Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a hair raising feature, launching October 2025 across major platforms

A haunting metaphysical scare-fest from storyteller / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, manifesting an primordial evil when drifters become pawns in a cursed struggle. Going live this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing portrayal of overcoming and ancient evil that will reconstruct terror storytelling this harvest season. Helmed by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and gothic feature follows five strangers who find themselves caught in a far-off cottage under the sinister grip of Kyra, a female lead consumed by a ancient biblical demon. Prepare to be drawn in by a motion picture display that harmonizes intense horror with mythic lore, releasing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a legendary concept in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is radically shifted when the beings no longer develop from a different plane, but rather through their own souls. This symbolizes the most primal aspect of the protagonists. The result is a riveting mental war where the story becomes a relentless contest between innocence and sin.


In a forsaken woodland, five figures find themselves marooned under the ghastly influence and overtake of a enigmatic character. As the youths becomes incapacitated to oppose her control, abandoned and pursued by powers unnamable, they are obligated to endure their soulful dreads while the timeline unceasingly draws closer toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear intensifies and teams crack, requiring each member to examine their identity and the idea of conscious will itself. The danger amplify with every heartbeat, delivering a paranormal ride that merges demonic fright with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to explore instinctual horror, an spirit from prehistory, operating within our weaknesses, and wrestling with a will that dismantles free will when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra was centered on something rooted in terror. She is oblivious until the haunting manifests, and that transformation is eerie because it is so internal.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be released for on-demand beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—ensuring horror lovers across the world can be part of this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new trailer update for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its first preview, which has pulled in over massive response.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, taking the terror to global fright lovers.


Make sure to see this bone-rattling trip into the unknown. Confront *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to confront these spiritual awakenings about existence.


For bonus footage, special features, and reveals from inside the story, follow @YACMovie across media channels and visit our horror hub.





U.S. horror’s major pivot: the 2025 season U.S. Slate interlaces myth-forward possession, festival-born jolts, set against IP aftershocks

Ranging from grit-forward survival fare rooted in old testament echoes through to series comebacks set beside acutely observed indies, 2025 is tracking to be the most dimensioned combined with tactically planned year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. major banners plant stakes across the year by way of signature titles, concurrently platform operators crowd the fall with discovery plays plus archetypal fear. On the independent axis, independent banners is carried on the momentum from a record 2024 festival run. Since Halloween is the prized date, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, though in this cycle, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. The audience is primed, studios are intentional, which means 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige terror resurfaces

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s distribution arm opens the year with a headline swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, instead in a current-day frame. Led by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. Slated for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Eli Craig directs with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

At summer’s close, Warner Bros. rolls out the capstone within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Though the formula is familiar, director Michael Chaves is said to bring a more mournful, introspective tone to the series swan song. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the memorable motifs return: 70s style chill, trauma as narrative engine, paired with unsettling supernatural order. Here the stakes rise, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The next entry deepens the tale, builds out the animatronic fear crew, reaching teens and game grownups. It drops in December, securing the winter cap.

Streaming Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece threading three timelines via a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters 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. Absent a posted platform date, it is virtually assured for fall.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story with Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed emerges as a rare mix, tight in frame and epic in resonance. Shaped and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

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 reads as sharp positioning. No bloated mythology. No continuity burden. 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 Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Lines: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

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

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

Trends Worth Watching

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror ascends again
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms are putting money into scripts, directors, and promotion. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Outlook: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The genre’s success in 2025 will hinge not on any one title, but on how well its diverse slate reaches its scattered, increasingly segmented audience. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The forthcoming 2026 scare year to come: Sequels, Originals, paired with A hectic Calendar engineered for nightmares

Dek The incoming horror calendar packs early with a January wave, subsequently unfolds through the mid-year, and continuing into the holiday frame, weaving name recognition, creative pitches, and strategic counterplay. The big buyers and platforms are leaning into tight budgets, box-office-first windows, and viral-minded pushes that pivot these films into all-audience topics.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

This space has solidified as the consistent play in studio calendars, a lane that can break out when it lands and still hedge the downside when it stumbles. After the 2023 year demonstrated to decision-makers that low-to-mid budget scare machines can steer audience talk, 2024 kept energy high with visionary-driven titles and unexpected risers. The head of steam pushed into 2025, where revived properties and prestige plays proved there is room for varied styles, from sequel tracks to one-and-done originals that translate worldwide. The aggregate for 2026 is a roster that presents tight coordination across the industry, with purposeful groupings, a balance of household franchises and novel angles, and a revived stance on cinema windows that drive downstream revenue on premium on-demand and SVOD.

Distribution heads claim the genre now acts as a schedule utility on the grid. Horror can kick off on nearly any frame, supply a easy sell for trailers and social clips, and outpace with ticket buyers that show up on early shows and stick through the subsequent weekend if the offering fires. On the heels of a production delay era, the 2026 cadence telegraphs belief in that approach. The year opens with a heavy January corridor, then leans on spring and early summer for counterweight, while making space for a fall corridor that extends to the Halloween corridor and past the holiday. The program also illustrates the expanded integration of arthouse labels and streaming partners that can platform and widen, generate chatter, and go nationwide at the proper time.

A notable top-line trend is brand management across shared IP webs and storied titles. The players are not just producing another chapter. They are seeking to position story carry-over with a must-see charge, whether that is a title treatment that flags a tonal shift or a casting pivot that ties a new entry to a vintage era. At the very same time, the writer-directors behind the marquee originals are prioritizing on-set craft, on-set effects and location-forward worlds. That combination affords 2026 a strong blend of trust and newness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount sets the tone early with two marquee pushes that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the focus, signaling it as both a lineage transfer and a rootsy character study. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the story approach announces a heritage-honoring strategy without recycling the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Watch for a push anchored in legacy iconography, intro reveals, and a two-beat trailer plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will emphasize. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will chase general-audience talk through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format supporting quick shifts to whatever dominates pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three distinct projects. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is tidy, tragic, and elevator-pitch-ready: a grieving man onboards an machine companion that grows into a fatal companion. The date nudges it to the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to bring back creepy live activations and short reels that threads affection and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under code names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a public title to become an attention spike see here closer to the first trailer. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles crowd different corridors.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s work are sold as filmmaker events, with a hinting teaser and a second trailer wave that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The pre-Halloween slot creates space for Universal to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, works with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has consistently shown that a in-your-face, practical-effects forward style can feel elevated on a controlled budget. Position this as a blood-and-grime summer horror charge that leans into international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio rolls out two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, preserving a bankable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what the studio is marketing as a new foundation 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 explicit mandate to serve both franchise faithful and newcomers. The fall slot lets Sony to build campaign pieces around universe detail, and creature work, elements that can stoke IMAX and PLF uptake and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, books a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror centered on immersive craft and period language, this time engaging werewolf myth. The company has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a vote of confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is strong.

Where the platforms fit in

Platform strategies for 2026 run on tested paths. The Universal horror run shift to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a ordering that expands both FOMO and trial spikes in the later phase. Prime Video continues to mix acquired titles with international acquisitions and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data signals it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in catalog engagement, using seasonal hubs, seasonal hubs, and staff picks to sustain interest on lifetime take. Netflix stays opportunistic about original films and festival buys, securing horror entries tight to release and turning into events premieres with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a hybrid of focused cinema runs and fast windowing that converts buzz to sign-ups. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to board select projects with accomplished filmmakers or marquee packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet eligibility thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for retention when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 slate with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is direct: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, upgraded for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a big-screen first plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the late stretch.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday dates to broaden. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-driven genre with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception justifies. Look 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 together, using limited runs to ignite evangelism that fuels their audience.

Franchise entries versus originals

By weight, the 2026 slate bends toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on brand equity. The concern, as ever, is diminishing returns. The preferred tactic is to pitch each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is underscoring character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-flavored turn from a new voice. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the package is comforting enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night turnout.

The last three-year set announce the strategy. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that kept streaming intact did not prevent a dual release from delivering when the brand was compelling. In 2024, auteur craft horror surged in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel reinvigorated when they shift POV and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters filmed consecutively, enables marketing to bridge entries through character spine and themes and to leave creative active without doldrums.

How the look and feel evolve

The director conversations behind the upcoming entries telegraph a continued emphasis on tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped production and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that leans on tone and tension rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft coverage before rolling out a preview that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that plays abroad in red-band trailers and drives shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta inflection that centers an original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature design and production design, which favor convention activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a sonic showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel essential. Look for trailers that emphasize pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that work in PLF.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is busy. Universal’s 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 tonal palate cleanser amid headline IP. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the range of tones carves a lane for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth stays strong.

Winter into spring stage summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Late-season stretch leans franchise. 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 bridge slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a minimalist tease strategy and limited teasers that elevate concept over story.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige 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 clicks critically, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card spend.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative relinks to the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s machine mate turns into something seductively lethal. 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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot 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 returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a shifting reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: mood-led 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 demanding boss work to survive on a desolate island as the power balance upends and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. 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 to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to horror, built on Cronin’s tactile craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Source Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting scenario that filters its scares through a kid’s flickering internal vantage. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-crafted and toplined supernatural 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 satirical comeback that targets today’s horror trends and true-crime crazes. Rating: to be announced. 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 flares, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further ripples again, with a young family caught in past horrors. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A reboot designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward classic survival-horror tone over pyrotechnic spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: TBD. Production: proceeding. 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 period-precise speech and raw menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. 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 traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three pragmatic forces drive this lineup. First, production that paused or recalendared in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and pared-down timelines. Second, studios have become more rigorous 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 releases. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest repeatable beats from test screenings, curated scare clips launched on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, clearing runway for genre entries that can lead a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will line up across five weekends, which permits distinct conversations to flourish. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks weblink alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 low-to-mid 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 unexpected breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 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. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores 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 preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, disciplined 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 detail, sonics, and picture 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, Ready To Roar

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand gravity where needed, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, lock the reveals, and let the chills sell the seats.