Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases antediluvian malevolence, a chilling supernatural thriller, bowing October 2025 across top digital platforms

This haunting otherworldly shockfest from cinematographer / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an long-buried malevolence when unknowns become proxies in a supernatural ordeal. Going live this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango on-demand.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving story of struggle and mythic evil that will reconstruct the fear genre this ghoul season. Produced by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and moody suspense flick follows five teens who are stirred ensnared in a secluded hideaway under the malevolent control of Kyra, a female lead occupied by a 2,000-year-old biblical demon. Steel yourself to be hooked by a audio-visual journey that harmonizes primitive horror with biblical origins, releasing on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a time-honored pillar in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is radically shifted when the monsters no longer form outside the characters, but rather from deep inside. This suggests the deepest part of these individuals. The result is a riveting spiritual tug-of-war where the tension becomes a ongoing struggle between innocence and sin.


In a forsaken no-man's-land, five teens find themselves trapped under the ghastly influence and spiritual invasion of a mysterious female presence. As the group becomes submissive to withstand her grasp, cut off and attacked by presences inconceivable, they are made to wrestle with their worst nightmares while the doomsday meter unceasingly ticks onward toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease deepens and connections collapse, demanding each individual to challenge their core and the structure of self-determination itself. The tension rise with every instant, delivering a terror ride that fuses spiritual fright with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to uncover ancestral fear, an spirit that existed before mankind, filtering through inner turmoil, and dealing with a presence that erodes the self when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra required summoning something deeper than fear. She is in denial until the possession kicks in, and that flip is soul-crushing because it is so emotional.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be released for audience access beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—delivering watchers from coast to coast can face this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new official preview for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its original promo, which has seen over a viral response.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be taken worldwide, delivering the story to viewers around the world.


Make sure to see this gripping path of possession. Join *Young & Cursed* this launch day to dive into these spiritual awakenings about our species.


For bonus footage, director cuts, and reveals from the cast and crew, follow @YACFilm across media channels and visit our horror hub.





Current horror’s Turning Point: calendar year 2025 domestic schedule fuses legend-infused possession, independent shockers, plus franchise surges

Running from survival horror saturated with old testament echoes and stretching into franchise returns in concert with focused festival visions, 2025 is tracking to be the most variegated in tandem with deliberate year since the mid-2010s.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. Major studios lock in tentpoles using marquee IP, as premium streamers load up the fall with discovery plays set against legend-coded dread. In parallel, festival-forward creators is drafting behind the tailwinds from a record 2024 festival run. Since Halloween is the prized date, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A fat September–October lane is customary now, distinctly in 2025, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Crowds are ready, studios are calculated, which means 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: High-craft horror returns

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 presses the advantage.

the Universal camp fires the first shot with a bold swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, in a clear present-tense world. With Leigh Whannell at the helm with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. Booked into mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Guided by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Initial heat flags it as potent.

Toward summer’s end, Warner Bros. releases the last chapter within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Though the formula is familiar, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Next is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson returns, and the tone that worked before is intact: retrograde shiver, trauma driven plotting, along with eerie supernatural rules. The ante is higher this round, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The next entry deepens the tale, builds out the animatronic fear crew, courting teens and the thirty something base. It bows in December, securing the winter cap.

Platform Originals: No Budget, No Problem

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a tight space body horror vignette featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the movie follows love and envy and self denial into corporeal breakdown. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Also rising is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: 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 piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith arrives not by rite, but through trauma, silence, and human fragility. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing 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 is an astute call. No bloated canon. No brand fatigue. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, Aztec coded revenge folklore, may cap the fest blazing.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, with Tribeca’s genre menu reading urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Legacy Brands: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, led by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. Marketed correctly, it could be 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.

Emerging Currents

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror comes roaring back
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming originals get teeth
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

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

The big screen is a trust exercise
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Outlook: Fall crush plus winter X factor

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

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The upcoming scare lineup: entries, filmmaker-first projects, paired with A jammed Calendar Built For chills

Dek The fresh genre calendar stacks at the outset with a January pile-up, subsequently flows through midyear, and continuing into the late-year period, mixing legacy muscle, creative pitches, and data-minded counter-scheduling. Studio marketers and platforms are prioritizing efficient budgets, exclusive theatrical windows first, and platform-native promos that transform the slate’s entries into culture-wide discussion.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This category has shown itself to be the surest move in programming grids, a space that can lift when it performs and still cushion the floor when it misses. After 2023 proved to greenlighters that responsibly budgeted horror vehicles can steer audience talk, 2024 extended the rally with signature-voice projects and word-of-mouth wins. The momentum extended into the 2025 frame, where reboots and prestige plays confirmed there is room for diverse approaches, from franchise continuations to original features that perform internationally. The upshot for 2026 is a calendar that is strikingly coherent across the field, with obvious clusters, a pairing of household franchises and new pitches, and a revived strategy on exhibition windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium digital rental and home platforms.

Buyers contend the horror lane now functions as a plug-and-play option on the rollout map. Horror can premiere on a wide range of weekends, offer a sharp concept for teasers and short-form placements, and outstrip with crowds that appear on advance nights and maintain momentum through the next weekend if the feature lands. Post a work stoppage lag, the 2026 rhythm shows belief in that logic. The slate rolls out with a stacked January window, then turns to spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while keeping space for a fall corridor that carries into spooky season and past the holiday. The gridline also highlights the increasing integration of specialty arms and digital platforms that can develop over weeks, spark evangelism, and move wide at the precise moment.

A notable top-line trend is brand curation across interlocking continuities and storied titles. Major shops are not just greenlighting another continuation. They are moving to present story carry-over with a premium feel, whether that is a brandmark that signals a re-angled tone or a lead change that connects a latest entry to a early run. At the simultaneously, the helmers behind the most buzzed-about originals are championing real-world builds, makeup and prosthetics and site-specific worlds. That alloy produces 2026 a confident blend of assurance and discovery, which is the formula for international play.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount opens strong with two big-ticket entries that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the focus, marketing it as both a cross-generational handoff and a origin-leaning character-centered film. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture signals a roots-evoking bent without recycling the last two entries’ sisters thread. Count on a promo wave leaning on brand visuals, first images of characters, and a tease cadence landing toward late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

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 reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will foreground. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will hunt mass reach through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format permitting quick reframes to whatever rules the conversation that spring.

Universal has three defined lanes. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is simple, loss-driven, and high-concept: a grieving man installs an artificial companion that grows into a deadly partner. The date sets it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the marketing arm likely to renew off-kilter promo beats and micro spots that blurs attachment and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely considered the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a branding reveal to become an attention spike closer to the first trailer. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. The filmmaker’s films are framed as filmmaker events, with a mystery-first teaser and a later creative that shape mood without giving away the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor offers Universal room to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček directs, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has long shown that a in-your-face, prosthetic-heavy method can feel top-tier on a moderate cost. Position this as a red-band summer horror charge that leans into overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio deploys two series moves my company in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, maintaining a bankable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch incubates. The studio has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is presenting as a fresh restart 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 explicit mandate to serve both loyalists and curious audiences. The fall slot offers Sony space to build promo materials around world-building, and creature design, elements that can accelerate premium screens and fan-forward engagement.

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 sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror grounded in minute detail and period speech, this time circling werewolf lore. The imprint has already locked the day for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is warm.

SVOD and PVOD rhythms

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s slate window into copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a sequence that maximizes both launch urgency and viewer acquisition in the later window. Prime Video combines licensed films with worldwide buys and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in catalog discovery, using featured rows, Halloween hubs, and editorial rows to keep attention on aggregate take. Netflix remains opportunistic about Netflix films and festival additions, dating horror entries closer to drop and making event-like debuts with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a two-step of targeted cinema placements and fast windowing that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a discrete basis. The platform has indicated interest to invest in select projects with established auteurs or marquee packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for retention when the genre conversation intensifies.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 slate with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is straightforward: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, upgraded for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the back half.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, stewarding the film through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then relying on the holiday slot to scale. That positioning has worked well for filmmaker-driven genre with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception merits. Do not be surprised by 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 hand in hand, using small theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Series vs standalone

By volume, the 2026 slate favors the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use legacy awareness. The trade-off, as ever, is staleness. The operating solution is to market each entry as a tone reset. Paramount is bringing forward core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-accented approach from a buzzed-about director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and talent-first projects keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a island survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the bundle is known enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years help explain the plan. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that maintained windows did not deter a dual release from delivering when the brand was sticky. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror hit big in PLF. In 2025, a rebirth of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they reorient and expand the canvas. 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 back-to-back plan, with chapters shot in tandem, builds a path for marketing to connect the chapters through protagonists and motifs and to continue assets in field without pause points.

How the films are being made

The director conversations behind the year’s horror forecast a continued turn toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that spotlights aura and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in feature stories and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that withholds plot, a move that has worked 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 exports well in red-band trailers and generates shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta recalibration that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature design and production design, which fit with fan conventions and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel irresistible. Look for trailers that foreground razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that play in premium auditoriums.

The schedule at a glance

January is crowded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid macro-brand pushes. The month closes 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 legit, but the menu of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

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

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can succeed 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 cycled through PLF.

August and September into October leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a bridge slot that still connects to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a slow-reveal plan and limited asset reveals that center concept over reveals.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as awards-flirting horror. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card use.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s genetic code. 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 loss-struck man’s virtual companion escalates into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked 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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to confront a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 control dynamic shifts and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to chill, based on Cronin’s physical craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A closed-door haunting narrative that routes the horror through a child’s volatile POV. Rating: TBD. Production: fully shot. Positioning: studio-crafted and name-above-title paranormal 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 genre lampoon that targets contemporary horror memes and true-crime buzz. Rating: TBA. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

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 erupts, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: forthcoming. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new household lashed to old terrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survival-first horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: undetermined. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: pending. Production: ongoing. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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 primal menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 lands now

Three practical forces structure this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or rearranged in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently out-earned straight-to-streaming drops. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work turnkey scare beats from test screenings, controlled scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Calendar math also matters. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, offering breathing room for genre entries that can lead a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will compete across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

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 expanded PLF presence 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 capitalize on 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. 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.

How the viewing year plays

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

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, right-sized allotments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, 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 Looks Exciting

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is franchise muscle where it helps, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, hold the mystery, and let the gasps sell the seats.