Mythic Terror returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling horror feature, arriving Oct 2025 across top digital platforms

An spine-tingling supernatural terror film from dramatist / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an mythic fear when drifters become instruments in a supernatural contest. Going live on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a nightmarish narrative of staying alive and timeless dread that will revamp genre cinema this autumn. Visualized by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and gothic story follows five individuals who wake up stuck in a isolated shelter under the unfriendly sway of Kyra, a cursed figure inhabited by a 2,000-year-old sacred-era entity. Be warned to be absorbed by a audio-visual presentation that combines bodily fright with legendary tales, landing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Hellish influence has been a long-standing trope in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is flipped when the presences no longer descend beyond the self, but rather deep within. This mirrors the malevolent dimension of each of them. The result is a intense identity crisis where the narrative becomes a perpetual face-off between heaven and hell.


In a desolate natural abyss, five friends find themselves cornered under the sinister grip and overtake of a uncanny female presence. As the companions becomes defenseless to withstand her curse, stranded and chased by creatures beyond comprehension, they are driven to battle their core terrors while the hours ruthlessly moves toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease intensifies and associations splinter, prompting each individual to question their true nature and the integrity of freedom of choice itself. The risk grow with every breath, delivering a fear-soaked story that fuses paranormal dread with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to tap into raw dread, an power born of forgotten ages, feeding on fragile psyche, and examining a force that peels away humanity when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra asked for exploring something outside normal anguish. She is oblivious until the haunting manifests, and that flip is bone-chilling because it is so deep.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for digital release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—so that audiences around the globe can survive this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a evolution to its release of trailer #1, which has attracted over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, spreading the horror to a global viewership.


Don’t miss this bone-rattling voyage through terror. Watch *Young & Cursed* this Halloween season to explore these dark realities about the human condition.


For sneak peeks, set experiences, and news directly from production, follow @YoungAndCursed across Instagram and Twitter and visit our horror hub.





Current horror’s pivotal crossroads: 2025 for genre fans U.S. calendar integrates myth-forward possession, art-house nightmares, stacked beside brand-name tremors

Beginning with survival horror grounded in scriptural legend to legacy revivals alongside pointed art-house angles, 2025 looks like the genre’s most multifaceted plus carefully orchestrated year in the past ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. Top studios hold down the year with established lines, in parallel digital services prime the fall with unboxed visions and old-world menace. At the same time, indie storytellers is catching the afterglow of a banner 2024 fest year. With Halloween holding the peak, the schedule beyond October is tightly engineered. A fat September–October lane is customary now, however this time, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are precise, and 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The majors are assertive. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 presses the advantage.

Universal’s schedule leads off the quarter with a bold swing: a contemporary Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, but a crisp modern milieu. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. Slated for mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Helmed by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Beneath the facade, it probes hometown suspicion, boomer to zoomer divides, and mob retribution. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

At summer’s close, Warner’s schedule drops the final chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Despite a known recipe, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson returns to the helm, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: vintage toned fear, trauma as theme, along with eerie supernatural rules. The stakes escalate here, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The continuation widens the legend, broadens the animatronic terror cast, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It opens in December, locking down the winter tail.

Digital Originals: No Budget, No Problem

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a sealed box body horror arc pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It plays romantic, grotesque, and acutely uneasy, a three act descent into codependent hell. Although a platform date is not yet posted, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

On the docket is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Penned and steered by Andrew Chiaramonte, the narrative rides with five strangers waking in a secluded woodland cabin, held by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The terror is psychological in engine, alive with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It is a clever angle. No swollen lore. No brand fatigue. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest’s horror bench is deep this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Series Horror: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Unlike earlier entries, this leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, steered by Francis Lawrence, it stands as a punishing dystopian allegory wearing survival horror, a march until death with no victors. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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 currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror reemerges
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival momentum becomes leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. Everything else is PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Projection: Autumn density and winter pivot

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper will tussle for space. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The new spook release year: returning titles, Originals, plus A stacked Calendar calibrated for Scares

Dek: The new genre calendar loads immediately with a January crush, then rolls through summer, and running into the December corridor, braiding name recognition, untold stories, and well-timed counterweight. Studio marketers and platforms are embracing efficient budgets, big-screen-first runs, and buzz-forward plans that elevate these pictures into four-quadrant talking points.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror has proven to be the most reliable tool in release strategies, a pillar that can scale when it connects and still buffer the exposure when it stumbles. After the 2023 year reminded decision-makers that cost-conscious entries can command the zeitgeist, the following year maintained heat with buzzy auteur projects and quiet over-performers. The momentum pushed into 2025, where revivals and filmmaker-prestige bets highlighted there is demand for several lanes, from brand follow-ups to standalone ideas that perform internationally. The net effect for 2026 is a run that appears tightly organized across companies, with intentional bunching, a mix of marquee IP and novel angles, and a re-energized commitment on theatrical windows that power the aftermarket on premium digital rental and home streaming.

Marketers add the category now serves as a flex slot on the slate. Horror can kick off on open real estate, offer a simple premise for ad units and short-form placements, and overperform with moviegoers that arrive on Thursday previews and continue through the next pass if the movie connects. Exiting a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 plan demonstrates faith in that playbook. The calendar opens with a stacked January schedule, then uses spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while making space for a fall corridor that connects to holiday-adjacent weekends and into November. The gridline also shows the continuing integration of indie arms and OTT outlets that can build gradually, create conversation, and roll out at the strategic time.

A notable top-line trend is IP cultivation across connected story worlds and legacy franchises. Big banners are not just producing another chapter. They are setting up continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a title presentation that telegraphs a new vibe or a lead change that reconnects a next entry to a foundational era. At the concurrently, the writer-directors behind the top original plays are prioritizing in-camera technique, real effects and vivid settings. That alloy affords 2026 a healthy mix of known notes and discovery, which is what works overseas.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount establishes early momentum with two big-ticket moves that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the spine, angling it as both a cross-generational handoff and a my review here rootsy character-focused installment. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the authorial approach hints at a roots-evoking campaign without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign driven by classic imagery, intro reveals, and a promo sequence arriving in 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 as creative contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will stress. As a counterweight in summer, this one will build wide appeal through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format supporting quick redirects to whatever tops the meme cycle that spring.

Universal has three unique bets. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is straightforward, heartbroken, and big-hook: a grieving man adopts an AI companion that shifts into a dangerous lover. The date locates it at the front of a packed window, with marketing at Universal likely to renew strange in-person beats and bite-size content that blurs romance and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio places an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a proper title to become an headline beat closer to the teaser. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele’s work are treated as creative events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a follow-up trailer set that shape mood without giving away the concept. The prime October weekend offers Universal room to command 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, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub starring. The franchise has made clear that a tactile, on-set effects led strategy can feel cinematic on a controlled budget. Position this as a blood-and-grime summer horror blast that spotlights global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio books two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, carrying a evergreen supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where the brand has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what the studio is framing as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both core fans and casuals. The fall slot allows Sony to build campaign creative around narrative world, and creature design, elements that can lift premium screens and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains the filmmaker’s run of period horror grounded in historical precision and linguistic texture, this time exploring werewolf lore. The specialty arm has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is supportive.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform tactics for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre entries window into copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a stair-step that expands both debut momentum and subscriber lifts in the tail. Prime Video balances licensed films with world buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in deep cuts, using timely promos, October hubs, and collection rows to prolong the run on aggregate take. Netflix remains opportunistic about in-house releases and festival snaps, confirming horror entries toward the drop and positioning as event drops arrivals with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a one-two of focused cinema runs and swift platform pivots that drives paid trials from buzz. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working direct-to-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a per-project basis. The platform has indicated interest to pick up select projects with top-tier auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to spark social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for platform stickiness when the genre conversation swells.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 track with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is tight: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, refined for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the autumn stretch.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through the fall circuit if check over here the cut is ready, then turning to the December frame to broaden. That positioning has helped for prestige horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception warrants. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that plays Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using precision theatrical to spark the evangelism that fuels their subs.

IP versus fresh ideas

By number, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the IP side. this page Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use brand equity. The challenge, as ever, is audience fatigue. The practical approach is to sell each entry as a new angle. Paramount is centering relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French-tinted vision from a hot helmer. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and director-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the deal build is known enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Three-year comps outline the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that honored streaming windows did not preclude a parallel release from performing when the brand was trusted. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror surged in large-format rooms. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they alter lens and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances 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 shot consecutively, lets marketing to interlace chapters through character arcs and themes and to hold creative in the market without hiatuses.

How the look and feel evolve

The creative meetings behind the 2026 entries telegraph a continued bias toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that emphasizes creep and texture rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in craft journalism and craft spotlights before rolling out a first look that keeps plot minimal, a move that has clicked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and earns shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta pivot that centers an original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster work and world-building, which lend themselves to fan conventions and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel irresistible. Look for trailers that highlight fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that play in premium auditoriums.

The schedule at a glance

January is loaded. 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 brooding contrast amid larger brand plays. The month caps 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 range of tones opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth sustains.

Late winter and spring build the summer base. Scream 7 hits February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents red-band intensity. The counterprogramming logic is tight. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Late-season stretch leans brand. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a peekaboo tease plan and limited advance reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a statement that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card burn.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s DNA. 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 sorrowing man’s virtual companion becomes something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming finished for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: revived prestige horror saga’s second leg.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her severe boss try to survive on a uninhabited island as the control dynamic upends 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 retelling that returns the monster to fright, built on Cronin’s material craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting piece that explores the unease of a child’s mercurial perspective. Rating: rating pending. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-crafted and headline-actor led eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A parody return that satirizes contemporary horror memes and true crime fascinations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. 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 erupts, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: The Further extends again, with a different family anchored to ancient dread. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival-driven horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: pending. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: TBD. 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 period language and elemental fear. Rating: TBD. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three pragmatic forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that paused or migrated in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming placements. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage shareable moments from test screenings, metered scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

The slot calculus is real. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, clearing runway for genre entries that can capture a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will line up across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The stealth-hit search continues in Q1, where modest-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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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. Anticipate a robust 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a one-two spectral pairing 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 wintry, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor 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 warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing grain, soundcraft, 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 Is Well Positioned

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts update. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand equity where it matters, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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, cut sharp trailers, protect the mystery, and let the frights sell the seats.