Antediluvian Evil Stirs in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding horror thriller, launching Oct 2025 on major platforms

A terrifying supernatural thriller from creator / creative lead Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an forgotten fear when newcomers become instruments in a satanic experiment. Launching October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, the YouTube platform, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving account of living through and mythic evil that will redefine the horror genre this harvest season. Helmed by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and cinematic feature follows five unacquainted souls who awaken isolated in a secluded dwelling under the sinister influence of Kyra, a female presence inhabited by a prehistoric religious nightmare. Prepare to be absorbed by a visual journey that fuses bone-deep fear with mystical narratives, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a historical concept in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is inverted when the dark entities no longer emerge outside their bodies, but rather deep within. This mirrors the most terrifying element of the players. The result is a psychologically brutal mind game where the tension becomes a unyielding fight between purity and corruption.


In a wilderness-stricken landscape, five friends find themselves confined under the fiendish influence and infestation of a unidentified spirit. As the companions becomes defenseless to withstand her grasp, isolated and preyed upon by forces ungraspable, they are forced to deal with their greatest panics while the timeline brutally edges forward toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety grows and bonds implode, requiring each character to reflect on their character and the principle of self-determination itself. The tension accelerate with every breath, delivering a fear-soaked story that harmonizes spiritual fright with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to channel core terror, an threat that predates humanity, feeding on mental cracks, and testing a evil that challenges autonomy when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra called for internalizing something darker than pain. She is clueless until the curse activates, and that shift is eerie because it is so unshielded.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be available for audience access beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—providing customers around the globe can dive into this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its intro video, which has received over strong viewer count.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, bringing the film to horror fans worldwide.


Be sure to catch this soul-jarring trip into the unknown. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to explore these chilling revelations about the psyche.


For behind-the-scenes access, filmmaker commentary, and news via the production team, follow @YoungAndCursed across Instagram and Twitter and visit youngandcursed.com.





Today’s horror pivotal crossroads: 2025 for genre fans U.S. release slate braids together old-world possession, independent shockers, in parallel with legacy-brand quakes

From last-stand terror drawn from legendary theology and onward to returning series plus acutely observed indies, 2025 looks like horror’s most layered in tandem with calculated campaign year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. studio powerhouses plant stakes across the year with familiar IP, in tandem SVOD players stack the fall with emerging auteurs and old-world menace. On the independent axis, festival-forward creators is drafting behind the backdraft from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the other windows are mapped with care. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, notably this year, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are intentional, accordingly 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige fear returns

The majors are assertive. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal’s distribution arm begins the calendar with a confident swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, in a modern-day environment. Led by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. timed for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. From director Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early reactions hint at fangs.

When summer fades, the Warner Bros. banner rolls out the capstone from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. While the template is known, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Derrickson resumes command, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: retrograde shiver, trauma as text, and a cold supernatural calculus. This time, the stakes are raised, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It posts in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Digital Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a sealed box body horror arc anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. It reads as sharp positioning. No bloated canon. No legacy baggage. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a folkloric revenge burner in Aztec code, should close with flame.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance is expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Series Horror: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Versus earlier beats, it favors camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, from Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, scatter across the calendar, many awaiting strategic windows or late acquisitions.

Trends to Watch

Mythic dread mainstreams
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. This trend avoids nostalgia, reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror resurges
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

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

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

What’s Next: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. 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. Given the dark, mythic lean of the year’s big films, a final creature feature or exorcism slot is open.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The next fright release year: returning titles, standalone ideas, as well as A hectic Calendar tailored for screams

Dek: The current scare season loads right away with a January crush, before it spreads through the mid-year, and running into the late-year period, fusing brand heft, original angles, and smart counterweight. Studio marketers and platforms are betting on efficient budgets, theatrical exclusivity first, and shareable marketing that shape genre releases into cross-demo moments.

Where horror stands going into 2026

The horror sector has established itself as the bankable tool in annual schedules, a genre that can scale when it lands and still hedge the exposure when it falls short. After the 2023 year re-taught leaders that mid-range genre plays can own the discourse, the following year extended the rally with visionary-driven titles and unexpected risers. The tailwind moved into 2025, where revived properties and premium-leaning entries proved there is appetite for a spectrum, from returning installments to filmmaker-driven originals that translate worldwide. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a calendar that shows rare alignment across distributors, with mapped-out bands, a combination of known properties and new packages, and a recommitted stance on cinema windows that drive downstream revenue on premium digital rental and digital services.

Studio leaders note the genre now acts as a fill-in ace on the distribution slate. The genre can debut on numerous frames, provide a simple premise for creative and short-form placements, and outperform with patrons that respond on Thursday previews and hold through the second weekend if the feature delivers. Coming out of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 rhythm reflects confidence in that setup. The calendar starts with a heavy January block, then targets spring into early summer for contrast, while holding room for a October build that carries into the Halloween corridor and past the holiday. The gridline also shows the increasing integration of specialized labels and digital platforms that can nurture a platform play, spark evangelism, and move wide at the right moment.

Another broad trend is IP cultivation across interlocking continuities and storied titles. Big banners are not just producing another chapter. They are moving to present brand continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a title design that flags a reframed mood or a lead change that connects a new entry to a foundational era. At the parallel to that, the horror auteurs behind the high-profile originals are celebrating on-set craft, physical gags and place-driven backdrops. That blend affords the 2026 slate a robust balance of recognition and unexpected turns, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount sets the tone early with two high-profile releases that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, setting it up as both a baton pass and a heritage-centered character-first story. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the authorial approach signals a roots-evoking campaign without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Watch for a push centered on brand visuals, character previews, and a tiered teaser plan hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also relaunches 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 in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will double down on. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will chase wide appeal through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format enabling quick switches to whatever shapes horror talk that spring.

Universal has three unique lanes. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is tidy, loss-driven, and commercial: a grieving man purchases an machine companion that mutates into a perilous partner. The date positions it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s promo team likely to recreate off-kilter promo beats and bite-size content that fuses longing and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places 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 official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a title reveal to become an marketing beat closer to the opening teaser. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. The filmmaker’s films are framed as director events, with a teaser that holds back and a later trailer push that shape mood without giving away the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor offers Universal room to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has long shown that a tactile, hands-on effects aesthetic can feel elevated on a mid-range budget. Look for a red-band summer horror shot that leans into international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio mounts two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, carrying a dependable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch progresses. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is marketing as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both players and newcomers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build campaign creative around world-building, and creature work, elements that can stoke premium booking interest and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror characterized by historical precision and period speech, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus has already locked the day for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is positive.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Digital strategies for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s genre entries land on copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a ordering that maximizes both premiere heat and subscriber lifts in the after-window. Prime Video will mix licensed films with worldwide entries and targeted theatrical runs when the data signals it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in archive usage, using seasonal hubs, fright rows, and curated strips to prolong the run on the 2026 genre total. Netflix plays opportunist about Netflix originals and festival snaps, scheduling horror entries tight to release and making event-like rollouts with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a hybrid of precision theatrical plays and accelerated platforming that translates talk to trials. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before activating direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a selective basis. The platform has proven amenable to buy select projects with recognized filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for platform stickiness when the genre conversation intensifies.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 runway 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 angle is tight: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, modernized for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors seeking R-rated counterprogramming in the back half.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, curating the rollout through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then working the December frame to go wider. That positioning has shown results for arthouse horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception justifies. Plan on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using boutique theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their membership.

Balance of brands and originals

By count, the 2026 slate tips toward the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap legacy awareness. The concern, as ever, is overexposure. The go-to fix is to package each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is bringing forward character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a Francophone tone from a hot helmer. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a marooned survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the configuration is familiar enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years clarify the playbook. In 2023, a theater-first model that kept streaming intact did not prevent a day-date move from thriving when the brand was strong. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror rose in premium screens. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they rotate perspective and raise the stakes. 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 double feature plan, with chapters lensed back-to-back, permits marketing to thread films through character web and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without long gaps.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft rooms behind the upcoming entries telegraph a continued preference for tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that foregrounds grain and menace rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in long-lead press and technical spotlights before rolling out a preview that centers atmosphere over story, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and drives shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta refresh that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will win or lose on monster work and world-building, which play well in booth activations and staggered reveals. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the big-screen case feel essential. Look for trailers that emphasize disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that work in PLF.

Release calendar overview

January is loaded. 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 foggy reset amid headline IP. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the menu of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

Winter into spring set up the summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Shoulder season into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a late-September window that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited pre-release reveals that elevate concept over story.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can win the holiday when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and card redemption.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s digital partner becomes something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

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

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 encounter a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed production with U.S. distribution. Positioning: atmospheric 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 unyielding boss try to survive on a rugged island as the control balance flips and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to horror, founded on Cronin’s practical effects and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. 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 household haunting premise that pipes the unease through a youth’s uneven internal vantage. Rating: to be announced. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-built and star-fronted haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A parody return that pokes at present-day genre chatter and true-crime obsessions. Rating: TBD. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: big-tent summer spoof.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites bursts, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a new clan anchored to residual nightmares. Rating: undetermined. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A reboot designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for true survival horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: TBD. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: pending. Production: continuing. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and primordial menace. Rating: forthcoming. 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 standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why 2026 and why now

Three execution-level 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 need fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming placements. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on clippable moments from test screenings, curated scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Calendar math also matters. Family and superhero corridors are not as densely packed in early 2026, opening usable real estate for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will coexist across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

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

The dark-horse hunt 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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, sonics, and framing that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Looks Exciting

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand power where it counts, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, guard the secrets, and let the shudders sell the seats.