Age-old Evil Returns within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising chiller, arriving Oct 2025 on major platforms

One unnerving mystic scare-fest from creator / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an forgotten force when unrelated individuals become conduits in a hellish maze. Streaming October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a intense journey of living through and archaic horror that will transform fear-driven cinema this Halloween season. Created by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and emotionally thick cinema piece follows five people who find themselves imprisoned in a secluded hideaway under the oppressive control of Kyra, a young woman possessed by a timeless biblical force. Ready yourself to be hooked by a big screen presentation that unites soul-chilling terror with biblical origins, streaming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a time-honored pillar in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is twisted when the entities no longer form from external sources, but rather deep within. This illustrates the most terrifying side of the victims. The result is a enthralling inner struggle where the tension becomes a ongoing tug-of-war between moral forces.


In a isolated landscape, five youths find themselves stuck under the ghastly control and grasp of a elusive female figure. As the protagonists becomes unresisting to combat her control, detached and tormented by creatures unnamable, they are made to face their worst nightmares while the final hour unceasingly strikes toward their demise.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion builds and bonds fracture, coercing each soul to evaluate their core and the integrity of independent thought itself. The hazard climb with every beat, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that merges otherworldly panic with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to dig into primitive panic, an threat rooted in antiquity, influencing our weaknesses, and confronting a spirit that forces self-examination when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra needed manifesting something past sanity. She is uninformed until the curse activates, and that conversion is terrifying because it is so personal.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be released for streaming beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—delivering viewers across the world can survive this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its original promo, which has racked up over a viral response.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, taking the terror to a global viewership.


Make sure to see this cinematic trip into the unknown. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to explore these spiritual awakenings about free will.


For exclusive trailers, on-set glimpses, and news from behind the lens, follow @YACFilm across your favorite networks and visit our spooky domain.





Modern horror’s watershed moment: 2025 across markets domestic schedule Mixes legend-infused possession, indie terrors, plus legacy-brand quakes

Spanning grit-forward survival fare rooted in scriptural legend to canon extensions together with sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is coalescing into the most complex in tandem with deliberate year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. Top studios lock in tentpoles with established lines, in tandem streaming platforms load up the fall with fresh voices paired with mythic dread. Meanwhile, the artisan tier is riding the tailwinds from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. Since Halloween is the prized date, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A fat September–October lane is customary now, notably this year, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are exacting, thus 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige fear returns

The majors are assertive. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s distribution arm sets the tone with a confident swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in a modern-day environment. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. set for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Eli Craig directs with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

When summer fades, Warner Bros. Pictures delivers the closing chapter from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Granted the structure is classic, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Next is The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson resumes command, and those signature textures resurface: period tinged dread, trauma explicitly handled, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This time the stakes climb, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The next entry deepens the tale, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It hits in December, buttoning the final window.

Streamer Exclusives: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a sealed box body horror arc led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. That is a savvy move. No bloated canon. No series drag. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festivals as Springboards

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

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. Marketed correctly, it could be The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

Key Trends

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

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

What’s Next: Fall crush plus winter X factor

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

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. 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: Sequels, original films, together with A brimming Calendar geared toward goosebumps

Dek: The arriving scare slate crams immediately with a January traffic jam, from there unfolds through the warm months, and carrying into the year-end corridor, braiding franchise firepower, novel approaches, and data-minded offsets. Distributors with platforms are committing to mid-range economics, theatrical exclusivity first, and platform-native promos that shape genre titles into mainstream chatter.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror marketplace has established itself as the sturdy move in programming grids, a corner that can spike when it breaks through and still hedge the downside when it stumbles. After 2023 proved to executives that disciplined-budget chillers can command the discourse, the following year held pace with high-profile filmmaker pieces and sleeper breakouts. The upswing rolled into 2025, where revivals and premium-leaning entries showed there is demand for multiple flavors, from legacy continuations to director-led originals that perform internationally. The end result for the 2026 slate is a lineup that presents tight coordination across studios, with mapped-out bands, a combination of established brands and fresh ideas, and a refocused eye on release windows that feed downstream value on paid VOD and SVOD.

Buyers contend the genre now serves as a plug-and-play option on the schedule. The genre can debut on most weekends, deliver a simple premise for trailers and UGC-friendly snippets, and over-index with patrons that line up on Thursday nights and stick through the week two if the title satisfies. Coming out of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 rhythm signals faith in that model. The year launches with a heavy January window, then leans on spring and early summer for contrast, while leaving room for a late-year stretch that stretches into the Halloween corridor and beyond. The grid also underscores the expanded integration of specialized labels and streaming partners that can platform and widen, generate chatter, and broaden at the precise moment.

An added macro current is series management across ongoing universes and veteran brands. Studio teams are not just rolling another return. They are looking to package threaded continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a graphic identity that flags a fresh attitude or a casting choice that threads a fresh chapter to a first wave. At the same time, the creative teams behind the most anticipated originals are prioritizing real-world builds, in-camera effects and grounded locations. That alloy provides the 2026 slate a confident blend of comfort and surprise, which is what works overseas.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount marks the early tempo with two prominent moves that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the lead, marketing it as both a legacy handover and a back-to-basics character study. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the authorial click to read more approach conveys a legacy-leaning mode without repeating the last two entries’ sibling arc. Plan for a rollout built on iconic art, first-look character reveals, and a two-beat trailer plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is cinema-first via Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects 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 creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will emphasize. As a counterweight in summer, this one will generate wide buzz through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick shifts to whatever leads the social talk that spring.

Universal has three differentiated lanes. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The core idea is simple, somber, and high-concept: a grieving man brings home an machine companion that grows into a murderous partner. The date places it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the Universal machine likely to iterate on viral uncanny stunts and short-form creative that blurs devotion and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a public title to become an fan moment closer to the debut look. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. The filmmaker’s films are set up as signature events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a second wave of trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The spooky-season slot opens a lane to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to 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 directs, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has shown that a blood-soaked, in-camera leaning mix can feel top-tier on a efficient spend. Look for a splatter summer horror hit that pushes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio launches two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, sustaining a consistent supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is marketing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both loyalists and first-timers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build assets around narrative world, and monster craft, elements that can lift format premiums and fan events.

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 follows Eggers’ run of period horror built on careful craft and dialect, this time focused on werewolf legend. The distributor has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is warm.

Streaming windows and tactics

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on well-known grooves. The Universal horror run transition to copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a stair-step that amplifies both debut momentum and viewer acquisition in the after-window. Prime Video interleaves licensed films with worldwide buys and limited cinema engagements when the data points to it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in library curation, using in-app campaigns, holiday hubs, and featured rows to maximize the tail on lifetime take. Netflix stays opportunistic about Netflix films and festival additions, dating horror entries toward the drop and staging as events drops with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a one-two of selective theatrical runs and prompt platform moves that translates talk to trials. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a curated basis. The platform has shown a willingness to acquire select projects with award winners or A-list packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still feeds from 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 setup is uncomplicated: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, retooled 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 signaled a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the late-season weeks.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, marshalling the project through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday slot to move out. That positioning has worked well for elevated genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception warrants. Do not be surprised by an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using boutique theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Legacy titles versus originals

By skew, the 2026 slate tips toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap legacy awareness. The concern, as ever, is brand wear. The practical approach is to package each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is bringing forward relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-inflected take from a new voice. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and talent-first projects add air. 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, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the cast-creatives package is comforting enough to build pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Rolling three-year comps contextualize the plan. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that respected streaming windows did not preclude a parallel release from succeeding when the brand was big. In 2024, art-forward horror outperformed in large-format rooms. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they rotate perspective and increase ambition. 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 back-to-back plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, lets marketing to interlace chapters through character spine and themes and to hold creative in the market without pause points.

Behind-the-camera trends

The craft conversations behind the year’s horror hint at a continued turn toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that foregrounds aura and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in craft profiles and department features before rolling out a teaser that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and creates shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta reframe that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will live or die on creature execution and sets, which lend themselves to fan-con activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel irresistible. Look for trailers that underscore fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that work in PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is loaded. Universal’s 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 foggy reset amid macro-brand pushes. The month ends 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 variety of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth endures.

Late Q1 and spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with brand energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now enables 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 spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

End of summer through fall leans IP. 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 bridge slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a opaque tease strategy and limited previews that favor idea over plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and holiday gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s artificial companion turns 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 coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

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 confront a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. 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 prickly boss fight to survive on a cut-off island as the hierarchy upends and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to nightmare, grounded in Cronin’s tactile craft and suffocating 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 home-set haunting piece that filters its scares through a minor’s shifting inner lens. Rating: rating pending. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A parody reboot that targets present-day genre chatter and true crime preoccupations. Rating: TBD. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

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 ignites, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new household linked to lingering terrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: pending. Logline: A reboot designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: not yet rated. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: undetermined. Production: in progress. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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 primordial menace. Rating: pending. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. 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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why the moment is 2026

Three execution-level forces define this lineup. First, production that decelerated or rearranged in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more strict 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 landings. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on clippable moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it delivers.

A fourth factor is programming math. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can lead a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will stack across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

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

The surprise-hit pursuit 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 unexpected 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, aural design, and imagery 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.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand power where it counts, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the chills sell the seats.