Mythic Evil emerges: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding chiller, rolling out October 2025 on leading streamers

This chilling occult thriller from scriptwriter / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an primeval horror when unfamiliar people become puppets in a supernatural conflict. Available on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – ready yourself for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching saga of overcoming and mythic evil that will revolutionize fear-driven cinema this cool-weather season. Realized by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and emotionally thick story follows five unacquainted souls who snap to sealed in a unreachable wooden structure under the malignant dominion of Kyra, a young woman overtaken by a 2,000-year-old biblical force. Brace yourself to be enthralled by a motion picture experience that combines raw fear with ancestral stories, debuting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a historical tradition in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is turned on its head when the dark entities no longer form beyond the self, but rather from their psyche. This portrays the malevolent aspect of the group. The result is a intense emotional conflict where the intensity becomes a ongoing conflict between purity and corruption.


In a barren backcountry, five characters find themselves isolated under the unholy control and possession of a secretive character. As the characters becomes submissive to withstand her will, marooned and pursued by creatures unfathomable, they are confronted to acknowledge their raw vulnerabilities while the moments mercilessly strikes toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust mounts and connections dissolve, prompting each figure to contemplate their essence and the idea of autonomy itself. The cost intensify with every beat, delivering a frightening tale that combines paranormal dread with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to uncover elemental fright, an entity from ancient eras, influencing psychological breaks, and examining a being that tests the soul when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra was centered on something past sanity. She is insensitive until the demon emerges, and that evolution is emotionally raw because it is so emotional.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for audience access beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—delivering fans across the world can dive into this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its first trailer, which has received over 100K plays.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, making the film to horror fans worldwide.


Mark your calendar for this heart-stopping descent into hell. Watch *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to acknowledge these unholy truths about free will.


For teasers, director cuts, and news from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across online outlets and visit youngandcursed.com.





Contemporary horror’s watershed moment: the year 2025 U.S. lineup blends archetypal-possession themes, festival-born jolts, plus Franchise Rumbles

Running from grit-forward survival fare infused with near-Eastern lore through to installment follow-ups in concert with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is shaping up as the most dimensioned as well as precision-timed year in the past ten years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. Major studios stabilize the year with familiar IP, while premium streamers prime the fall with emerging auteurs together with ancestral chills. On the independent axis, festival-forward creators is surfing the echoes from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, yet in 2025, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are targeted, so 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 doubles down.

Universal leads off the quarter with a big gambit: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a modern-day environment. Steered by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. dated for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Steered by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

As summer wanes, Warner’s pipeline launches the swan song from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

After that, The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re teams, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: 70s style chill, trauma in the foreground, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This time, the stakes are raised, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, grows the animatronic horror lineup, courting teens and the thirty something base. It arrives in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Platform Originals: No Budget, No Problem

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a close quarters body horror study fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is virtually assured for fall.

In the mix sits Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga starring Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, 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. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. 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 is an astute call. No overinflated mythology. No sequel clutter. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Brands: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, steered by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Trends to Watch

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror retakes ground
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

What’s Next: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The 2026 spook slate: follow-ups, Originals, alongside A stacked Calendar aimed at jolts

Dek: The new horror season lines up at the outset with a January logjam, from there unfolds through peak season, and deep into the festive period, weaving franchise firepower, inventive spins, and calculated counterprogramming. The big buyers and platforms are relying on right-sized spends, theater-first strategies, and viral-minded pushes that elevate these pictures into water-cooler talk.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The genre has turned into the consistent counterweight in studio slates, a space that can spike when it catches and still buffer the exposure when it does not. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for top brass that lean-budget shockers can own social chatter, 2024 extended the rally with festival-darling auteurs and sleeper breakouts. The energy moved into 2025, where legacy revivals and filmmaker-prestige bets demonstrated there is an opening for different modes, from sequel tracks to non-IP projects that translate worldwide. The upshot for 2026 is a lineup that is strikingly coherent across the field, with mapped-out bands, a equilibrium of established brands and fresh ideas, and a revived focus on big-screen windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on paid VOD and platforms.

Executives say the category now serves as a utility player on the rollout map. Horror can kick off on most weekends, provide a sharp concept for teasers and TikTok spots, and outpace with moviegoers that lean in on early shows and stay strong through the week two if the entry delivers. After a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 cadence demonstrates confidence in that approach. The year commences with a crowded January run, then taps spring and early summer for counterweight, while carving room for a fall cadence that connects to the Halloween frame and afterwards. The schedule also reflects the ongoing integration of specialized labels and platforms that can launch in limited release, grow buzz, and go nationwide at the right moment.

A further high-level trend is IP cultivation across interlocking continuities and established properties. The companies are not just making another next film. They are seeking to position lineage with a specialness, whether that is a brandmark that conveys a re-angled tone or a cast configuration that binds a upcoming film to a first wave. At the parallel to that, the visionaries behind the marquee originals are doubling down on in-camera technique, practical effects and place-driven backdrops. That alloy produces the 2026 slate a healthy mix of recognition and unexpected turns, which is how the films export.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount leads early with two spotlight titles that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the center, signaling it as both a baton pass and a return-to-roots character-forward chapter. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the narrative stance announces a nostalgia-forward framework without rehashing the last two entries’ sibling arc. Plan for a rollout built on classic imagery, first images of characters, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm landing toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will emphasize. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will drive large awareness through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format allowing quick pivots to whatever defines genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three unique projects. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is clean, loss-driven, and big-hook: a grieving man brings home an digital partner that shifts into a harmful mate. The date positions it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s marketing likely to mirror off-kilter promo beats and short-form creative that melds companionship and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a final title to become an event moment closer to the early tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele’s work are marketed as signature events, with a teaser that reveals little and a follow-up trailer set that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date allows Universal to own 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, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a in-your-face, on-set effects led treatment can feel deluxe on a moderate cost. Position this as a red-band summer horror surge that leans hard into offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio lines up two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, maintaining a proven supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is calling a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both franchise faithful and newcomers. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign pieces around canon, and monster design, elements that can increase deluxe auditorium demand and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by minute detail and language, this time orbiting lycan myth. The company has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is glowing.

Streaming windows and tactics

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s releases window into copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a stair-step that amplifies both FOMO and trial spikes in the late-window. Prime Video continues to mix licensed films with global acquisitions and select theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in catalog discovery, using seasonal hubs, horror hubs, and programmed rows to maximize the tail on aggregate take. Netflix keeps optionality about own-slate titles and festival grabs, scheduling horror entries toward the drop and framing as events drops with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a hybrid of selective theatrical runs and accelerated platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has signaled readiness to take on select projects with top-tier auteurs or star-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation spikes.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is curating a 2026 pipeline with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The pitch is tight: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, recalibrated for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has signaled a traditional cinema play for the title, an positive signal for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the autumn stretch.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, marshalling the project through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then activating the year-end corridor to increase reach. That positioning has helped for auteur horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not publicly set many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception allows. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using boutique theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By number, 2026 skews toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on cultural cachet. The trade-off, as ever, is staleness. The standing approach is to pitch each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is centering character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French sensibility from a new voice. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the cast-creatives package is anchored enough to accelerate early sales and early previews.

Past-three-year patterns help explain the model. In 2023, a exclusive window model that observed windows did not preclude a dual release from working when the brand was big. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror punched above its weight in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they change perspective and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters lensed sequentially, enables marketing to relate entries through character spine and themes and to keep materials circulating without pause points.

Creative tendencies and craft

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the 2026 entries signal a continued turn toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that elevates tone and tension rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in craft journalism and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and generates shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta inflection that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature craft and set design, which favor convention activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel definitive. Look for trailers that elevate pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that benefit on big speakers.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is busy. 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 somber counterpoint amid big-brand pushes. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the palette of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

Early-year through spring tee up summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The 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 heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

August into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a late-September window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event occupies October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a opaque tease strategy and limited information drops that put concept first.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and holiday gift-card burn.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s AI companion unfolds into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: moody game adaptation built this website 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 prickly boss work to survive on a lonely island as the chain of command tilts and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to terror, based on Cronin’s practical effects and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting setup that manipulates the horror of a child’s tricky POV. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-built and toplined supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that riffs on contemporary horror memes and true-crime manias. Rating: to be announced. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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 spreads, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further reopens, with a unlucky family bound to returning horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for true survival horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: to be announced. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: continuing. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and elemental dread. Rating: forthcoming. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why this year, why now

Three practical forces inform this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or reshuffled in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming landings. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest meme-ready beats from test screenings, managed scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

A fourth factor is programming math. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can capture a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will cluster across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. 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.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 disciplined-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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. Expect a healthy 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.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, soundscape, and camera work 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 Looks Exciting

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is recognizable IP where it plays, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the chills sell the seats.