Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed reignites primeval horror, a pulse pounding chiller, launching October 2025 across top digital platforms

A blood-curdling supernatural horror tale from author / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an primordial curse when drifters become instruments in a hellish ritual. Airings begin October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing saga of continuance and age-old darkness that will alter genre cinema this harvest season. Crafted by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and emotionally thick story follows five people who suddenly rise sealed in a far-off shack under the hostile power of Kyra, a troubled woman haunted by a prehistoric biblical demon. Prepare to be hooked by a theatrical experience that fuses intense horror with ancient myths, unleashing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a time-honored element in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is reimagined when the malevolences no longer appear from an outside force, but rather from their core. This suggests the most sinister facet of these individuals. The result is a bone-chilling moral showdown where the events becomes a intense confrontation between purity and corruption.


In a forsaken natural abyss, five teens find themselves confined under the sinister force and spiritual invasion of a elusive person. As the team becomes submissive to deny her control, abandoned and followed by presences inconceivable, they are made to battle their worst nightmares while the doomsday meter unceasingly edges forward toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension mounts and links fracture, driving each participant to rethink their self and the notion of liberty itself. The risk amplify with every tick, delivering a paranormal ride that connects unearthly horror with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to channel elemental fright, an force from ancient eras, manipulating inner turmoil, and examining a power that forces self-examination when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra asked for exploring something beneath mortal despair. She is in denial until the takeover begins, and that flip is bone-chilling because it is so deep.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be unleashed for viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing customers from coast to coast can get immersed in this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded 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 been viewed over six-figure audience.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, exporting the fear to fans of fear everywhere.


Make sure to see this haunted ride through nightmares. Confront *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to see these spiritual awakenings about mankind.


For bonus footage, behind-the-scenes content, and alerts from those who lived it, follow @YACMovie across entertainment pages and visit the official website.





American horror’s watershed moment: 2025 across markets U.S. calendar fuses archetypal-possession themes, underground frights, paired with brand-name tremors

Spanning survivor-centric dread rooted in mythic scripture all the way to series comebacks together with acutely observed indies, 2025 stands to become the most variegated paired with deliberate year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. studio majors hold down the year through proven series, in parallel streamers pack the fall with new perspectives plus ancestral chills. On another front, independent banners is catching the backdraft from a record 2024 festival run. With Halloween holding the peak, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, however this time, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are intentional, hence 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: High-craft horror returns

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s distribution arm lights the fuse with a statement play: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. arriving mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Guided by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer eases, Warner Bros. drops the final chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, 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 dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Scott Derrickson is back, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: retro dread, trauma foregrounded, with ghostly inner logic. This pass pushes higher, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The continuation widens the legend, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, courting teens and the thirty something base. It lands in December, anchoring horror’s winter tail.

Streaming Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a tight space body horror vignette pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is poised for a fall platform bow.

Also notable is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn headlined by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

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.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. Penned and steered 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. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is a clever angle. No puffed out backstory. No series drag. 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 remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Long Running Lines: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, under Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Signals and Trends

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror comes roaring back
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

The Road Ahead: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The oncoming terror calendar year ahead: returning titles, filmmaker-first projects, in tandem with A stacked Calendar optimized for Scares

Dek: The emerging scare cycle clusters in short order with a January crush, following that rolls through the mid-year, and far into the holiday stretch, blending name recognition, new voices, and well-timed counterweight. Major distributors and platforms are relying on right-sized spends, theatrical-first rollouts, and platform-native promos that pivot these pictures into national conversation.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror sector has shown itself to be the most reliable tool in release plans, a pillar that can spike when it connects and still mitigate the drag when it under-delivers. After 2023 reconfirmed for studio brass that disciplined-budget chillers can dominate pop culture, the following year held pace with auteur-driven buzzy films and sleeper breakouts. The head of steam pushed into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and filmmaker-prestige bets highlighted there is space for diverse approaches, from returning installments to director-led originals that perform internationally. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a slate that seems notably aligned across the major shops, with planned clusters, a spread of established brands and new pitches, and a revived emphasis on cinema windows that increase tail monetization on premium on-demand and subscription services.

Insiders argue the space now slots in as a utility player on the rollout map. Horror can premiere on a wide range of weekends, furnish a simple premise for promo reels and platform-native cuts, and overperform with ticket buyers that arrive on first-look nights and sustain through the second weekend if the release pays off. Exiting a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 plan shows conviction in that logic. The calendar opens with a thick January schedule, then turns to spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while making space for a October build that flows toward the fright window and into November. The layout also underscores the stronger partnership of specialized imprints and streaming partners that can develop over weeks, build word of mouth, and grow at the inflection point.

A companion trend is brand curation across connected story worlds and legacy franchises. Big banners are not just greenlighting another continuation. They are looking to package connection with a heightened moment, whether that is a art treatment that signals a reframed mood or a casting choice that anchors a latest entry to a early run. At the meanwhile, the directors behind the eagerly awaited originals are embracing hands-on technique, practical effects and grounded locations. That combination gives the 2026 slate a smart balance of home base and unexpected turns, which is why the genre exports well.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount fires first with two big-ticket projects that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the center, marketing it as both a legacy handover and a return-to-roots relationship-driven entry. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the directional approach suggests a heritage-honoring bent without rehashing the last two entries’ sisters storyline. A campaign is expected rooted in franchise iconography, character previews, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will feature. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will pursue four-quadrant chatter through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format permitting quick shifts to whatever shapes genre chatter that spring.

Universal has three discrete projects. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is straightforward, heartbroken, and concept-forward: a grieving man purchases an virtual partner that unfolds into a fatal companion. The date positions it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s campaign likely to replay uncanny-valley stunts and snackable content that melds companionship and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a title drop to become an attention spike closer to the opening teaser. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele titles are branded as event films, with a teaser with minimal detail and a later trailer push that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date gives Universal room to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has established that a gnarly, practical-first strategy can feel deluxe on a controlled budget. Expect a grime-caked summer horror shock that pushes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio sets two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, holding a dependable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has changed the date on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is describing as a new foundation 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 explicit mandate to serve both devotees and newcomers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build campaign pieces around mythos, and practical creature work, elements that can boost format premiums and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by immersive craft and dialect, this time focused on werewolf legend. Focus Features has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a confidence marker in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is glowing.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Windowing plans in 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s genre slate feed copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a stair-step that optimizes both initial urgency and viewer acquisition in the later phase. Prime Video continues to mix catalogue additions with worldwide buys and select theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library engagement, using curated hubs, holiday hubs, and curated rows to lengthen the tail on the horror cume. Netflix keeps flexible about internal projects and festival buys, scheduling horror entries near their drops and making event-like rollouts with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a two-step of precision theatrical plays and accelerated platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a curated basis. The platform has shown a willingness to invest in select projects with name filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for retention when the genre conversation heats up.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 runway with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is clean: the same somber, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, upgraded for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the autumn stretch.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, managing the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then leveraging the Christmas window to increase reach. That positioning has served the company well for elevated genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception drives. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in tandem, using precision theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their community.

IP versus fresh ideas

By skew, 2026 is weighted toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage household recognition. The question, as ever, is overexposure. The standing approach is to position each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is bringing forward character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French sensibility from a new voice. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and director-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the configuration is anchored enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday previews.

The last three-year set illuminate the model. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that held distribution windows did not prevent a same-day experiment from paying off when the brand was strong. In 2024, auteur craft horror popped in premium screens. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they reframe POV and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, lets marketing to relate entries through personae and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without pause points.

How the films are being made

The creative meetings behind the 2026 slate indicate a continued move toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Look for a campaign that elevates atmosphere and fear rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely seed this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and creates shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta inflection that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature craft and set design, which work nicely for convention floor stunts and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel key. Look for trailers that center pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that land in big rooms.

Calendar cadence

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 somber counterpoint amid bigger brand plays. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the tonal variety opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth spreads.

Pre-summer months set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with brand energy. In April, The Mummy reawakens 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 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can connect 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 premium screens.

Shoulder season into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited advance reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then leveraging critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and card redemption.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s DNA. 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 sorrowing man’s machine mate escalates into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: gothic-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 tough boss claw to survive on a cut-off island as the control balance upends and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: A-list survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles under wraps in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to chill, based on Cronin’s practical effects and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting narrative that plays with the horror of a child’s unreliable impressions. Rating: forthcoming. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that needles modern genre fads and true crime fascinations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites breaks out, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a unlucky family lashed to older hauntings. Rating: not yet rated. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on classic survival-horror tone over action pyrotechnics. Rating: pending. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: pending. Production: advancing. 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 antique diction and elemental fear. Rating: undetermined. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three hands-on forces structure this lineup. First, production that slowed or re-sequenced in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming launches. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work social-ready More about the author stingers from test screenings, controlled scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

The slot calculus is real. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can command a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will coexist across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where value-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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc 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 year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch 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 cold, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers preview-night pops, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, acoustics, 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

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand gravity where needed, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, keep secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.