Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases mythic darkness, a nightmare fueled supernatural thriller, landing October 2025 on premium platforms

This haunting otherworldly suspense story from author / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an age-old terror when drifters become pawns in a cursed ritual. Available on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, the YouTube platform, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking tale of perseverance and timeless dread that will reimagine the horror genre this autumn. Created by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and eerie screenplay follows five figures who snap to stranded in a cut-off cottage under the malevolent grip of Kyra, a female presence inhabited by a 2,000-year-old religious nightmare. Prepare to be gripped by a screen-based event that fuses gut-punch terror with ancestral stories, dropping on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a recurring fixture in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is reimagined when the entities no longer descend from beyond, but rather inside them. This mirrors the most terrifying corner of each of them. The result is a psychologically brutal psychological battle where the tension becomes a ongoing struggle between heaven and hell.


In a wilderness-stricken wilderness, five campers find themselves confined under the fiendish control and haunting of a unknown female figure. As the ensemble becomes unable to evade her manipulation, detached and chased by forces impossible to understand, they are cornered to battle their core terrors while the doomsday meter brutally runs out toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia amplifies and partnerships fracture, pressuring each person to rethink their existence and the structure of conscious will itself. The danger grow with every heartbeat, delivering a nightmarish journey that marries spiritual fright with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to channel primal fear, an malevolence born of forgotten ages, emerging via fragile psyche, and testing a force that strips down our being when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra was about accessing something past sanity. She is uninformed until the evil takes hold, and that shift is terrifying because it is so unshielded.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for digital release beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—delivering viewers anywhere can get immersed in this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its intro video, which has garnered over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has confirmed that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, giving access to the movie to fans of fear everywhere.


Avoid skipping this gripping ride through nightmares. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to confront these terrifying truths about our species.


For teasers, production news, and press updates from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YACFilm across online outlets and visit the movie’s homepage.





Horror’s watershed moment: the 2025 cycle American release plan weaves myth-forward possession, microbudget gut-punches, and IP aftershocks

Ranging from endurance-driven terror steeped in ancient scripture as well as franchise returns set beside incisive indie visions, 2025 stands to become the most dimensioned and deliberate year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. the big studios plant stakes across the year by way of signature titles, even as OTT services pack the fall with discovery plays set against mythic dread. Meanwhile, indie storytellers is fueled by the backdraft from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween stays the prime week, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. A packed September to October corridor has become a rite of passage, but this year, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are exacting, so 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Premium dread reemerges

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal kicks off the frame with a statement play: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, but a crisp modern milieu. Under director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Slated for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. From director Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s slate drops the final chapter from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson re engages, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: nostalgic menace, trauma as theme, plus otherworld rules that chill. Here the stakes rise, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The next entry deepens the tale, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, courting teens and the thirty something base. It bows in December, securing the winter cap.

SVOD Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

With cinemas leaning into known IP, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a body horror duet featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is destined for a fall landing.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn with 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. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all tap into themes of grief, disappearance, and identity, often using horror as metaphor instead of spectacle.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, 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.

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 is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It reads as sharp positioning. No bloated mythology. No canon weight. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

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.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

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

Legacy Lines: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, with Francis Lawrence directing, 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.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

What to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror reemerges
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Projection: Autumn density and winter pivot

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The next chiller slate: next chapters, filmmaker-first projects, and also A brimming Calendar tailored for goosebumps

Dek: The brand-new horror calendar loads immediately with a January traffic jam, then runs through the summer months, and running into the holiday frame, braiding series momentum, inventive spins, and tactical offsets. Studios and platforms are prioritizing tight budgets, theater-first strategies, and influencer-ready assets that turn horror entries into national conversation.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror has become the consistent counterweight in distribution calendars, a segment that can expand when it breaks through and still mitigate the exposure when it falls short. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for leaders that cost-conscious genre plays can dominate audience talk, 2024 kept energy high with signature-voice projects and stealth successes. The tailwind translated to the 2025 frame, where reboots and awards-minded projects made clear there is space for many shades, from series extensions to original features that travel well. The result for 2026 is a run that feels more orchestrated than usual across the industry, with planned clusters, a balance of familiar brands and novel angles, and a reinvigorated commitment on release windows that feed downstream value on premium video on demand and platforms.

Insiders argue the space now performs as a wildcard on the programming map. Horror can premiere on numerous frames, supply a clear pitch for trailers and vertical videos, and punch above weight with moviegoers that appear on opening previews and hold through the subsequent weekend if the picture fires. After a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 plan shows faith in that setup. The year kicks off with a crowded January lineup, then uses spring and early summer for balance, while leaving room for a autumn stretch that pushes into the Halloween corridor and beyond. The grid also features the greater integration of indie distributors and streaming partners that can platform a title, build word of mouth, and widen at the right moment.

A second macro trend is brand management across brand ecosystems and veteran brands. Big banners are not just producing another follow-up. They are setting up threaded continuity with a specialness, whether that is a logo package that broadcasts a fresh attitude or a casting move that anchors a fresh chapter to a heyday. At the parallel to that, the auteurs behind the top original plays are returning to hands-on technique, real effects and distinct locales. That mix affords the 2026 slate a smart balance of familiarity and freshness, which is why the genre exports well.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount fires first with two centerpiece entries that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the center, positioning the film as both a passing of the torch and a rootsy relationship-driven entry. Filming get redirected here is underway in Atlanta, and the creative posture conveys a heritage-honoring campaign without covering again the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Expect a marketing push driven by heritage visuals, character previews, and a two-beat trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

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 back together, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will feature. As a summer counter-slot, this one will build wide appeal through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick updates to whatever dominates horror talk that spring.

Universal has three specific pushes. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is crisp, melancholic, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man adopts an machine companion that unfolds into a deadly partner. The date slots it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s marketing likely to reprise uncanny live moments and brief clips that mixes intimacy and fear.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a title reveal to become an attention spike closer to the teaser. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele titles are branded as must-see filmmaker statements, with a minimalist tease and a second beat that define feel without revealing the concept. The prime October weekend offers Universal room to fill 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, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has established that a raw, practical-effects forward method can feel top-tier on a mid-range budget. Position this as a gore-forward summer horror blast that centers international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio lines up two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film click to read more bows August 21, 2026, holding a steady supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is billing as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both core fans and newcomers. The fall slot provides the studio time to build materials around lore, and creature work, elements that can lift IMAX and PLF uptake and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by rigorous craft and period language, this time focused on werewolf legend. The distributor has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is strong.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Windowing plans in 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s horror titles land on copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a ladder that amplifies both premiere heat and subscription bumps in the later window. Prime Video will mix library titles with cross-border buys and small theatrical windows when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library pulls, using featured rows, October hubs, and staff picks to sustain interest on 2026 genre cume. Netflix keeps optionality about own-slate titles and festival wins, securing horror entries closer to launch and framing as events launches with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a two-step of precision theatrical plays and fast windowing that drives paid trials from buzz. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has indicated interest to purchase select projects with accomplished filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for sustained usage when the genre conversation spikes.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is curating a 2026 lane with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is tight: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, reimagined for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a cinema-first plan for the title, an good sign for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the October weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, piloting the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then relying on the Christmas window to scale. That positioning has been successful for auteur horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not announced many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception allows. Plan on 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 hand in hand, using boutique theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Legacy titles versus originals

By proportion, 2026 tips toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use brand equity. The watch-out, as ever, is viewer burnout. The operating solution is to brand each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is emphasizing character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a continental coloration from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. 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 brings period specificity and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the package is known enough to generate pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

Past-three-year patterns illuminate the template. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that observed windows did not foreclose a simultaneous release test from performing when the brand was powerful. In 2024, director-craft horror outperformed in premium large format. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they alter lens and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances 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 shot in tandem, builds a path for marketing to connect the chapters through personae and themes and to continue assets in field without pause points.

Behind-the-camera trends

The craft conversations behind this slate indicate a continued lean toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that emphasizes creep and texture rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in long-lead features and technical spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that leans on mood over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is tuned for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that sells overseas in red-band trailers and sparks shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a self-referential reset that centers its original star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature design and production design, which lend themselves to convention activations and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel primary. Look for trailers that accent hyper-detailed sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that land in big rooms.

The schedule at a glance

January is loaded. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid bigger brand plays. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the variety of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

Pre-summer months tee up summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now can handle big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier 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 serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late summer into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a late-September window that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film books October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited information drops that elevate concept over story.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then working critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card spend.

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 pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s core. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s artificial companion escalates into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

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 shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 tough boss push to survive on a desolate island as the control balance flips and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 in the vault in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to horror, anchored by Cronin’s hands-on craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting setup that teases the terror of a child’s inconsistent point of view. Rating: rating pending. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-built and star-fronted 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 the creative mix. Logline: {A satirical comeback that lampoons hot-button genre motifs and true-crime obsessions. Rating: TBD. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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 surges, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new clan caught in older hauntings. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A fresh restart designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward classic survival-horror tone over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: on a development track with locked window. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: closely held. Rating: TBD. Production: moving forward. 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 era-accurate language and elemental fear. Rating: to be announced. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026, why now

Three workable forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that paused or shifted in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming launches. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest bite-size scare clips from test screenings, metered scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

There is also the slotting calculus. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, creating valuable space for genre entries that can control a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will line up across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, 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 sleeper chase continues in Q1, where midrange-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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two 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 build month to month, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, sound field, 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.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand gravity where needed, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, guard the secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.