Primeval Horror awakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding feature, bowing Oct 2025 on leading streamers

A blood-curdling spiritual shockfest from scriptwriter / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an age-old nightmare when unrelated individuals become puppets in a malevolent ritual. Dropping October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing depiction of continuance and old world terror that will redefine fear-driven cinema this season. Guided by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and tone-heavy screenplay follows five individuals who are stirred confined in a off-grid cottage under the hostile manipulation of Kyra, a possessed female inhabited by a antiquated sacred-era entity. Be warned to be captivated by a visual spectacle that merges bodily fright with legendary tales, premiering on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demonic control has been a well-established narrative in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is flipped when the malevolences no longer emerge from elsewhere, but rather deep within. This marks the most sinister dimension of the group. The result is a emotionally raw spiritual tug-of-war where the drama becomes a unyielding tug-of-war between heaven and hell.


In a remote forest, five characters find themselves caught under the fiendish rule and possession of a shadowy person. As the victims becomes powerless to oppose her influence, severed and targeted by spirits mind-shattering, they are confronted to stand before their inner demons while the hours without pause moves toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread escalates and connections fracture, pushing each member to evaluate their identity and the structure of autonomy itself. The cost accelerate with every short lapse, delivering a chilling narrative that merges otherworldly suspense with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to extract raw dread, an malevolence that existed before mankind, manifesting in mental cracks, and wrestling with a darkness that threatens selfhood when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra asked for exploring something unfamiliar to reason. She is innocent until the spirit seizes her, and that transition is eerie because it is so visceral.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for home viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—so that streamers worldwide can watch this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its original promo, which has gathered over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has declared that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, bringing the film to a worldwide audience.


Avoid skipping this visceral exploration of dread. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this launch day to witness these nightmarish insights about existence.


For behind-the-scenes access, production news, and announcements from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across Instagram and Twitter and visit our film’s homepage.





The horror genre’s tipping point: the year 2025 domestic schedule blends legend-infused possession, microbudget gut-punches, plus legacy-brand quakes

Ranging from endurance-driven terror rooted in old testament echoes through to brand-name continuations together with sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is coalescing into the most dimensioned together with blueprinted year since the mid-2010s.

Call it full, but it is also focused. top-tier distributors are anchoring the year using marquee IP, in parallel digital services flood the fall with discovery plays together with primordial unease. On another front, the independent cohort is surfing the afterglow of a banner 2024 fest year. As Halloween stays the prime week, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and now, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are targeted, as a result 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Premium genre swings back

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 scales the plan.

the Universal camp fires the first shot with an audacious swing: a modernized Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in an immediate now. Led by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. Slated 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 conversion presented as stripped terror. Under Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

When summer tapers, Warner Bros. sets loose the finale inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson again directs, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: nostalgic menace, trauma centered writing, with ghostly inner logic. The stakes escalate here, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, broadens the animatronic terror cast, courting teens and the thirty something base. It drops in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Offerings: Slim budgets, major punch

With cinemas leaning into known IP, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a room scale body horror descent featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. 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 each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It looks like sharp programming. No overstuffed canon. No canon weight. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy Brands: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, from Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Trend Lines

Mythic lanes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror returns
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Season Ahead: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. 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 trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The oncoming spook lineup: returning titles, original films, as well as A jammed Calendar geared toward shocks

Dek The emerging terror season loads in short order with a January glut, subsequently unfolds through the mid-year, and running into the year-end corridor, fusing legacy muscle, new concepts, and calculated counter-scheduling. Studios and streamers are betting on efficient budgets, big-screen-first runs, and social-driven marketing that elevate horror entries into culture-wide discussion.

Horror momentum into 2026

The genre has grown into the sturdy lever in studio calendars, a vertical that can grow when it connects and still buffer the losses when it fails to connect. After the 2023 year reassured buyers that low-to-mid budget shockers can command the zeitgeist, the following year kept energy high with buzzy auteur projects and surprise hits. The tailwind fed into the 2025 frame, where reboots and arthouse crossovers demonstrated there is space for varied styles, from sequel tracks to fresh IP that play globally. The upshot for the 2026 slate is a lineup that is strikingly coherent across distributors, with intentional bunching, a spread of legacy names and original hooks, and a sharpened eye on theater exclusivity that boost PVOD and platform value on premium digital rental and subscription services.

Schedulers say the horror lane now acts as a versatile piece on the release plan. Horror can roll out on open real estate, yield a quick sell for marketing and shorts, and punch above weight with audiences that appear on previews Thursday and return through the second weekend if the title works. In the wake of a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 pattern indicates belief in that engine. The year launches with a weighty January window, then primes spring and early summer for balance, while reserving space for a autumn push that stretches into holiday-adjacent weekends and past Halloween. The program also highlights the greater integration of arthouse labels and home platforms that can grow from platform, grow buzz, and expand at the optimal moment.

Another broad trend is IP stewardship across connected story worlds and heritage properties. Studios are not just mounting another chapter. They are working to present continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a art treatment that telegraphs a re-angled tone or a lead change that ties a upcoming film to a foundational era. At the concurrently, the directors behind the marquee originals are prioritizing real-world builds, makeup and prosthetics and vivid settings. That combination yields 2026 a solid mix of brand comfort and unexpected turns, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount sets the tone early with two headline releases that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the core, presenting it as both a cross-generational handoff and a DNA-forward character piece. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the tonal posture announces a memory-charged angle without rehashing the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run built on recognizable motifs, first images of characters, and a staggered trailer plan targeting late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will play up. As a summer contrast play, this one will generate mass reach through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format supporting quick reframes to whatever shapes horror talk that spring.

Universal has three unique strategies. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is straightforward, sorrow-tinged, and premise-first: a grieving man sets up an intelligent companion that turns into a harmful mate. The date puts it at the front of a packed window, with the studio’s marketing likely to bring back uncanny live moments and short-cut promos that fuses love and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a title drop to become an event moment closer to the first trailer. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele’s work are set up as director events, with a concept-forward tease and a follow-up trailer set that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The spooky-season slot creates space for Universal to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has long shown that a in-your-face, in-camera leaning approach can feel high-value on a tight budget. Look for a red-band summer horror shock that centers international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio rolls out two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, continuing a trusty supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is marketing as a new take 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 explicit mandate to serve both players and casuals. The fall slot hands Sony window to build assets around lore, and creature work, elements that can drive IMAX and PLF uptake and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day have a peek at these guys with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances Eggers’ run of period horror built on obsessive craft and linguistic texture, this time set against lycan legends. The imprint has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is glowing.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform tactics for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s horror titles window into copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a cadence that fortifies both FOMO and sub growth in the back half. Prime Video combines acquired titles with global pickups and targeted theatrical runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu work their edges in deep cuts, using timely promos, October hubs, and collection rows to extend momentum on the 2026 genre total. Netflix stays nimble about Netflix films and festival acquisitions, timing horror entries near their drops and positioning as event drops drops with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a laddered of targeted cinema placements and prompt platform moves that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a discrete basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to take on select projects with award winners or star-led packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation intensifies.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 runway with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is simple: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, modernized for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has telegraphed a traditional cinema play for the title, an positive signal for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late-season weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, shepherding the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then turning to the year-end corridor to scale. That positioning has been successful for arthouse horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception encourages. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using precision theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Legacy titles versus originals

By weight, 2026 tilts in favor of the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit brand equity. The caveat, as ever, is fatigue. The preferred tactic is to package each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is leading with relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is floating a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-inflected take from a buzzed-about director. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-first projects provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the packaging is recognizable enough to spark pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Recent comps clarify the method. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that preserved streaming windows did not hamper a hybrid test from thriving when the brand was compelling. 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 new when they reframe POV and scale the storytelling. 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 twin-shoot approach, with chapters shot consecutively, lets marketing to thread films through character spine and themes and to keep assets alive without long breaks.

Creative tendencies and craft

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the upcoming entries hint at a continued turn toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that elevates tone and tension rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and era-true language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in long-lead press and craft spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that elevates tone over story, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and drives shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta-horror reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature execution and sets, which lend themselves to con floor moments and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel key. Look for trailers that emphasize fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that play in premium auditoriums.

The schedule at a glance

January is loaded. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid heavier IP. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the spread of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth carries.

Winter into spring build the summer base. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Back half into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil follows September 18, a late-September window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a opaque tease strategy and limited previews that elevate concept over story.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and card redemption.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s virtual companion unfolds into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot 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 returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: atmospheric game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss scramble to survive on a isolated island as the hierarchy swivels and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to terror, shaped by Cronin’s material craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting story that interrogates the chill of a child’s tricky point of view. Rating: pending. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-grade and star-fronted paranormal 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 genre lampoon that teases modern genre fads and true crime fascinations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites detonates, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new household snared by older hauntings. Rating: pending. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward true survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: TBD. Production: ongoing. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-precise speech and primal menace. Rating: TBD. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why this year, why now

Three operational forces structure this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or recalendared in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more structured 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 launches. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work turnkey scare beats from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

There is also the slotting calculus. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will compete across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. 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 come in under $40–$50 million, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where 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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit 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 somber, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, audio design, and cinematography 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

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand power where it counts, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing 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 late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, guard the secrets, and let the frights sell the seats.