Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up primeval malevolence, a spine tingling supernatural thriller, landing Oct 2025 on top streamers

This frightening metaphysical fear-driven tale from scriptwriter / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an mythic horror when passersby become puppets in a demonic ceremony. Launching on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s Play platform, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing journey of survival and mythic evil that will reshape terror storytelling this scare season. Produced by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and eerie cinema piece follows five unacquainted souls who find themselves ensnared in a far-off hideaway under the ominous manipulation of Kyra, a female lead overtaken by a ancient sacrosanct terror. Ready yourself to be seized by a cinematic event that combines bodily fright with ancestral stories, premiering on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a historical narrative in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is challenged when the spirits no longer develop from a different plane, but rather from their core. This portrays the grimmest aspect of these individuals. The result is a riveting identity crisis where the story becomes a intense clash between heaven and hell.


In a abandoned outland, five young people find themselves cornered under the possessive influence and infestation of a mysterious woman. As the characters becomes defenseless to resist her will, cut off and chased by forces beyond comprehension, they are confronted to wrestle with their core terrors while the seconds brutally runs out toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion rises and alliances collapse, driving each protagonist to challenge their essence and the notion of freedom of choice itself. The hazard intensify with every breath, delivering a cinematic nightmare that merges ghostly evil with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to evoke primal fear, an threat rooted in antiquity, working through mental cracks, and challenging a evil that questions who we are when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra meant channeling something past sanity. She is innocent until the possession kicks in, and that transformation is harrowing because it is so emotional.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for streaming beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—so that households from coast to coast can witness this paranormal experience.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its intro video, which has attracted over 100K plays.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, spreading the horror to international horror buffs.


Experience this heart-stopping path of possession. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to survive these evil-rooted truths about the mind.


For previews, on-set glimpses, and updates from behind the lens, follow @YoungAndCursed across Instagram and Twitter and visit the movie’s homepage.





Contemporary horror’s decisive shift: 2025 in focus stateside slate Mixes primeval-possession lore, underground frights, and brand-name tremors

Beginning with last-stand terror grounded in primordial scripture and onward to canon extensions and surgical indie voices, 2025 is lining up as the most textured along with carefully orchestrated year for the modern era.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio powerhouses lock in tentpoles with established lines, while digital services crowd the fall with unboxed visions alongside legend-coded dread. On another front, indie storytellers is fueled by the kinetic energy from a record 2024 festival run. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, however this time, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are targeted, accordingly 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: High-craft horror returns

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s distribution arm lights the fuse with a marquee bet: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, in a clear present-tense world. Under director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. Slated for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation turned minimalist horror show. Guided by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Initial heat flags it as potent.

When summer fades, Warner Bros. Pictures bows the concluding entry from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Though the formula is familiar, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson resumes command, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: nostalgic menace, trauma in the foreground, with spooky supernatural reasoning. This time the stakes climb, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The next entry deepens the tale, stretches the animatronic parade, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It drops in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Digital Originals: Tight funds, wide impact

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a long shadow anthology of dread braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. With Zach Cregger directing fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, 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. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative led by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is a calculated bet. No bloated mythology. No legacy baggage. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They are increasingly launchpads rather than showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Long Running Lines: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, from Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. If packaged well, it could track like 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 to Watch

Ancient myth goes wide
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror ascends again
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theatrical becomes a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Forecast: Fall stack and winter swing card

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The new scare season: next chapters, universe starters, in tandem with A busy Calendar optimized for goosebumps

Dek The arriving horror slate clusters right away with a January pile-up, after that stretches through the mid-year, and running into the festive period, combining IP strength, creative pitches, and calculated counterprogramming. Studio marketers and platforms are leaning into smart costs, theater-first strategies, and buzz-forward plans that elevate horror entries into broad-appeal conversations.

How the genre looks for 2026

The horror sector has become the steady lever in studio lineups, a vertical that can spike when it catches and still cushion the floor when it misses. After the 2023 year reassured top brass that cost-conscious genre plays can steer social chatter, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with auteur-driven buzzy films and surprise hits. The carry rolled into 2025, where legacy revivals and critical darlings highlighted there is capacity for many shades, from franchise continuations to non-IP projects that scale internationally. The result for the 2026 slate is a roster that reads highly synchronized across the major shops, with clear date clusters, a balance of legacy names and untested plays, and a re-energized eye on box-office windows that power the aftermarket on premium on-demand and digital services.

Distribution heads claim the horror lane now acts as a swing piece on the calendar. The genre can debut on most weekends, provide a sharp concept for teasers and short-form placements, and outstrip with patrons that turn out on preview nights and stay strong through the next weekend if the offering lands. On the heels of a production delay era, the 2026 setup telegraphs conviction in that equation. The year rolls out with a busy January lineup, then plants flags in spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while reserving space for a October build that reaches into the Halloween frame and into post-Halloween. The program also underscores the expanded integration of specialized imprints and home platforms that can platform and widen, fuel WOM, and scale up at the inflection point.

Another broad trend is legacy care across shared IP webs and veteran brands. The players are not just producing another continuation. They are aiming to frame connection with a headline quality, whether that is a logo package that suggests a tonal shift or a casting choice that reconnects a new installment to a vintage era. At the in tandem, the visionaries behind the most anticipated originals are favoring practical craft, practical gags and distinct locales. That alloy produces 2026 a lively combination of brand comfort and novelty, which is how the films export.

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

Paramount opens strong with two headline bets that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, marketing it as both a cross-generational handoff and a foundation-forward character-forward chapter. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the creative posture hints at a roots-evoking framework without going over the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Watch for a push rooted in heritage visuals, initial cast looks, and a tease cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also brings back a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will foreground. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will chase four-quadrant chatter through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format making room for quick pivots to whatever dominates horror talk that spring.

Universal has three specific lanes. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is efficient, soulful, and high-concept: a grieving man adopts an digital partner that evolves into a lethal partner. The date places it at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s team likely to mirror creepy live activations and bite-size content that interweaves love and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a proper title to become an headline beat closer to the initial promo. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele titles are set up as event films, with a mystery-first teaser and a next wave of trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor creates space for Universal to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub in the lead. The franchise has consistently shown that a gnarly, practical-first style can feel cinematic on a middle budget. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror shock that pushes offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio books two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film rolls out August 21, 2026, continuing a proven supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has adjusted timing 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 restarts in what Sony is presenting as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both devotees and casuals. The fall slot gives Sony time to build assets around environmental design, and monster craft, elements that can increase IMAX and PLF uptake and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror characterized by immersive craft and textual fidelity, this time focused on werewolf legend. The company has already locked the day for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is positive.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform windowing in 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s genre slate move to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a ladder that elevates both launch urgency and trial spikes in the late-window. Prime Video blends licensed films with world buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu work their edges in deep cuts, using timely promos, horror hubs, and programmed rows to lengthen the tail on aggregate take. Netflix keeps options open about Netflix films and festival wins, timing horror entries closer to drop and eventizing go-lives with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a one-two of selective theatrical runs and short jumps to platform that drives paid trials from buzz. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown a willingness to purchase select projects with top-tier auteurs or star-driven packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for sustained usage when the genre conversation heats up.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 corridor with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is tight: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, elevated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a traditional cinema play for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the fall weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the year-end corridor to expand. That positioning has proved effective for elevated genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception supports. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using limited theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their membership.

Known brands versus new stories

By tilt, the 2026 slate tips toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit marquee value. The potential drawback, as ever, is brand erosion. The go-to fix is to package each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is leading with character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is promising a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-flavored turn from a new voice. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and talent-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the deal build is anchored enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Rolling three-year comps contextualize the model. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that respected streaming windows did not prevent a day-date try from succeeding when the brand was powerful. In 2024, art-forward horror exceeded expectations in PLF auditoriums. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they shift POV and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, permits marketing to relate entries through character spine and themes and to sustain campaign assets without long gaps.

Behind-the-camera trends

The creative meetings behind the 2026 entries indicate a continued bias toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that spotlights atmosphere and fear rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in feature stories and artisan spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for goopy mayhem, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and creates shareable scream clips from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta recalibration that centers its original star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature design and production design, which match well with fan-con activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel essential. Look for trailers that underscore pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that work in PLF.

Release calendar overview

January is busy. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a quiet contrast amid macro-brand pushes. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century his comment is here Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the range of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth sustains.

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

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Late summer into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a shoulder season window that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited advance reveals that favor idea over plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and card redemption.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A grieving man’s machine mate shifts into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

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 forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her demanding boss push to survive on a isolated island as the power dynamic swivels and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to nightmare, anchored by Cronin’s on-set craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting narrative that frames the panic through a preteen’s wavering subjective view. Rating: not yet rated. Production: locked. 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 participating creatively. Logline: {A parody return that satirizes of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime crazes. Rating: not yet rated. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 global twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a unlucky family anchored to past horrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A fresh restart designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an priority on survival-core horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: to be announced. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: closely held. Rating: to be announced. Production: active. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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 bone-deep menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a cinema-first path before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three operational forces drive this lineup. First, production that slowed or recalendared in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and condensed timelines. 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 generated more than straight-to-streaming placements. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest bite-size scare clips from test screenings, curated scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

The slot calculus is real. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will share space across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

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

The stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where modest-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. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, 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 flow and breadth. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, 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 keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, sound field, 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.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is recognizable IP where it plays, new vision where it lands, and a calendar that shows studios 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, deliver taut trailers, lock the reveals, and let the frights sell the seats.