Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes ancient dread, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, bowing October 2025 across top digital platforms

An spine-tingling ghostly fright fest from author / director Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an age-old force when unrelated individuals become tokens in a fiendish ceremony. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful portrayal of endurance and primeval wickedness that will revamp scare flicks this ghoul season. Produced by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and moody suspense flick follows five teens who snap to locked in a secluded hideaway under the oppressive influence of Kyra, a haunted figure claimed by a 2,000-year-old biblical demon. Steel yourself to be seized by a big screen ride that weaves together gut-punch terror with arcane tradition, arriving on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demonic control has been a iconic foundation in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is twisted when the dark entities no longer originate beyond the self, but rather from deep inside. This illustrates the deepest element of these individuals. The result is a bone-chilling moral showdown where the drama becomes a unforgiving conflict between moral forces.


In a bleak landscape, five souls find themselves caught under the dark rule and infestation of a uncanny spirit. As the ensemble becomes vulnerable to fight her dominion, cut off and preyed upon by forces inconceivable, they are cornered to battle their raw vulnerabilities while the moments without pause moves toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia builds and ties dissolve, prompting each individual to examine their existence and the principle of decision-making itself. The stakes escalate with every passing moment, delivering a scare-fueled ride that intertwines otherworldly panic with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to awaken pure dread, an force from ancient eras, manipulating mental cracks, and confronting a spirit that threatens selfhood when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra called for internalizing something more primal than sorrow. She is insensitive until the possession kicks in, and that shift is shocking because it is so private.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for streaming beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—giving households globally can watch this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its release of trailer #1, which has received over massive response.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, giving access to the movie to viewers around the world.


Do not miss this unforgettable trip into the unknown. Explore *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to explore these evil-rooted truths about the human condition.


For featurettes, making-of footage, and alerts from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YACFilm across your favorite networks and visit the film’s website.





Current horror’s pivotal crossroads: the 2025 cycle U.S. calendar integrates ancient-possession motifs, indie terrors, and legacy-brand quakes

Moving from last-stand terror drawn from ancient scripture to brand-name continuations set beside acutely observed indies, 2025 appears poised to be the most textured combined with deliberate year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. leading studios lay down anchors with familiar IP, while streaming platforms flood the fall with fresh voices plus primordial unease. On another front, festival-forward creators is riding the kinetic energy of a record-setting 2024 festival season. As Halloween stays the prime week, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, though in this cycle, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are intentional, thus 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Premium genre swings back

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s distribution arm kicks off the frame with a marquee bet: a refreshed Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, but a sharp contemporary setting. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. set for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Directed by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer eases, Warner’s pipeline sets loose the finale inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. While the template is known, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: period tinged dread, trauma driven plotting, and a cold supernatural calculus. The stakes escalate here, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, thickens the animatronic pantheon, reaching teens and game grownups. It opens in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Digital Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While theaters lean on names and sequels, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a two hander body horror spiral featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend featuring Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It is a clever angle. No swollen lore. No franchise baggage. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

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. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, under Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

What to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

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

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Forward View: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The new chiller calendar year ahead: brand plays, universe starters, together with A brimming Calendar engineered for goosebumps

Dek: The incoming horror cycle builds up front with a January glut, and then carries through summer, and straight through the late-year period, marrying legacy muscle, creative pitches, and smart counter-scheduling. Studios with streamers are leaning into lean spends, big-screen-first runs, and social-fueled campaigns that turn these films into all-audience topics.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The horror sector has proven to be the bankable lever in studio lineups, a pillar that can surge when it catches and still insulate the drag when it underperforms. After the 2023 year re-taught studio brass that disciplined-budget chillers can own cultural conversation, 2024 kept energy high with festival-darling auteurs and sleeper breakouts. The carry fed into the 2025 frame, where reboots and festival-grade titles underscored there is an opening for a variety of tones, from legacy continuations to standalone ideas that carry overseas. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a roster that appears tightly organized across players, with intentional bunching, a combination of household franchises and first-time concepts, and a renewed strategy on exhibition windows that drive downstream revenue on premium video on demand and streaming.

Executives say the space now operates like a swing piece on the slate. Horror can launch on nearly any frame, generate a easy sell for creative and social clips, and overperform with moviegoers that show up on Thursday nights and continue through the week two if the entry delivers. After a production delay era, the 2026 plan exhibits conviction in that setup. The year begins with a front-loaded January window, then exploits spring through early summer for genre counterpoints, while saving space for a autumn stretch that extends to All Hallows period and into post-Halloween. The calendar also features the continuing integration of arthouse labels and streamers that can launch in limited release, grow buzz, and widen at the sweet spot.

A notable top-line trend is legacy care across brand ecosystems and legacy franchises. Big banners are not just rolling another sequel. They are shaping as brand continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a typeface approach that telegraphs a reframed mood or a casting choice that threads a new entry to a first wave. At the meanwhile, the creative leads behind the marquee originals are doubling down on material texture, special makeup and distinct locales. That mix affords 2026 a solid mix of known notes and unexpected turns, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount opens strong with two big-ticket entries that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the center, steering it as both a baton pass and a rootsy character-first story. Production is active in Atlanta, and the creative stance indicates a memory-charged bent without recycling the last two entries’ sisters thread. Expect a marketing push rooted in brand visuals, character-first teases, and a rollout cadence targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also reboots 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 creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will feature. As a summer contrast play, this one will seek mainstream recognition through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format permitting quick switches to whatever leads the discourse that spring.

Universal has three clear projects. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is tight, sorrow-tinged, and easily pitched: a grieving man purchases an algorithmic mate that grows into a killer companion. The date locates it at the front of a crowded corridor, with Universal’s team likely to bring back uncanny-valley stunts and short reels that interlaces longing and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently check over here lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a proper title to become an attention spike closer to the early tease. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. Peele projects are set up as marquee events, with a concept-forward tease and a second beat that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween runway creates space for Universal to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has established that a blood-soaked, prosthetic-heavy mix can feel prestige on a tight budget. Look for a blood-soaked summer horror charge that pushes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio launches two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, sustaining a evergreen supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is framing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both loyalists and new audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build assets around mythos, and monster craft, elements that can fuel premium booking interest and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror centered on careful craft and dialect, this time driven by werewolf stories. The label has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is favorable.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s horror titles head to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a sequence that optimizes both launch urgency and sub growth in the back half. Prime Video will mix licensed titles with worldwide buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in catalog engagement, using well-timed internal promotions, holiday hubs, and programmed rows to prolong the run on the 2026 genre total. Netflix keeps flexible about Netflix films and festival additions, dating horror entries tight to release and elevating as drops arrivals with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a laddered of selective theatrical runs and prompt platform moves that translates talk to trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has shown appetite to buy select projects with established auteurs or marquee packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation heats up.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 sequence with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is straightforward: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, retooled for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a cinema-first plan for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the October weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, shepherding the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then deploying the holiday slot to increase reach. That positioning has helped for filmmaker-driven genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception drives. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using precision theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their community.

IP versus fresh ideas

By skew, 2026 bends toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate marquee value. The risk, as ever, is diminishing returns. The near-term solution is to package each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is centering core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-inflected take from a emerging director. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects provide the air. 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, sets Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the cast-creatives package is assuring enough to drive advance ticketing and Thursday previews.

Recent-year comps announce the strategy. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that observed windows did not block a day-date move from delivering when the brand was powerful. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror hit big in PLF. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they reframe POV and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward 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 shot back-to-back, permits marketing to connect the chapters through character spine and themes and to leave creative active without extended gaps.

Technique and craft currents

The filmmaking conversations behind the upcoming entries point to a continued tilt toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that centers texture and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in feature stories and artisan spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has played 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 plays abroad in red-band trailers and creates shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta reframe that centers an original star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on monster aesthetics and world-building, which are ideal for convention activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel irresistible. Look for trailers that highlight disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that land in premium houses.

Month-by-month map

January is packed. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid macro-brand pushes. The month winds down 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 meaningful, but the tonal variety creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth carries.

Winter into spring tee up summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can play 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.

Late-season stretch leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited previews that trade in concept over detail.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and holiday card usage.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting on a rolling basis as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s synthetic partner becomes something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back 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 heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her difficult boss struggle to survive on a isolated island as the power balance upends and dread encroaches. 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 in the vault in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to terror, driven by Cronin’s practical effects and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting scenario that pipes the unease through a child’s uneven subjective lens. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in the can. 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 back in the creative mix. Logline: {A satirical comeback that skewers contemporary horror memes and true crime fascinations. Rating: to be announced. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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: pending. Logline: The Further opens again, with a young family tethered to residual nightmares. Rating: TBA. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival-driven horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: forthcoming. Production: proceeding. Positioning: director-fronted event with teaser rhythm.

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 bone-deep menace. Rating: TBD. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

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: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the moment is 2026

Three practical forces define this lineup. First, production that eased or shifted in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and shorter 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 outperformed straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on clippable moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

The slot calculus is real. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, clearing runway for genre entries that can command a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will jostle across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever 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 cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, acoustics, 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, Ready To Roar

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is franchise muscle where it helps, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, lock the reveals, and let the shudders sell the seats.