Mythic Dread Returns within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding thriller, landing October 2025 across global platforms

An eerie ghostly shockfest from creator / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an primordial fear when unfamiliar people become tools in a fiendish ordeal. Debuting October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving account of living through and primeval wickedness that will reimagine terror storytelling this ghoul season. Brought to life by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and immersive story follows five figures who come to stranded in a off-grid shelter under the malignant command of Kyra, a possessed female overtaken by a antiquated holy text monster. Arm yourself to be ensnared by a screen-based adventure that integrates bodily fright with ancient myths, premiering on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a historical foundation in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is challenged when the entities no longer arise from elsewhere, but rather from within. This symbolizes the grimmest dimension of the cast. The result is a gripping mind game where the narrative becomes a constant tug-of-war between good and evil.


In a remote forest, five friends find themselves imprisoned under the ominous dominion and domination of a uncanny entity. As the protagonists becomes unable to evade her control, left alone and stalked by spirits unnamable, they are driven to wrestle with their darkest emotions while the timeline coldly moves toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear surges and links crack, requiring each person to reconsider their values and the integrity of personal agency itself. The tension amplify with every passing moment, delivering a fear-soaked story that intertwines paranormal dread with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to tap into ancestral fear, an darkness older than civilization itself, influencing human fragility, and wrestling with a will that tests the soul when choice is taken.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra meant channeling something outside normal anguish. She is unseeing until the possession kicks in, and that metamorphosis is harrowing because it is so raw.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for public screening beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—making sure fans across the world can witness this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a continuation to its intro video, which has garnered over notable views.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be offered to international markets, spreading the horror to lovers of terror across nations.


Make sure to see this unforgettable descent into hell. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this launch day to acknowledge these unholy truths about inner darkness.


For sneak peeks, director cuts, and updates from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YACFilm across platforms and visit our spooky domain.





Modern horror’s watershed moment: 2025 U.S. rollouts melds old-world possession, art-house nightmares, paired with legacy-brand quakes

Running from pressure-cooker survival tales grounded in ancient scripture all the way to returning series in concert with sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is lining up as the most stratified paired with intentionally scheduled year in years.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. Top studios stabilize the year using marquee IP, as digital services saturate the fall with first-wave breakthroughs as well as old-world menace. At the same time, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is propelled by the backdraft from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, yet in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are surgical, accordingly 2025 is positioned to be the most designed season yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Premium genre swings back

The majors are not coasting. If 2024 set the base, 2025 doubles down.

the Universal banner begins the calendar with a big gambit: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, inside today’s landscape. Directed by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. set for mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Led by Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer wanes, Warner Bros. sets loose the finale from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Even with a familiar chassis, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re boards, and the tone that worked before is intact: retrograde shiver, trauma in the foreground, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This time, the stakes are raised, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The continuation widens the legend, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, seeking teens plus thirty something gamers. It bows in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Streamer Exclusives: Modest spend, serious shock

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Helmed by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

On the quieter side is Together, a close quarters body horror study pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is destined for a fall landing.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn featuring Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Written 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. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home position the film as a Halloween counter to sequel heavy theatricals and monster revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No overstuffed canon. No canon weight. Just psychological dread, contained and tense, tailored to the binge then breathe cadence of digital horror fans. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, while Tribeca’s genre yard leans urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Franchise Horror: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Expect tiaras, corn syrup blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. 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, steered by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

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.

Key Trends

Myth turns mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal 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 resurges
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Badges become bargaining chips
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Outlook: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The new genre slate: brand plays, fresh concepts, as well as A loaded Calendar designed for jolts

Dek: The upcoming scare year crams in short order with a January traffic jam, then runs through midyear, and pushing into the winter holidays, weaving legacy muscle, original angles, and shrewd alternatives. Major distributors and platforms are leaning into responsible budgets, big-screen-first runs, and viral-minded pushes that frame horror entries into broad-appeal conversations.

How the genre looks for 2026

Horror has established itself as the consistent swing in annual schedules, a segment that can surge when it lands and still mitigate the exposure when it fails to connect. After 2023 re-taught buyers that cost-conscious entries can lead social chatter, the following year maintained heat with visionary-driven titles and surprise hits. The carry translated to the 2025 frame, where revived properties and prestige plays demonstrated there is appetite for diverse approaches, from returning installments to one-and-done originals that travel well. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a run that shows rare alignment across the field, with intentional bunching, a equilibrium of brand names and fresh ideas, and a recommitted emphasis on cinema windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium home window and OTT platforms.

Marketers add the horror lane now operates like a swing piece on the schedule. The genre can debut on virtually any date, provide a quick sell for marketing and reels, and outperform with demo groups that come out on early shows and maintain momentum through the follow-up frame if the film satisfies. Following a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 configuration signals trust in that dynamic. The calendar opens with a busy January lineup, then uses spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while saving space for a October build that stretches into All Hallows period and into the next week. The map also shows the greater integration of boutique distributors and digital platforms that can build gradually, fuel WOM, and broaden at the inflection point.

A companion trend is IP cultivation across shared universes and classic IP. Big banners are not just releasing another follow-up. They are shaping as ongoing narrative with a premium feel, whether that is a graphic identity that suggests a tonal shift or a casting choice that threads a next entry to a heyday. At the parallel to that, the creative teams behind the most buzzed-about originals are embracing in-camera technique, practical gags and location-forward worlds. That fusion provides 2026 a solid mix of assurance and invention, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount fires first with two big-ticket bets that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, marketing it as both a relay and a heritage-centered character-forward chapter. Production is active in Atlanta, and the tonal posture points to a heritage-honoring framework without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Expect a marketing push rooted in recognizable motifs, early character teases, and a two-beat trailer plan timed to 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 in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will emphasize. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will drive general-audience talk through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick adjustments to whatever drives horror talk that spring.

Universal has three discrete projects. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is tidy, loss-driven, and easily pitched: a grieving man brings home an AI companion that mutates into a harmful mate. The date sets it at the front of a thick month, with the studio’s marketing likely to reprise uncanny live moments and brief clips that fuses affection and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a final title to become an event moment closer to the debut look. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Filling out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele projects are marketed as director events, with a teaser that holds back and a second wave of trailers that shape mood without giving away the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date opens a lane to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has proven that a in-your-face, hands-on effects style can feel prestige on a moderate cost. Look for a gore-forward summer horror charge that spotlights global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio sets two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, extending a reliable supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is describing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both longtime followers and new audiences. The fall slot allows Sony to build marketing units around universe detail, and monster aesthetics, elements that can stoke format premiums and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror centered on obsessive craft and historical speech, this time focused on werewolf legend. The distributor has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is supportive.

Where the platforms fit in

Digital strategies for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s genre slate window into copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a ordering that expands both FOMO and sub growth in the tail. Prime Video will mix library titles with global pickups and short theatrical plays when the data signals it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library curation, using in-app campaigns, fright rows, and staff picks to increase tail value on the annual genre haul. Netflix remains opportunistic about first-party entries and festival grabs, dating horror entries near their drops and positioning as event drops debuts with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a dual-phase of precision theatrical plays and fast windowing that translates talk to trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has indicated interest to secure select projects with accomplished filmmakers or star-driven packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for sustained usage when the genre conversation surges.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 arc with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is simple: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, updated for modern audio-visual craft. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a cinema-first plan for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the back half.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday corridor to widen. That positioning has paid off for elevated genre with four-quadrant hopes. 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 reasonable expectation is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception allows. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using small theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Franchises versus originals

By tilt, the 2026 slate bends toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap brand equity. The potential drawback, as ever, is diminishing returns. The practical approach is to market each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is elevating character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a Francophone tone from a ascendant talent. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment changes rapidly.

Originals and talent-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the packaging is grounded enough to spark pre-sales and early previews.

Past-three-year patterns contextualize the model. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that observed windows did not stop a dual release from winning when the brand was big. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror popped in premium screens. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they reframe POV and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which carries on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters shot in tandem, permits marketing to cross-link entries through personae and themes and to keep assets alive without hiatuses.

How the films are being made

The production chatter behind this year’s genre indicate a continued lean toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that underscores unease and texture rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft spotlights before rolling out a mood 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 calibrated for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and generates shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 targets a meta-horror reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will live or die on monster work and world-building, which fit with con floor moments and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel must-have. Look for trailers that center surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that shine in top rooms.

Calendar cadence

January is packed. 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 quiet contrast amid bigger brand plays. The month buttons 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 meaningful, but the menu of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Early-year through spring prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges 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 comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Late summer into fall leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a minimalist tease strategy and limited information drops that lean on concept not plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on my company December 25 is a marker that genre can win the holiday when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. The distributor has done this before, measured platforming, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while using holiday momentum and gift-card redemption.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s artificial companion turns into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with 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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. 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 tough boss struggle to survive on a rugged island as the chain of command inverts and unease intensifies. 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 TBA in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to terror, rooted in Cronin’s material craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting tale that toys with the fear of a child’s uncertain senses. Rating: not yet rated. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-supported and star-fronted eerie 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 genre lampoon that lampoons hot-button genre motifs and true-crime obsessions. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites spreads, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new household lashed to residual nightmares. Rating: forthcoming. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: durable spectral IP in a late-summer sweet spot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A clean reboot designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival-driven horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: TBD. Production: ongoing. 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-faithful speech and primal menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. 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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three workable forces frame this lineup. First, production that eased or shifted in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and compressed schedules. 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 generated more than straight-to-streaming drops. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage clippable moments from test screenings, metered scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Calendar math also matters. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will jostle across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, 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 breakout hunt continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 left-field winner 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. Plan on a solid PVOD window generally, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers steady Thursday pops, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, acoustics, 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, Lined Up To Scare

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts shuffle. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is recognizable IP where it plays, creative ambition where it counts, 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, protect the mystery, and let the screams sell the seats.