Primeval Evil awakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding shocker, premiering October 2025 across major platforms

A chilling otherworldly horror tale from cinematographer / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an mythic curse when foreigners become victims in a dark ordeal. Hitting screens October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango platform.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful episode of resilience and prehistoric entity that will reimagine the horror genre this October. Visualized by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and eerie tale follows five characters who find themselves locked in a wooded house under the dark control of Kyra, a possessed female overtaken by a prehistoric sacrosanct terror. Arm yourself to be immersed by a visual outing that combines bodily fright with spiritual backstory, debuting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a historical concept in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is flipped when the fiends no longer appear outside their bodies, but rather within themselves. This mirrors the grimmest side of the victims. The result is a enthralling spiritual tug-of-war where the story becomes a merciless struggle between good and evil.


In a remote woodland, five friends find themselves isolated under the sinister sway and overtake of a enigmatic character. As the protagonists becomes incapable to fight her grasp, severed and hunted by creatures unfathomable, they are made to battle their raw vulnerabilities while the countdown harrowingly winds toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, dread amplifies and friendships implode, prompting each cast member to evaluate their existence and the foundation of autonomy itself. The hazard magnify with every heartbeat, delivering a fear-soaked story that merges otherworldly panic with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to channel pure dread, an darkness beyond time, embedding itself in human fragility, and confronting a presence that tests the soul when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Embodying Kyra meant evoking something outside normal anguish. She is in denial until the spirit seizes her, and that shift is bone-chilling because it is so raw.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for public screening beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—so that streamers no matter where they are can face this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its initial teaser, which has racked up over 100,000 views.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, delivering the story to a worldwide audience.


Mark your calendar for this unforgettable journey into fear. Watch *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to dive into these terrifying truths about the soul.


For previews, production insights, and reveals straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across entertainment pages and visit the movie’s homepage.





Today’s horror major pivot: 2025 for genre fans U.S. Slate interlaces legend-infused possession, independent shockers, together with series shake-ups

Across last-stand terror infused with ancient scripture as well as returning series as well as acutely observed indies, 2025 is lining up as the richest and calculated campaign year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. top-tier distributors hold down the year through proven series, concurrently OTT services prime the fall with discovery plays as well as primordial unease. In the indie lane, horror’s indie wing is catching the momentum from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are exacting, thus 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Prestige terror resurfaces

The top end is active. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s slate sets the tone with a headline swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in a clear present-tense world. Guided by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. dated for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Under Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer winds down, Warner Bros. Pictures bows the concluding entry from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson returns, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: retro dread, trauma centered writing, and a cold supernatural calculus. This run ups the stakes, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, grows the animatronic horror lineup, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It posts in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Platform Plays: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While cinemas swing on series strength, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the work combines fright with dramatic torque. Debuting in theaters late summer then streaming in fall, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn starring Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with 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.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Written and directed 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 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. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It is an astute call. No overstuffed canon. No IP hangover. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance forecasts grief bent elevated horror again, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Legacy Lines: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, with Francis Lawrence directing, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Signals and Trends

Ancient myth goes wide
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror comes roaring back
Pieces such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper bring it back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theaters are a trust fall
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Near Term Outlook: Fall saturation and a winter joker

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The new terror lineup: follow-ups, new stories, and also A jammed Calendar aimed at screams

Dek: The upcoming horror cycle loads right away with a January bottleneck, following that extends through midyear, and well into the year-end corridor, blending series momentum, creative pitches, and strategic counterprogramming. Studios and platforms are leaning into smart costs, exclusive theatrical windows first, and social-driven marketing that shape genre releases into four-quadrant talking points.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The horror marketplace has turned into the consistent option in studio slates, a segment that can grow when it hits and still hedge the liability when it falls short. After 2023 proved to greenlighters that efficiently budgeted chillers can lead pop culture, the following year extended the rally with high-profile filmmaker pieces and unexpected risers. The run flowed into 2025, where legacy revivals and elevated films proved there is capacity for many shades, from series extensions to original features that travel well. The upshot for 2026 is a calendar that seems notably aligned across companies, with clear date clusters, a equilibrium of established brands and untested plays, and a renewed stance on release windows that drive downstream revenue on premium on-demand and digital services.

Insiders argue the space now performs as a plug-and-play option on the release plan. The genre can debut on virtually any date, provide a sharp concept for trailers and UGC-friendly snippets, and outperform with ticket buyers that respond on first-look nights and stay strong through the next weekend if the title connects. On the heels of a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 mapping indicates confidence in that model. The calendar launches with a loaded January lineup, then turns to spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while reserving space for a September to October window that pushes into the fright window and into November. The arrangement also illustrates the ongoing integration of indie arms and SVOD players that can platform and widen, spark evangelism, and expand at the right moment.

A second macro trend is legacy care across interlocking continuities and classic IP. The studios are not just mounting another chapter. They are aiming to frame lore continuity with a specialness, whether that is a title treatment that indicates a tonal shift or a star attachment that ties a next entry to a classic era. At the in tandem, the writer-directors behind the top original plays are championing tactile craft, physical gags and vivid settings. That combination yields the 2026 slate a lively combination of familiarity and invention, which is how the films export.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount marks the early tempo with two marquee projects that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the focus, positioning the film as both a cross-generational handoff and a rootsy character-driven entry. The film is shooting in Atlanta, and the artistic posture suggests a throwback-friendly framework without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign anchored in heritage visuals, character-first teases, and a two-beat trailer plan hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also reawakens 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 creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a angle the campaign will lean on. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will build broad awareness through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format enabling quick shifts to whatever owns horror talk that spring.

Universal has three specific releases. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is elegant, heartbroken, and big-hook: a grieving man sets up an algorithmic mate that evolves into a perilous partner. The date lines it up at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to bring back uncanny-valley stunts and short-cut promos that mixes affection and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a official title to become an earned moment closer to the first look. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. His projects are branded as must-see filmmaker statements, with a hinting teaser and a second beat that define feel without revealing the concept. The prime October weekend creates space for Universal to saturate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then use the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has established that a gnarly, practical-first strategy can feel deluxe on a moderate cost. Look for a grime-caked summer horror charge that spotlights overseas performance, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio places two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, carrying a bankable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is presenting as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both diehards and casuals. The fall slot provides the studio time to build campaign pieces around lore, and creature builds, elements that can amplify large-format demand and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in historical precision and historical speech, this time orbiting lycan myth. The imprint has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is positive.

How the platforms plan to play it

Digital strategies for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s releases flow to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a tiered path that maximizes both debut momentum and subscriber lifts in the later phase. Prime Video pairs catalogue additions with cross-border buys and limited cinema engagements when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library curation, using seasonal hubs, October hubs, and programmed rows to lengthen the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix remains opportunistic about Netflix films and festival wins, locking in horror entries near launch and turning into events debuts with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a tiered of tailored theatrical exposure and prompt platform moves that turns chatter to conversion. That will be key for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown a willingness to board select projects with established auteurs or celebrity-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a this content notable driver for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation builds.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is curating a 2026 slate with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is clean: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a beloved cult piece, recalibrated for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an healthy marker for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the back half.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then deploying the Christmas window to move out. That positioning has paid off for prestige horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception warrants. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that screens at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work hand in hand, using select theatrical to jump-start evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Known brands versus new stories

By share, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on marquee value. The concern, as ever, is audience fatigue. The preferred tactic is to frame each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is emphasizing core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-tinted vision from a ascendant talent. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a marooned survival premise with that teasing menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the cast-creatives package is assuring enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and preview-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years frame the logic. In 2023, a exclusive window model that kept clean windows did not block a day-and-date experiment from thriving when the brand was robust. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror outperformed in premium formats. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they rotate perspective and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters lensed back-to-back, enables marketing to bridge entries through personae and themes and to continue assets in field without pause points.

Behind-the-camera trends

The craft conversations behind this slate point to a continued tilt toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not imitate any recent iteration of the property, a stance that accords with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that spotlights aura and dread rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in long-lead features and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a atmospheric tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and generates shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a self-referential reset that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature design and production design, which match well with expo activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel necessary. Look for trailers that spotlight pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that sing on PLF.

Calendar cadence

January is heavy. 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 moody palate cleanser amid heavier IP. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the mix of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Q1 into Q2 prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can deliver 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 rolled through premiums.

Shoulder season into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil follows September 18, a shoulder season window that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event holds October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a opaque tease strategy and limited advance reveals that put concept first.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, staging carefully, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film scores with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card spend.

Project-by-project snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production is underway. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces 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 mourning man’s artificial companion grows into something dangerously intimate. 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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man goes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. 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 unyielding boss struggle to survive on a desolate island as the power dynamic tilts and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A contemporary re-envisioning that returns the monster to horror, shaped by Cronin’s tactile craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting scenario that filters its scares through a child’s uncertain personal vantage. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A satire sequel that satirizes current genre trends and true crime fixations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

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 transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further reopens, with a unlucky family linked to older hauntings. Rating: not yet rated. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to recalibrate the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on true survival horror over action spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: undetermined. Production: advancing. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on time-true diction and raw menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three grounded forces organize this lineup. First, production that stalled or shifted in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming landings. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will amplify clippable moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can seize a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will stack 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 take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where disciplined-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first quiet 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.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two 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 bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, aural design, and framing that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Shapes Up Strong

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is recognizable IP where it plays, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios get how and when audiences want 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the scares sell the seats.