Primordial Evil Stirs in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling horror feature, launching October 2025 across global platforms

An hair-raising spiritual horror tale from cinematographer / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an archaic fear when drifters become tokens in a diabolical struggle. Going live this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, the YouTube platform, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing narrative of living through and mythic evil that will revolutionize terror storytelling this spooky time. Created by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and emotionally thick feature follows five figures who are stirred stuck in a remote structure under the unfriendly control of Kyra, a haunted figure inhabited by a time-worn biblical demon. Be warned to be ensnared by a big screen event that fuses deep-seated panic with legendary tales, coming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a long-standing element in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is challenged when the beings no longer develop from external sources, but rather from within. This symbolizes the deepest corner of all involved. The result is a relentless moral showdown where the tension becomes a relentless push-pull between light and darkness.


In a remote outland, five individuals find themselves imprisoned under the evil sway and domination of a unknown spirit. As the cast becomes incapacitated to withstand her grasp, severed and pursued by presences beyond comprehension, they are obligated to confront their darkest emotions while the deathwatch unceasingly edges forward toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust amplifies and teams break, urging each member to reflect on their core and the integrity of free will itself. The danger intensify with every second, delivering a frightening tale that fuses spiritual fright with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to draw upon ancestral fear, an spirit rooted in antiquity, manipulating inner turmoil, and testing a presence that dismantles free will when stripped of free will.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra asked for exploring something darker than pain. She is unseeing until the takeover begins, and that flip is terrifying because it is so emotional.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for digital release beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—giving households no matter where they are can enjoy this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, streaming to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its intro video, which has earned over massive response.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, offering the tale to a worldwide audience.


Experience this bone-rattling journey into fear. Enter *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to explore these evil-rooted truths about inner darkness.


For bonus footage, set experiences, and announcements from the cast and crew, follow @YACFilm across fan hubs and visit our spooky domain.





Today’s horror pivotal crossroads: the 2025 season U.S. calendar Mixes biblical-possession ideas, microbudget gut-punches, paired with tentpole growls

From last-stand terror rooted in ancient scripture to returning series set beside focused festival visions, 2025 looks like the most dimensioned along with carefully orchestrated year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. studio powerhouses bookend the months with familiar IP, in parallel digital services saturate the fall with discovery plays set against old-world menace. On another front, the artisan tier is drafting behind the backdraft from a record 2024 festival run. With Halloween holding the peak, the other windows are mapped with care. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, yet in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are disciplined, which means 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: High-craft horror returns

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 set the base, 2025 compounds the move.

the Universal camp fires the first shot with a marquee bet: a refashioned Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, but a crisp modern milieu. Led by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. Booked into mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Led by Eli Craig fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

By late summer, Warner’s schedule rolls out the capstone of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the piece hints at a heartfelt wrap as it treats a notorious case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Next is The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson resumes command, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: retro dread, trauma as narrative engine, with ghostly inner logic. The bar is raised this go, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The return delves further into myth, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It hits in December, buttoning the final window.

Streaming Offerings: Slim budgets, major punch

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. With Zach Cregger directing and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a tight space body horror vignette featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Also rising is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as 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 canny scheduling. No bloated canon. No legacy baggage. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

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’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Legacy Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, with Francis Lawrence directing, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

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.

Trend Lines

Ancient myth goes wide
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 reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror swings back
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Outlook: Fall saturation and a winter joker

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. 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 oncoming genre year to come: Sequels, Originals, together with A stacked Calendar Built For nightmares

Dek The incoming horror season loads immediately with a January crush, and then runs through the summer months, and pushing into the festive period, combining IP strength, new voices, and savvy counterweight. Major distributors and platforms are betting on right-sized spends, theater-first strategies, and short-form initiatives that shape genre titles into mainstream chatter.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The horror marketplace has shown itself to be the predictable release in studio lineups, a pillar that can grow when it resonates and still safeguard the losses when it misses. After the 2023 year reassured leaders that mid-range genre plays can own the national conversation, the following year kept the drumbeat going with buzzy auteur projects and slow-burn breakouts. The upswing flowed into the 2025 frame, where reboots and awards-minded projects made clear there is space for a spectrum, from ongoing IP entries to filmmaker-driven originals that carry overseas. The net effect for 2026 is a schedule that looks unusually coordinated across players, with strategic blocks, a balance of legacy names and new packages, and a renewed eye on exhibition windows that drive downstream revenue on premium rental and subscription services.

Marketers add the category now acts as a versatile piece on the release plan. Horror can launch on virtually any date, provide a clean hook for creative and short-form placements, and outstrip with patrons that turn out on preview nights and stay strong through the follow-up frame if the film pays off. After a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 mapping signals comfort in that playbook. The year starts with a weighty January stretch, then targets spring into early summer for audience offsets, while reserving space for a fall run that reaches into the fright window and into post-Halloween. The gridline also spotlights the deeper integration of specialty distributors and digital platforms that can grow from platform, build word of mouth, and expand at the sweet spot.

A second macro trend is brand strategy across shared universes and storied titles. The studios are not just turning out another continuation. They are shaping as brand continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a brandmark that indicates a tonal shift or a talent selection that bridges a latest entry to a first wave. At the very same time, the visionaries behind the eagerly awaited originals are leaning into real-world builds, physical gags and specific settings. That fusion produces 2026 a healthy mix of brand comfort and discovery, which is what works overseas.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount sets the tone early with two big-ticket titles that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the core, angling it as both a legacy handover and a DNA-forward character-driven entry. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the directional approach indicates a fan-service aware approach without replaying the last two entries’ family thread. A campaign is expected stacked with brand visuals, early character teases, and a staggered trailer plan rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will emphasize. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will go after wide appeal through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format enabling quick switches to whatever shapes horror talk that spring.

Universal has three unique lanes. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is efficient, melancholic, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man implements an intelligent companion that evolves into a deadly partner. The date slots it at the front of a packed window, with marketing at Universal likely to mirror strange in-person beats and snackable content that interweaves intimacy and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under working 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 makes room for a name unveil to become an teaser payoff closer to the early tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. Peele projects are sold as filmmaker events, with a hinting teaser and a second trailer wave that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The late-October frame creates space for Universal to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has made clear that a tactile, makeup-driven mix can feel cinematic on a mid-range budget. Look for a red-band summer horror rush that spotlights global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio books two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, maintaining a trusty supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what the studio is billing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both diehards and general audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build artifacts around mythos, and creature work, elements that can amplify large-format demand and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in obsessive craft and period language, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is favorable.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on predictable routes. Universal’s horror titles feed copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a tiered path that maximizes both debut momentum and sign-up momentum in the post-theatrical. Prime Video combines acquired titles with worldwide buys and short theatrical plays when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in catalog engagement, using prominent placements, seasonal hubs, and handpicked rows to keep attention on the horror cume. Netflix keeps flexible about Netflix films and festival snaps, timing horror entries on shorter runways and positioning as event drops releases with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a dual-phase of targeted theatrical exposure and fast windowing that translates talk to trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate 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 art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for retention when the genre conversation swells.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 arc with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is straightforward: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, retooled for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has flagged a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an promising marker for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the fall weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through the autumn circuit if the cut is ready, then leveraging the Christmas corridor to expand. That positioning has shown results for auteur horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception warrants. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using boutique theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their user base.

Franchises versus originals

By skew, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the recognizable IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap name recognition. The risk, as ever, is staleness. The preferred tactic is to present each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is emphasizing character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is floating a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French sensibility from a emerging director. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Non-franchise titles and auteur plays keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a crash-survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the team and cast is known enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Recent-year comps illuminate the approach. In 2023, a theater-first model that maintained windows did not obstruct a dual release from delivering when the brand was compelling. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror over-performed in premium formats. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they rotate perspective and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters shot back-to-back, creates space for marketing to tie installments through relationships and themes and to keep assets alive without pause points.

Behind-the-camera trends

The craft rooms behind the 2026 entries signal a continued turn toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that spotlights grain and menace rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and era-true language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in long-lead features and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a first look that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and produces shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a self-referential reset that centers an original star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature execution and sets, which play well in convention floor stunts and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel definitive. Look for trailers that elevate precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that work in PLF.

Calendar cadence

January is loaded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a moody palate cleanser amid marquee brands. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the range of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

Post-January through spring stage summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 hits February 27 with legacy heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for Get More Info older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Back half into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film occupies October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a peekaboo tease plan and limited advance reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a marker that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift card usage.

Title snapshots

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s artificial companion shifts into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to face a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. 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 abrasive boss claw to survive on a lonely island as the hierarchy flips and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-front survival film from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to chill, grounded in Cronin’s material craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot done. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A intimate haunting story that routes the horror through a preteen’s uncertain POV. Rating: to be announced. Production: wrapped. 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 back in creative roles. Logline: {A comic send-up that needles present-day genre chatter and true crime fervors. Rating: to be announced. Production: lensing scheduled 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 breaks out, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further opens again, with a young family caught in long-buried horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A reboot designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on classic survival-horror tone over action-forward bombast. Rating: undetermined. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: TBD. Production: ongoing. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and raw menace. Rating: to be announced. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why the moment is 2026

Three pragmatic forces inform this lineup. First, production that decelerated or shuffled in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and leaner schedules. 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 generated more than straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on clippable moments from test screenings, curated scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, making room for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will jostle across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for robust premium-format allocation without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where midrange-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first 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 have a peek here 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. Forecast a healthy PVOD window broadly, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, efficient placements, 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 Is Well Positioned

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts refresh. 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 read audience appetite 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, keep secrets, and let the frights sell the seats.