current-day frame. Steered by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. arriving mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Led by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

Toward summer’s end, the WB camp rolls out the capstone from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson resumes command, and the tone that worked before is intact: retro dread, trauma centered writing, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The ante is higher this round, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, speaking to teens and older millennials. It books December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Firsts: Small budgets, sharp fangs

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a tight space body horror vignette with 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 is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn led by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No overstuffed canon. No franchise baggage. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Series Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, from Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Trend Lines

Myth turns mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

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

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

The big screen is a trust exercise
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Near Term Outlook: Fall pileup, winter curveball

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

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 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The new Horror lineup: Sequels, new stories, And A stacked Calendar geared toward jolts

Dek The current genre slate builds at the outset with a January crush, before it unfolds through midyear, and deep into the holiday stretch, braiding IP strength, fresh ideas, and strategic release strategy. The big buyers and platforms are relying on cost discipline, cinema-first plans, and short-form initiatives that convert genre releases into culture-wide discussion.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The field has grown into the sturdy counterweight in studio lineups, a vertical that can lift when it clicks and still cushion the exposure when it under-delivers. After 2023 showed decision-makers that disciplined-budget pictures can shape the national conversation, 2024 held pace with director-led heat and sleeper breakouts. The energy carried into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and festival-grade titles demonstrated there is room for a spectrum, from legacy continuations to standalone ideas that scale internationally. The takeaway for 2026 is a programming that reads highly synchronized across the market, with obvious clusters, a pairing of household franchises and fresh ideas, and a refocused eye on release windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium home window and digital services.

Executives say the space now performs as a utility player on the calendar. The genre can roll out on open real estate, generate a sharp concept for creative and reels, and lead with crowds that turn out on early shows and hold through the second weekend if the entry lands. Emerging from a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 rhythm indicates confidence in that logic. The year commences with a heavy January schedule, then exploits spring through early summer for counterweight, while keeping space for a September to October window that reaches into late October and past Halloween. The schedule also spotlights the continuing integration of boutique distributors and streaming partners that can launch in limited release, generate chatter, and roll out at the right moment.

A further high-level trend is IP cultivation across shared IP webs and legacy franchises. The studios are not just turning out another installment. They are working to present story carry-over with a must-see charge, whether that is a title design that telegraphs a re-angled tone or a talent selection that anchors a new installment to a original cycle. At the very same time, the filmmakers behind the high-profile originals are prioritizing practical craft, special makeup and location-forward worlds. That fusion affords the 2026 slate a solid mix of trust and freshness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount leads early with two spotlight plays that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the lead, positioning the film as both a cross-generational handoff and a rootsy character study. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the authorial approach signals a nostalgia-forward campaign without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign anchored in heritage visuals, initial cast looks, and a trailer cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also revives 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 as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will play up. As a summer contrast play, this one will generate mainstream recognition through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format fitting quick turns to whatever rules genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three differentiated pushes. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is simple, heartbroken, and commercial: a grieving man adopts an algorithmic mate that escalates into a killer companion. The date sets it at the front of a packed window, with marketing at Universal likely to iterate on strange in-person beats and snackable content that interweaves attachment and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a branding reveal to become an fan moment closer to the first look. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. The filmmaker’s films are set up as director events, with a teaser that holds back and a next wave of trailers that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot affords Universal to fill 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, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a visceral, in-camera leaning style can feel premium on a middle budget. Frame it as a splatter summer horror surge that maximizes overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio rolls out two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, carrying a dependable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is framing as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational 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 campaign creative around environmental design, and creature builds, elements that can stoke format premiums and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by careful craft and archaic language, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is strong.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Windowing plans in 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s genre slate window into copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a cadence that fortifies both launch urgency and platform bumps in the late-window. Prime Video will mix library titles with worldwide entries and brief theater runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library curation, using seasonal hubs, holiday hubs, and collection rows to keep attention on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps options open about Netflix films and festival deals, confirming horror entries tight to release and staging as events arrivals with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a one-two of precision theatrical plays and quick platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown a willingness to purchase select projects with top-tier auteurs or star-driven packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation builds.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is quietly building 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 offer is uncomplicated: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, modernized for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a cinema-first plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the autumn weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then leveraging the Christmas corridor to horror expand. That positioning has been successful for filmmaker-first horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception prompts. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using targeted theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their membership.

Series vs standalone

By tilt, 2026 is weighted toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage name recognition. The question, as ever, is fatigue. The near-term solution is to brand each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is underscoring core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-tinted vision from a ascendant talent. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and visionary-led titles add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the packaging is known enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Recent comps clarify the plan. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that preserved streaming windows did not prevent a day-and-date experiment from hitting when the brand was robust. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror rose in premium screens. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they change perspective and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, allows marketing to thread films through cast and motif and to leave creative active without extended gaps.

How the films are being made

The craft conversations behind this slate indicate a continued turn toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that leans on unease and texture rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and era-correct language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in craft journalism and artisan spotlights before rolling out a first look that elevates tone over story, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and generates shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a self-aware reset that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature and environment design, which align with con floor moments and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel definitive. Look for trailers that elevate precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that work in PLF.

The schedule at a glance

January is crowded. 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 tonal palate cleanser amid heavier IP. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the mix of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth spreads.

Pre-summer months set up the summer. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can play next to check my blog family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

End of summer through fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a bridge slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a peekaboo tease plan and limited plot reveals that center concept over reveals.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and holiday card usage.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s algorithmic partner grows into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked 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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: fog-and-fear adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her difficult boss claw to survive on a far-flung island as the power balance of power flips and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to nightmare, built on Cronin’s hands-on craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting narrative that refracts terror through a kid’s unreliable personal vantage. Rating: rating pending. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A parody return that satirizes contemporary horror memes and true-crime obsessions. Rating: not yet rated. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 ignites, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further reopens, with a different family lashed to long-buried horrors. Rating: to be announced. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A reboot designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: underway. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 antique diction and primal menace. Rating: pending. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. 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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 and why now

Three hands-on forces inform this lineup. First, production that slowed or re-sequenced in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined 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 debuts. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify meme-ready beats from test screenings, managed scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Calendar math also matters. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can command a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will jostle across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. 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.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

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

The surprise-hit pursuit 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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, 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 beat and breadth. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, 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 sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, sound field, and image-making 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

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is brand power where it counts, original vision where it matters, 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 sharp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the gasps sell the seats.