Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed unleashes mythic darkness, a fear soaked thriller, premiering Oct 2025 across top streaming platforms

One bone-chilling otherworldly thriller from creator / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, awakening an mythic force when outsiders become puppets in a cursed experiment. Streaming October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking story of staying alive and forgotten curse that will remodel scare flicks this autumn. Created by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and eerie story follows five young adults who regain consciousness isolated in a secluded shelter under the oppressive power of Kyra, a female lead controlled by a timeless religious nightmare. Arm yourself to be ensnared by a visual event that intertwines bodily fright with arcane tradition, coming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a recurring concept in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is inverted when the monsters no longer originate from elsewhere, but rather from their core. This symbolizes the malevolent shade of the group. The result is a harrowing cognitive warzone where the story becomes a ongoing confrontation between purity and corruption.


In a unforgiving landscape, five characters find themselves cornered under the possessive effect and control of a enigmatic character. As the team becomes paralyzed to reject her control, isolated and followed by unknowns beyond comprehension, they are cornered to encounter their greatest panics while the moments unceasingly draws closer toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion deepens and ties dissolve, pushing each member to challenge their character and the notion of volition itself. The danger magnify with every instant, delivering a scare-fueled ride that weaves together demonic fright with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to extract elemental fright, an curse born of forgotten ages, manifesting in fragile psyche, and exposing a curse that questions who we are when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra demanded embodying something more primal than sorrow. She is in denial until the demon emerges, and that change is haunting because it is so private.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for horror fans beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—giving watchers internationally can survive this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its initial teaser, which has collected over 100,000 views.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, presenting the nightmare to scare fans abroad.


Join this life-altering trip into the unknown. Face *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to witness these haunting secrets about the psyche.


For bonus footage, special features, and alerts from the creators, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across online outlets and visit the movie portal.





Current horror’s inflection point: the 2025 cycle American release plan blends primeval-possession lore, signature indie scares, plus IP aftershocks

Moving from endurance-driven terror steeped in ancient scripture through to installment follow-ups set beside sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is emerging as the genre’s most multifaceted as well as strategic year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. studio powerhouses lock in tentpoles using marquee IP, while platform operators stack the fall with emerging auteurs in concert with ancient terrors. Across the art-house lane, festival-forward creators is drafting behind the tailwinds of a banner 2024 fest year. Since Halloween is the prized date, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, however this time, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are exacting, accordingly 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige terror resurfaces

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal camp opens the year with a headline swing: a modernized Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, but a crisp modern milieu. Guided by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. arriving mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Guided by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

As summer eases, the Warner Bros. banner delivers the closing chapter from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Though the outline is tried, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson returns, and those signature textures resurface: retrograde shiver, trauma as narrative engine, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The ante is higher this round, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The return delves further into myth, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It books December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streaming Firsts: Modest spend, serious shock

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

In the mix sits Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga starring Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Shaped and helmed 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 darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith bypasses ritual, she awakens from trauma, repression, and human fragility. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No overinflated mythology. No IP hangover. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You are getting buzz not just for their titles but for their execution. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy IP: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, with Francis Lawrence directing, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Signals and Trends

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror resurges
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Near Term Outlook: Fall pileup, winter curveball

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift 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.

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 terror release year: follow-ups, original films, together with A Crowded Calendar aimed at frights

Dek The new genre calendar stacks at the outset with a January pile-up, subsequently spreads through the warm months, and carrying into the festive period, weaving franchise firepower, original angles, and well-timed calendar placement. Studios and platforms are betting on responsible budgets, theatrical-first rollouts, and buzz-forward plans that turn these pictures into cross-demo moments.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The genre has emerged as the steady swing in release strategies, a corner that can surge when it catches and still hedge the drawdown when it under-delivers. After 2023 reassured greenlighters that low-to-mid budget pictures can command the discourse, the following year maintained heat with buzzy auteur projects and unexpected risers. The momentum extended into the 2025 frame, where revivals and critical darlings highlighted there is demand for varied styles, from brand follow-ups to original features that travel well. The result for 2026 is a lineup that is strikingly coherent across the field, with defined corridors, a mix of legacy names and untested plays, and a sharpened commitment on release windows that enhance post-theatrical value on PVOD and home streaming.

Planners observe the category now operates like a flex slot on the grid. The genre can debut on virtually any date, yield a easy sell for teasers and social clips, and lead with patrons that arrive on Thursday nights and continue through the week two if the offering lands. Post a work stoppage lag, the 2026 pattern telegraphs comfort in that playbook. The year gets underway with a thick January schedule, then leans on spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while leaving room for a September to October window that flows toward the Halloween corridor and beyond. The schedule also includes the increasing integration of specialized imprints and streaming partners that can launch in limited release, grow buzz, and expand at the right moment.

Another broad trend is brand management across shared universes and legacy franchises. Big banners are not just rolling another chapter. They are working to present continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a art treatment that telegraphs a new vibe or a ensemble decision that reconnects a next entry to a classic era. At the same time, the filmmakers behind the marquee originals are celebrating material texture, makeup and prosthetics and concrete locations. That pairing affords the 2026 slate a strong blend of known notes and shock, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

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

Paramount fires first with two headline moves that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the core, framing it as both a baton pass and a origin-leaning character study. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the narrative stance signals a legacy-leaning framework without recycling the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run stacked with classic imagery, first images of characters, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also relaunches 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 campaign lever the campaign will play up. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will go after mass reach through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format permitting quick pivots to whatever tops the conversation that spring.

Universal has three differentiated lanes. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is clean, melancholic, and easily pitched: a grieving man adopts an synthetic partner that becomes a dangerous lover. The date sets it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s promo team likely to replay viral uncanny stunts and quick hits that melds companionship and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a official title to become an PR pop closer to the first look. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. The filmmaker’s films are sold as creative events, with a teaser that reveals little and a follow-up trailer set that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date gives the studio room to lead 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, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has demonstrated that a gnarly, in-camera leaning style can feel cinematic on a lean spend. Frame it as a blood-soaked summer horror charge that centers international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio rolls out two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, carrying a proven supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is describing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a directive to serve both core fans and casuals. The fall slot gives Sony time to build materials around environmental design, and monster design, elements that can lift premium screens and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by minute detail and archaic language, this time steeped in lycan lore. The company has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a confidence marker in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is robust.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform tactics for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s releases feed copyright after a box-office phase then PVOD, a stair-step that elevates both FOMO and platform bumps in the after-window. Prime Video will mix outside acquisitions with worldwide entries and limited cinema engagements when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in back-catalog play, using featured rows, fright rows, and curated rows to keep attention on the 2026 genre total. Netflix remains opportunistic about in-house releases and festival deals, securing horror entries closer to drop and eventizing arrivals with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a one-two of limited theatrical footprints and swift platform pivots that translates talk to trials. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a situational basis. The platform has proven amenable to invest in select projects with accomplished filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for sustained usage when the genre conversation ramps.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 pipeline with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is clear: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, upgraded for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has suggested a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the October weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, managing the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then using the holiday slot to widen. That positioning has helped for prestige horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception supports. Do not be surprised by 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 concert, using precision theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their user base.

Series vs standalone

By proportion, the 2026 slate tips toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage household recognition. The potential drawback, as ever, is viewer burnout. The standing approach is to position each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is leading with character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is floating a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-accented approach from a buzzed-about director. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and filmmaker-led entries bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a island-set survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the package is familiar enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Comps from the last three years clarify the plan. In 2023, a exclusive window model that observed windows did not hamper a day-and-date experiment from hitting when the brand was big. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror exceeded expectations in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they angle differently and increase ambition. 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 filmed consecutively, creates space for marketing to tie installments through character and theme and to hold creative in the market without long breaks.

How the look and feel evolve

The shop talk behind this year’s genre indicate a continued preference for material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that foregrounds grain and menace rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in long-lead features and artisan spotlights before rolling out a preview that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and spurs shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta reframe that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil click site will fly or stall on creature craft and set design, which work nicely for convention activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel necessary. Look for trailers that spotlight hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that land in big rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is stacked. 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 quiet contrast amid headline IP. The month caps 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 spread of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

February through May load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds 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 playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

Back half into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited disclosures that stress concept over spoilers.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and card redemption.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s AI companion turns into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a get redirected here trilogy broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. 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 demanding boss try to survive on a cut-off island as the chain of command reverses and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to dread, driven by Cronin’s in-camera craft and oozing dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A family-home haunting premise that frames the panic through a kid’s flickering personal vantage. Rating: TBA. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-financed and name-above-title supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A comic send-up that lampoons of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fervors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: principal photography set for 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 spreads, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a fresh family lashed to residual nightmares. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-first horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: TBD. Production: underway. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period-specific language and elemental dread. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. 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 navigate here returns, with a cinema-first path before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 lands now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces frame this lineup. First, production that downshifted or re-sequenced in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and leaner 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 outperformed straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine clippable moments from test screenings, metered scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

The slot calculus is real. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, making room for genre entries that can lead a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will trade weekends across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where lower and mid-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch 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 chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can justify premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, sonics, and picture 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 Is Well Positioned

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is recognizable IP where it plays, new vision where it lands, 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 late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, keep the secrets, and let the fear sell the seats.