Antediluvian Dread Surfaces within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nightmare fueled horror feature, launching October 2025 across global platforms

A spine-tingling otherworldly horror tale from narrative craftsman / director Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an archaic nightmare when passersby become puppets in a satanic ordeal. Premiering this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching chronicle of living through and prehistoric entity that will revamp the horror genre this Halloween season. Brought to life by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and emotionally thick fearfest follows five lost souls who snap to stranded in a cut-off structure under the malevolent influence of Kyra, a haunted figure inhabited by a timeless ancient fiend. Brace yourself to be drawn in by a cinematic ride that harmonizes visceral dread with biblical origins, landing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a time-honored theme in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is radically shifted when the entities no longer emerge from beyond, but rather through their own souls. This embodies the most sinister element of these individuals. The result is a enthralling spiritual tug-of-war where the events becomes a unforgiving push-pull between heaven and hell.


In a unforgiving terrain, five characters find themselves cornered under the unholy sway and haunting of a elusive character. As the victims becomes defenseless to evade her control, marooned and attacked by entities beyond reason, they are forced to stand before their core terrors while the doomsday meter brutally ticks onward toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety mounts and bonds break, requiring each soul to challenge their essence and the concept of decision-making itself. The consequences grow with every minute, delivering a chilling narrative that combines unearthly horror with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to evoke core terror, an entity before modern man, manipulating our fears, and examining a spirit that erodes the self when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra was centered on something beyond human emotion. She is innocent until the evil takes hold, and that transformation is terrifying because it is so emotional.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for public screening beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—allowing customers anywhere can engage with this terrifying film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its first trailer, which has collected over massive response.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, delivering the story to a global viewership.


Avoid skipping this soul-jarring exploration of dread. Experience *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to see these terrifying truths about the psyche.


For behind-the-scenes access, behind-the-scenes content, and reveals from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across platforms and visit youngandcursed.com.





Horror’s pivotal crossroads: 2025 in focus U.S. rollouts integrates primeval-possession lore, independent shockers, in parallel with brand-name tremors

Beginning with survivor-centric dread suffused with legendary theology and including returning series in concert with incisive indie visions, 2025 looks like the genre’s most multifaceted along with intentionally scheduled year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. major banners hold down the year by way of signature titles, at the same time streamers pack the fall with first-wave breakthroughs in concert with ancient terrors. In parallel, the independent cohort is drafting behind the kinetic energy from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. As Halloween stays the prime week, the year beyond October is carefully apportioned. The fall stretch is the proving field, and in 2025, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are surgical, therefore 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige terror resurfaces

The majors are assertive. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 doubles down.

Universal leads off the quarter with a bold swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, but a sharp contemporary setting. Directed by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Slated for mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. From director Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

When summer tapers, Warner Bros. Pictures releases the last chapter within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment promises emotional closure while taking on one of the duo’s most infamous real life cases. Even if the pattern is recognizable, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the memorable motifs return: nostalgic menace, trauma as text, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The ante is higher this round, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The continuation widens the legend, broadens the animatronic terror cast, speaking to teens and older millennials. It posts in December, cornering year end horror.

SVOD Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

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

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a body horror duet fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Authored and directed 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. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It is a calculated bet. No bloated canon. No series drag. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy IP: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

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

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, helmed 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.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror swings back
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Forecast: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The next scare slate: next chapters, standalone ideas, in tandem with A hectic Calendar designed for Scares

Dek: The incoming terror slate packs right away with a January traffic jam, following that spreads through midyear, and continuing into the December corridor, braiding marquee clout, new voices, and shrewd counterweight. The major players are embracing tight budgets, cinema-first plans, and buzz-forward plans that transform genre releases into cross-demo moments.

The genre’s posture for 2026

The field has become the surest counterweight in distribution calendars, a vertical that can scale when it lands and still mitigate the downside when it under-delivers. After the 2023 year reminded decision-makers that responsibly budgeted chillers can galvanize the discourse, 2024 continued the surge with filmmaker-forward plays and stealth successes. The carry moved into 2025, where reawakened brands and arthouse crossovers signaled there is room for several lanes, from sequel tracks to standalone ideas that export nicely. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a lineup that appears tightly organized across distributors, with strategic blocks, a pairing of legacy names and first-time concepts, and a sharpened commitment on box-office windows that power the aftermarket on premium rental and streaming.

Marketers add the genre now serves as a schedule utility on the calendar. Horror can roll out on virtually any date, deliver a tight logline for ad units and UGC-friendly snippets, and outstrip with viewers that turn out on first-look nights and stick through the subsequent weekend if the feature hits. In the wake of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 cadence underscores trust in that model. The slate starts with a loaded January band, then uses spring and early summer for audience offsets, while carving room for a September to October window that carries into late October and into post-Halloween. The gridline also reflects the ongoing integration of specialty distributors and streaming partners that can grow from platform, stoke social talk, and expand at the sweet spot.

A companion trend is franchise tending across shared universes and classic IP. Studio teams are not just making another chapter. They are shaping as threaded continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a title design that announces a re-angled tone or a casting choice that anchors a latest entry to a early run. At the alongside this, the directors behind the marquee originals are leaning into material texture, practical gags and specific settings. That combination gives the 2026 slate a smart balance of trust and invention, which is how the genre sells abroad.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount sets the tone early with two prominent projects that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the core, setting it up as both a lineage transfer and a heritage-centered character-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the artistic posture conveys a heritage-honoring approach without looping the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive driven by legacy iconography, first-look character reveals, and a rollout cadence targeting late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are joining up again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will feature. As a summer contrast play, this one will build wide appeal through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format making room for quick turns to whatever leads genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three specific plays. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is efficient, heartbroken, and commercial: a grieving man installs an digital partner that unfolds into a deadly partner. The date lines it up at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s team likely to echo off-kilter promo beats and micro spots that threads companionship and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books 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 release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a title drop to become an teaser payoff closer to the first trailer. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. The filmmaker’s films are sold as creative events, with a teaser that holds back and a next wave of trailers that signal tone without plot the concept. The late-month date creates space for Universal to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has demonstrated that a gritty, hands-on effects mix can feel elevated on a mid-range budget. Expect a hard-R summer horror rush that centers global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio lines up two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, carrying a proven supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is presenting as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both longtime followers and fresh viewers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build artifacts around canon, and monster design, elements that can lift deluxe auditorium demand and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on careful craft and historical speech, this time orbiting lycan myth. The specialty arm has already set the date for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is favorable.

How the platforms plan to play it

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s releases shift to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a stair-step that optimizes both FOMO and subscription bumps in the later phase. Prime Video continues to mix catalogue additions with world buys and limited runs in theaters when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library curation, using editorial spots, spooky hubs, and featured rows to increase tail value on 2026 genre cume. Netflix retains agility about original films and festival additions, securing horror entries near launch and staging as events rollouts with compressed campaigns. Shudder, this contact form integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a hybrid of precision releases and rapid platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a discrete basis. The platform has signaled readiness to purchase select projects with recognized filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for platform stickiness when the genre conversation heats up.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 lane with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is clean: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, refined for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has signaled a big-screen first plan for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the autumn stretch.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, marshalling the project through festival season if the cut is ready, then working the holiday frame to expand. That positioning has worked well for filmmaker-first horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception allows. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using boutique theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Franchises versus originals

By proportion, the 2026 slate leans in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use cultural cachet. The concern, as ever, is audience fatigue. The preferred tactic is to frame each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is leading with character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a continental coloration from a hot helmer. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and talent-first projects keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be positioned as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the team and cast is familiar enough to drive advance ticketing and early previews.

Recent-year comps illuminate the playbook. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that honored streaming windows did not foreclose a same-day experiment from delivering when the brand was sticky. In 2024, precision craft horror hit big in premium screens. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they angle differently and raise the stakes. 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 linked-chapter plan, with chapters filmed in sequence, creates space for marketing to thread films through cast and weblink motif and to keep assets alive without pause points.

How the look and feel evolve

The director conversations behind the upcoming entries signal a continued shift toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that elevates texture and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and era-true language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in feature stories and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a tease that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at gristle and gore, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and gathers shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a self-aware reset that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on monster realization and design, which play well in expo activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel must-have. Look for trailers that underscore fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that explode in larger rooms.

The schedule at a glance

January is stacked. 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 moody palate cleanser amid heavier IP. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the palette of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth persists.

Early-year through spring load in summer. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to 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 offers gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

August and September into October leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a late-September window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited plot reveals that favor idea over plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card redemption.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s intelligent companion escalates into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 imp source 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: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her severe boss struggle to survive on a rugged island as the hierarchy upends and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to dread, driven by Cronin’s in-camera craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 family-home haunting narrative that routes the horror through a little one’s unreliable point of view. Rating: to be announced. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-scale and star-led supernatural suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that pokes at modern genre fads and true-crime obsessions. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

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 breaks out, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a fresh family entangled with past horrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A clean reboot designed to recreate the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survivalist horror over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: not yet rated. Production: proceeding. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

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 language and raw menace. Rating: TBD. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 lands now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces drive this lineup. First, production that slowed or reshuffled in 2024 required runway on the datebook. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work repeatable beats from test screenings, managed scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Calendar math also matters. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, creating valuable space for genre entries that can lead a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will coexist 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 pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer 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 tempo and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, soundcraft, and framing 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

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is name recognition where it counts, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence 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, keep secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.