Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a hair raising chiller, streaming October 2025 across leading streamers

An chilling supernatural scare-fest from screenwriter / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an prehistoric dread when drifters become subjects in a malevolent ceremony. Hitting screens this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes Movies, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping episode of perseverance and timeless dread that will reimagine terror storytelling this season. Guided by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and atmospheric screenplay follows five figures who regain consciousness stuck in a isolated shack under the dark influence of Kyra, a troubled woman consumed by a prehistoric biblical force. Be prepared to be hooked by a theatrical spectacle that blends bone-deep fear with ancestral stories, debuting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a iconic fixture in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is turned on its head when the entities no longer descend externally, but rather internally. This represents the malevolent shade of all involved. The result is a enthralling emotional conflict where the story becomes a soul-crushing face-off between right and wrong.


In a wilderness-stricken forest, five characters find themselves marooned under the sinister grip and spiritual invasion of a shadowy figure. As the companions becomes incapable to deny her grasp, cut off and stalked by terrors inconceivable, they are forced to wrestle with their raw vulnerabilities while the seconds unceasingly ticks onward toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust mounts and connections disintegrate, pressuring each survivor to question their personhood and the idea of autonomy itself. The danger mount with every instant, delivering a paranormal ride that fuses occult fear with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to awaken primitive panic, an spirit older than civilization itself, influencing emotional vulnerability, and exposing a spirit that threatens selfhood when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra required summoning something outside normal anguish. She is insensitive until the takeover begins, and that metamorphosis is emotionally raw because it is so close.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for audiences beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—providing households no matter where they are can witness this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its first preview, which has earned over 100,000 views.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, offering the tale to thrill-seekers globally.


Tune in for this life-altering voyage through terror. Enter *Young & Cursed* this launch day to witness these nightmarish insights about existence.


For bonus footage, special features, and reveals from behind the lens, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across your socials and visit the film’s website.





Current horror’s sea change: the year 2025 American release plan braids together ancient-possession motifs, signature indie scares, together with Franchise Rumbles

Moving from pressure-cooker survival tales infused with biblical myth and including installment follow-ups as well as incisive indie visions, 2025 stands to become the richest as well as strategic year in years.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. Top studios lock in tentpoles with franchise anchors, simultaneously platform operators pack the fall with emerging auteurs and mythic dread. On the independent axis, the independent cohort is catching the momentum of a peak 2024 circuit. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, notably this year, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are exacting, hence 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige terror resurfaces

The top end is active. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s slate sets the tone with a marquee bet: a contemporary Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, but a crisp modern milieu. Under director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. timed for mid January, it joins a broader aim to occupy winter’s quiet with elevated titles, not leftovers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Eli Craig directs featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early reactions hint at fangs.

As summer eases, Warner Bros. Pictures unveils the final movement of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson returns, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: throwback unease, trauma as theme, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The bar is raised this go, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The follow up digs further into canon, broadens the animatronic terror cast, speaking to teens and older millennials. It bows in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Firsts: Economy, maximum dread

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it is expected to spark online debate and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian before it.

On the quieter side is Together, a body horror chamber piece starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the narrative traces love and jealousy and self contempt into body collapse. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: 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

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

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 is a clever angle. No bloated mythology. No legacy baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Brands: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

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

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

Trends to Watch

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

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

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

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

What’s Next: Fall crush plus winter X factor

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The upcoming fear year to come: brand plays, original films, together with A packed Calendar tailored for jolts

Dek The upcoming scare calendar loads from day one with a January cluster, then runs through the summer months, and pushing into the year-end corridor, weaving brand equity, untold stories, and smart counterplay. Major distributors and platforms are embracing responsible budgets, theater-first strategies, and short-form initiatives that frame these films into cross-demo moments.

Horror’s status entering 2026

The field has grown into the surest move in programming grids, a corner that can spike when it breaks through and still hedge the downside when it stumbles. After 2023 showed executives that efficiently budgeted chillers can lead cultural conversation, 2024 maintained heat with auteur-driven buzzy films and under-the-radar smashes. The carry carried into 2025, where revived properties and arthouse crossovers highlighted there is capacity for a spectrum, from brand follow-ups to one-and-done originals that resonate abroad. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a programming that seems notably aligned across the major shops, with clear date clusters, a blend of legacy names and first-time concepts, and a renewed emphasis on theater exclusivity that increase tail monetization on premium home window and OTT platforms.

Schedulers say the genre now slots in as a fill-in ace on the rollout map. Horror can launch on numerous frames, generate a easy sell for creative and shorts, and outstrip with ticket buyers that appear on opening previews and continue through the week two if the offering connects. Emerging from a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 plan underscores faith in that dynamic. The year launches with a busy January stretch, then leans on spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while clearing room for a fall corridor that pushes into All Hallows period and into early November. The map also includes the ongoing integration of specialty distributors and streamers that can stage a platform run, build word of mouth, and move wide at the proper time.

A further high-level trend is brand curation across shared IP webs and storied titles. Studio teams are not just mounting another chapter. They are working to present ongoing narrative with a headline quality, whether that is a title treatment that indicates a new tone or a lead change that reconnects a fresh chapter to a early run. At the in tandem, the writer-directors behind the headline-grabbing originals are prioritizing material texture, real effects and location-forward worlds. That click site fusion delivers the 2026 slate a solid mix of comfort and unexpected turns, which is why the genre exports well.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount establishes early momentum with two prominent titles that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the core, signaling it as both a relay and a DNA-forward character-focused installment. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the tonal posture signals a fan-service aware treatment without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign leaning on recognizable motifs, intro reveals, and a rollout cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

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 in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will spotlight. As a summer relief option, this one will drive mass reach through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick turns to whatever owns genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three distinct bets. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is crisp, tragic, and easily pitched: a grieving man adopts an synthetic partner that becomes a dangerous lover. The date positions it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to bring back off-kilter promo beats and short-form creative that threads romance and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a official title to become an headline beat closer to the early tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s work are positioned as auteur events, with a concept-forward tease and a next wave of trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The pre-Halloween slot gives the studio room to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has demonstrated that a visceral, prosthetic-heavy style can feel prestige on a moderate cost. Expect a blood-soaked summer horror rush that embraces global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio mounts two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, extending a trusty supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is presenting as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both core fans and new audiences. The fall slot lets Sony to build promo materials around mythos, and practical creature work, elements that can lift premium screens and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror driven by immersive craft and linguistic texture, this time steeped in lycan lore. Focus Features has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a bold stance in Eggers as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is strong.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform tactics for 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal titles land on copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a pacing that amplifies both week-one demand and sign-up spikes in the later phase. Prime Video stitches together library titles with global originals and brief theater runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library pulls, using in-app campaigns, holiday hubs, and editorial rows to stretch the tail on the horror cume. Netflix stays nimble about Netflix originals and festival grabs, confirming horror entries with shorter lead times and positioning as event drops rollouts with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a laddered of tailored theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a selective basis. The platform has been willing to secure select projects with accomplished filmmakers 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’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for platform stickiness when the genre conversation ramps.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 slate with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is direct: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, updated for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a standard theatrical run for the title, an positive signal for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the fall weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday corridor to go wider. That positioning has been successful for prestige horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception justifies. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using limited theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their user base.

Balance of brands and originals

By skew, 2026 is weighted toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit franchise value. The risk, as ever, is viewer burnout. The preferred tactic is to package each entry as a new angle. Paramount is emphasizing relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-tinted vision from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the assembly is recognizable enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and advance-audience nights.

The last three-year set illuminate the template. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that maintained windows did not hamper a hybrid test from thriving when the brand was compelling. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror hit big in PLF. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel new when they reframe POV and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, allows marketing to bridge entries through personae and themes and to hold creative in the market without hiatuses.

How the look and feel evolve

The filmmaking conversations behind 2026 horror signal a continued emphasis on tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the in-camera 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 cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and medieval diction, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in craft profiles and technical spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that withholds plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and sparks shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta recalibration that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on monster realization and design, which match well with con floor moments and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel definitive. Look for trailers that elevate precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that explode in larger rooms.

Annual flow

January is jammed. 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 quiet contrast amid marquee brands. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the range of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth carries.

Early-year through spring tee up summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 bows February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls 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 comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Shoulder season into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a pre-October slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited teasers that favor idea over plot.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and card redemption.

Film-by-film briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s virtual companion evolves into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal 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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: aura-driven 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 severe boss scramble to survive on a uninhabited island as the chain of command tilts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to horror, grounded in Cronin’s on-set craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting tale that filters its scares through a child’s unreliable personal vantage. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-crafted and star-led spirit-world 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 parody return that riffs on of-the-moment horror beats and true crime fervors. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: fall 2025 production window. 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 erupts, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new household entangled with past horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: trusted supernatural label in a supportive window.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A reboot designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward pure survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: closely held. Rating: undetermined. Production: continuing. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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 bone-deep menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. 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 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 shuffled in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more orderly about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest social-ready stingers from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

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 send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

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

The 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 maximize those pockets. 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 momentum and variety. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, 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 preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like 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 earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, sound field, and visual design that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Looks Exciting

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand heft where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for 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-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the fear sell the seats.