Age-old Dread emerges: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding chiller, launching October 2025 on major streaming services

An chilling metaphysical shockfest from narrative craftsman / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an age-old dread when unfamiliar people become proxies in a cursed trial. Available this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping saga of living through and ancient evil that will reimagine genre cinema this fall. Crafted by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and moody motion picture follows five figures who suddenly rise stranded in a remote shack under the dark dominion of Kyra, a mysterious girl occupied by a 2,000-year-old holy text monster. Brace yourself to be absorbed by a motion picture presentation that integrates bodily fright with ancient myths, coming on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a legendary motif in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is redefined when the monsters no longer manifest outside the characters, but rather deep within. This illustrates the malevolent element of the victims. The result is a harrowing internal warfare where the drama becomes a unyielding confrontation between virtue and vice.


In a wilderness-stricken backcountry, five campers find themselves contained under the ghastly dominion and overtake of a obscure character. As the protagonists becomes unresisting to evade her manipulation, severed and targeted by creatures ungraspable, they are obligated to endure their soulful dreads while the countdown brutally runs out toward their dark fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety builds and bonds implode, driving each person to question their core and the idea of volition itself. The intensity surge with every beat, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that harmonizes unearthly horror with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to extract primal fear, an force that existed before mankind, filtering through soul-level flaws, and highlighting a power that strips down our being when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra was centered on something beneath mortal despair. She is blind until the curse activates, and that pivot is eerie because it is so unshielded.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be available for home viewing beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—providing viewers no matter where they are can witness this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, published to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its first preview, which has earned over 100,000 views.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, spreading the horror to international horror buffs.


Be sure to catch this gripping descent into darkness. Face *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to face these haunting secrets about mankind.


For teasers, filmmaker commentary, and news from behind the lens, follow @YACFilm across entertainment pages and visit our horror hub.





Current horror’s inflection point: the 2025 cycle U.S. rollouts weaves old-world possession, festival-born jolts, in parallel with franchise surges

Spanning life-or-death fear inspired by legendary theology to returning series alongside keen independent perspectives, 2025 appears poised to be the richest along with carefully orchestrated year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. Major studios lay down anchors by way of signature titles, even as streaming platforms front-load the fall with discovery plays and legend-coded dread. In parallel, the independent cohort is carried on the kinetic energy of a record-setting 2024 festival season. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, yet in 2025, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are surgical, so 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Premium genre swings back

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal Pictures sets the tone with a confident swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, but a crisp modern milieu. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. set for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. From director Eli Craig with 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. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

When summer tapers, the Warner Bros. banner sets loose the finale from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Even with a familiar chassis, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Scott Derrickson is back, and those signature textures resurface: period tinged dread, trauma foregrounded, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The stakes escalate here, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Bringing up the winter anchor is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The next entry deepens the tale, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It drops in December, securing the winter cap.

Digital Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a tight space body horror vignette led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Also rising is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable with Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each taps grief, vanishing, and identity, treating horror as metaphor more than spectacle.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It is a clever angle. No overstuffed canon. No franchise baggage. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Heat to Market Leverage

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Long Running Lines: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, from Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Forecast: Fall saturation and a winter joker

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons stacked into September and October, fall saturates. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

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

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The approaching fright lineup: next chapters, universe starters, plus A jammed Calendar tailored for shocks

Dek: The current horror season loads in short order with a January glut, and then carries through summer, and carrying into the winter holidays, fusing franchise firepower, new voices, and strategic calendar placement. Distributors with platforms are doubling down on tight budgets, box-office-first windows, and social-fueled campaigns that frame these offerings into broad-appeal conversations.

The landscape of horror in 2026

The horror marketplace has proven to be the surest release in release plans, a corner that can lift when it performs and still limit the risk when it misses. After 2023 proved to decision-makers that responsibly budgeted shockers can dominate the zeitgeist, the following year held pace with signature-voice projects and word-of-mouth wins. The tailwind translated to the 2025 frame, where reboots and awards-minded projects signaled there is capacity for a spectrum, from ongoing IP entries to one-and-done originals that perform internationally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a programming that reads highly synchronized across the market, with defined corridors, a blend of legacy names and untested plays, and a sharpened strategy on exhibition windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium rental and subscription services.

Schedulers say the genre now functions as a schedule utility on the distribution slate. Horror can launch on almost any weekend, provide a clean hook for promo reels and TikTok spots, and outpace with ticket buyers that appear on first-look nights and maintain momentum through the sophomore frame if the movie connects. Following a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 setup exhibits belief in that dynamic. The calendar starts with a front-loaded January run, then leans on spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while leaving room for a October build that carries into holiday-adjacent weekends and beyond. The layout also features the ongoing integration of indie distributors and platforms that can platform a title, ignite recommendations, and scale up at the sweet spot.

A companion trend is brand strategy across linked properties and classic IP. Big banners are not just mounting another return. They are setting up lore continuity with a marquee sheen, whether that is a typeface approach that indicates a recalibrated tone or a casting pivot that ties a latest entry to a initial period. At the in tandem, the directors behind the eagerly awaited originals are returning to material texture, practical effects and vivid settings. That convergence affords 2026 a solid mix of comfort and newness, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

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

Paramount fires first with two big-ticket titles that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the center, framing it as both a succession moment and a heritage-centered character-forward chapter. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the artistic posture signals a classic-referencing angle without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Watch for a push built on brand visuals, character previews, and a promo sequence landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back together, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a draw the campaign will feature. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will seek general-audience talk through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format supporting quick pivots to whatever defines the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three differentiated bets. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is elegant, melancholic, and easily pitched: a grieving man adopts an intelligent companion that evolves into a dangerous lover. The date nudges it to the front of a thick month, with Universal’s promo team likely to renew creepy live activations and short-cut promos that hybridizes devotion and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a name unveil to become an earned moment closer to the opening teaser. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele projects are branded as creative events, with a opaque teaser and a second trailer wave that signal tone without plot the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor gives the studio room to take 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, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has made clear that a raw, on-set effects led strategy can feel prestige on a efficient spend. Expect a hard-R summer horror surge that spotlights foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio places two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, holding a evergreen supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is marketing as a from-the-ground-up reboot 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 fans and general audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build artifacts around canon, and creature work, elements that can accelerate IMAX and PLF uptake and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on immersive craft and textual fidelity, this time focused on werewolf legend. The specialty arm has already locked the day for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can grow wide if early reception is robust.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform windowing in 2026 run on established tracks. Universal’s slate window into copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a structure that amplifies both premiere heat and sign-up spikes in the tail. Prime Video will mix outside acquisitions with global pickups and short theatrical plays when the data supports it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in back-catalog play, using editorial spots, Halloween hubs, and staff picks to sustain interest on the 2026 genre total. Netflix keeps options open about internal projects and festival wins, finalizing horror entries closer to drop and framing as events launches with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a dual-phase of targeted cinema placements and prompt platform moves that monetizes buzz via trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has been willing to pick up select projects with accomplished filmmakers or star packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for sustained usage when the genre conversation spikes.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 sequence 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 proposition is tight: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, recalibrated for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an upbeat indicator for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the autumn stretch.

Focus will play the auteur card with Werwulf, stewarding the film through festival season if the cut is ready, then relying on the Christmas corridor to broaden. That positioning has proved effective for elevated genre with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception supports. Be ready for 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 hand in hand, using mini theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their audience.

Balance of brands and originals

By skew, 2026 skews toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness franchise value. The watch-out, as ever, is staleness. The pragmatic answer is to brand each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is centering core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-accented approach from a new voice. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be branded as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the cast-creatives package is assuring enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and early previews.

Rolling three-year comps illuminate the plan. In 2023, a theater-first model that observed windows did not foreclose a day-and-date experiment from delivering when the brand was robust. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror hit big in premium formats. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they change perspective and grow scope. 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 double feature plan, with chapters lensed sequentially, gives leeway to marketing to cross-link entries through relationships and themes and to continue assets in field without pause points.

How the look and feel evolve

The shop talk behind the upcoming entries forecast a continued shift toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that leans on atmosphere and fear rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft spotlights before rolling out a teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and earns shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta inflection that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will live or die on monster work and world-building, which work nicely for convention activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel definitive. Look for trailers that accent pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that work in PLF.

Calendar cadence

January is full. SOULM8TE click site 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 brooding contrast amid marquee brands. The month caps 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 serious, but the palette of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth endures.

Q1 into Q2 build the summer base. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Back half into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a slow-reveal plan and limited plot reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as director prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card use.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s algorithmic partner becomes something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography 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 broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. 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 prickly boss battle to survive on a cut-off island as the control balance turns and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 TBA in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to horror, grounded in Cronin’s physical craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting story that channels the fear through a preteen’s unreliable inner lens. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A comic send-up that needles present-day genre chatter and true crime fervors. Rating: TBA. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further extends again, with a fresh family entangled with past horrors. Rating: TBD. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A new start designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on classic survival-horror tone over action-forward bombast. Rating: undetermined. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: forthcoming. Production: advancing. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on time-true diction and elemental dread. Rating: to be announced. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. 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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why this year, why now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces inform this lineup. First, production that paused or shuffled in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and pared-down timelines. 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 outpaced straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine social-ready stingers from test screenings, metered scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Calendar math also matters. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The parody can useful reference surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Money matters, ratings, and surprise hits

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 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 capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever 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. Project a sturdy PVOD period across titles, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a cold, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to prime 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 deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, acoustics, and camera work that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is intact. There is brand equity where it matters, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, guard the secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.