Ancient Evil Stirs in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding horror thriller, bowing October 2025 across global platforms

An haunting unearthly scare-fest from dramatist / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an long-buried evil when unfamiliar people become conduits in a fiendish trial. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing episode of staying alive and primeval wickedness that will reimagine fear-driven cinema this harvest season. Visualized by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and shadowy motion picture follows five individuals who find themselves trapped in a hidden shelter under the malevolent will of Kyra, a mysterious girl possessed by a ancient Old Testament spirit. Prepare to be ensnared by a audio-visual ride that melds bodily fright with mythic lore, hitting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a classic theme in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is turned on its head when the spirits no longer manifest from a different plane, but rather within themselves. This suggests the deepest shade of every character. The result is a harrowing mind game where the plotline becomes a relentless tug-of-war between good and evil.


In a barren wilderness, five campers find themselves stuck under the dark rule and infestation of a unidentified female presence. As the victims becomes unable to oppose her will, cut off and preyed upon by entities unnamable, they are required to wrestle with their core terrors while the seconds mercilessly draws closer toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust mounts and associations erode, driving each member to rethink their core and the integrity of volition itself. The risk mount with every minute, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that fuses mystical fear with raw emotion.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to draw upon pure dread, an darkness before modern man, operating within inner turmoil, and questioning a force that strips down our being when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra involved tapping into something more primal than sorrow. She is ignorant until the entity awakens, and that pivot is deeply unsettling because it is so internal.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for horror fans beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring viewers anywhere can get immersed in this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its first preview, which has gathered over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, spreading the horror to lovers of terror across nations.


Make sure to see this mind-warping path of possession. Enter *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to see these ghostly lessons about human nature.


For bonus footage, extra content, and social posts from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursed across platforms and visit the movie’s homepage.





Today’s horror Turning Point: 2025 across markets American release plan blends biblical-possession ideas, festival-born jolts, in parallel with IP aftershocks

Beginning with grit-forward survival fare infused with near-Eastern lore and stretching into IP renewals as well as acutely observed indies, 2025 looks like horror’s most layered along with intentionally scheduled year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. Top studios hold down the year with known properties, simultaneously premium streamers stack the fall with fresh voices paired with scriptural shivers. In the indie lane, horror’s indie wing is riding the uplift from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, but this year, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are precise, hence 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Premium genre swings back

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s pipeline lights the fuse with a bold swing: a modernized Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, but a crisp modern milieu. Under director Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. dated for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. From director Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer wanes, the WB camp launches the swan song from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Although the framework is familiar, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It posts in early September, creating cushion before October load.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re boards, and the hallmarks that turned the first into a sleeper reappear: retrograde shiver, trauma explicitly handled, along with eerie supernatural rules. The stakes escalate here, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The follow up digs further into canon, grows the animatronic horror lineup, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It hits in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Offerings: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a body horror duet starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Then there is Sinners, a thirties set vampire folk saga toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. From writer director 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 terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. That is a savvy move. No overweight mythology. No franchise baggage. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. 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. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Series Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Dials to Watch

Old myth goes broad
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps 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 retakes ground
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Outlook: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December centers on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but a final weeks surprise stream could still hit. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The 2026 terror slate: continuations, non-franchise titles, alongside A packed Calendar Built For chills

Dek The fresh genre calendar lines up from the jump with a January pile-up, after that runs through June and July, and running into the holidays, marrying legacy muscle, creative pitches, and data-minded alternatives. The major players are relying on right-sized spends, theatrical-first rollouts, and short-form initiatives that transform these pictures into national conversation.

Horror’s position as 2026 begins

The horror sector has proven to be the bankable tool in studio slates, a vertical that can surge when it breaks through and still insulate the liability when it misses. After the 2023 year proved to buyers that lean-budget horror vehicles can drive pop culture, the following year held pace with buzzy auteur projects and unexpected risers. The momentum moved into 2025, where revived properties and elevated films confirmed there is an opening for diverse approaches, from sequel tracks to director-led originals that play globally. The aggregate for 2026 is a grid that presents tight coordination across the field, with defined corridors, a mix of established brands and fresh ideas, and a renewed priority on big-screen windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium digital rental and SVOD.

Studio leaders note the horror lane now slots in as a schedule utility on the rollout map. Horror can kick off on many corridors, provide a simple premise for creative and UGC-friendly snippets, and over-index with audiences that line up on opening previews and return through the subsequent weekend if the feature hits. Coming out of a strike-impacted pipeline, the 2026 cadence signals comfort in that approach. The slate commences with a heavy January schedule, then primes spring and early summer for counterweight, while leaving room for a September to October window that extends to the fright window and into the next week. The arrangement also features the tightening integration of specialized imprints and SVOD players that can nurture a platform play, spark evangelism, and scale up at the precise moment.

Another broad trend is IP stewardship across unified worlds and classic IP. The companies are not just rolling another return. They are moving to present brand continuity with a specialness, whether that is a graphic identity that broadcasts a new tone or a casting move that anchors a new installment to a classic era. At the very same time, the visionaries behind the marquee originals are favoring practical craft, special makeup and grounded locations. That combination delivers the 2026 slate a lively combination of brand comfort and surprise, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

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

Paramount plants an early flag with two spotlight plays that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the heart, marketing it as both a lineage transfer and a return-to-roots character study. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the narrative stance conveys a throwback-friendly strategy without recycling the last two entries’ family thread. Look for a marketing run stacked with franchise iconography, initial cast looks, and a promo sequence hitting late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are set to reunite, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will lean on. As a summer contrast play, this one will build large awareness through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format inviting quick switches to whatever dominates horror talk that spring.

Universal has three defined lanes. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff movies from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is tight, heartbroken, and big-hook: a grieving man onboards an intelligent companion that mutates into a murderous partner. The date nudges it to the front of a packed window, with the Universal machine likely to bring back eerie street stunts and snackable content that hybridizes intimacy and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a name unveil to become an marketing beat closer to the early tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. Peele projects are sold as filmmaker events, with a opaque teaser and a second beat that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The prime October weekend gives Universal room to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has demonstrated that a visceral, in-camera leaning style can feel cinematic on a middle budget. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror blast that centers international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio rolls out two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, keeping a consistent supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what Sony is marketing as a fresh restart 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 directive to serve both core fans and fresh viewers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build promo materials around environmental design, and monster aesthetics, elements that can drive large-format demand and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on rigorous craft and linguistic texture, this time steeped in lycan lore. Focus has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a bold stance in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is robust.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform tactics for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal titles transition to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a ordering that maximizes both debut momentum and subscription bumps in the post-theatrical. Prime Video continues to mix outside acquisitions with worldwide entries and targeted theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in catalog discovery, using in-app campaigns, genre hubs, and curated rows to stretch the tail on the 2026 genre total. Netflix keeps flexible about internal projects and festival pickups, dating horror entries closer to launch and turning into events arrivals with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a hybrid of focused cinema runs and prompt platform moves that converts WOM to subscribers. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before turning to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a selective basis. The platform has shown appetite to pick up select projects with prestige directors or star-driven packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a core piece for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation ramps.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 slate with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is uncomplicated: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, updated for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has announced a cinema-first plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the late-season weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, managing the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then pressing the holiday corridor to open out. That positioning has worked well for craft-driven horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception merits. Do not be surprised by 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 together, using select theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their user base.

Brands and originals

By share, the 2026 slate favors the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap brand equity. The risk, as ever, is staleness. The standing approach is to sell each entry as a new angle. Paramount is bringing forward character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a continental coloration from a hot helmer. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a survival shocker premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail my company and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the configuration is assuring enough to build pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Three-year comps make sense of the strategy. In 2023, a exclusive window model that kept clean windows did not foreclose a day-date try from hitting when the brand was compelling. In 2024, auteur craft horror hit big in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they reframe POV and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters filmed in sequence, lets marketing to thread films through cast and motif and to leave creative active without hiatuses.

Creative tendencies and craft

The director conversations behind the 2026 entries point to a continued shift toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped photography and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that highlights creep and texture rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for textured sound and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in long-lead press and department features before rolling out a tone piece that elevates tone over story, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for red-band excess, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and produces shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta recalibration that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will live or die on creature execution and sets, which fit with convention activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel primary. Look for trailers that emphasize fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that land in big rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is heavy. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a gloomy counterbalance amid heftier brand moves. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the variety of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Late winter and spring tee up summer. Scream 7 lands February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

August into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil arrives after September 18, a late-September window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a peekaboo tease plan and limited plot reveals that center concept over reveals.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s virtual companion mutates into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. 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 tough boss battle to survive on a rugged island as the power balance shifts and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to menace, founded on Cronin’s material craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting tale that toys with the dread of a child’s uncertain perceptions. Rating: rating pending. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A spoof revival that needles modern genre fads and true crime preoccupations. Rating: pending. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites surges, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further widens again, with a different family anchored to older hauntings. Rating: forthcoming. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on true survival horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: not yet rated. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: to be announced. Production: active. 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-specific language and ancient menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. 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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three hands-on forces organize this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or recalendared in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, 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 overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, digital word of mouth converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on turnkey scare beats from test screenings, controlled scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Family and cape-heavy lanes thin out in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can capture a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four tonal lanes of horror will stack across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, 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 underdog chase continues in Q1, where disciplined-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to use those gaps. 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. Anticipate a robust 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.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, 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 preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, audio design, and image-making 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 Shapes Up Strong

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is brand gravity where needed, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, protect the mystery, and let the screams sell the seats.