Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed releases mythic darkness, a nightmare fueled horror thriller, landing October 2025 on premium platforms

A bone-chilling occult nightmare movie from dramatist / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an primordial entity when unfamiliar people become conduits in a cursed ceremony. Releasing October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – get set for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing story of continuance and primordial malevolence that will revolutionize fear-driven cinema this cool-weather season. Realized by rising genre visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and claustrophobic tale follows five individuals who come to confined in a cut-off wooden structure under the aggressive manipulation of Kyra, a female presence claimed by a time-worn biblical force. Get ready to be seized by a immersive journey that fuses deep-seated panic with spiritual backstory, unleashing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a iconic motif in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is redefined when the entities no longer appear from an outside force, but rather inside their minds. This symbolizes the most primal shade of the players. The result is a intense internal warfare where the plotline becomes a soul-crushing push-pull between innocence and sin.


In a wilderness-stricken woodland, five souls find themselves imprisoned under the ghastly grip and inhabitation of a shadowy female figure. As the group becomes incapacitated to escape her dominion, cut off and followed by creatures mind-shattering, they are pushed to confront their inner demons while the clock without pity edges forward toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia swells and friendships fracture, requiring each survivor to rethink their self and the notion of conscious will itself. The intensity intensify with every heartbeat, delivering a horror experience that fuses ghostly evil with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to dig into deep fear, an spirit from prehistory, operating within emotional fractures, and wrestling with a evil that forces self-examination when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra involved tapping into something beyond human emotion. She is in denial until the invasion happens, and that conversion is soul-crushing because it is so emotional.”

Streaming Launch Details

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for worldwide release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—making sure customers in all regions can experience this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just broadcast a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its first preview, which has pulled in over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has revealed that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, extending the thrill to horror fans worldwide.


Make sure to see this visceral exploration of dread. Explore *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to acknowledge these fearful discoveries about the psyche.


For exclusive trailers, making-of footage, and reveals from inside the story, follow @YACMovie across social media and visit our horror hub.





American horror’s Turning Point: calendar year 2025 domestic schedule blends legend-infused possession, indie terrors, paired with Franchise Rumbles

From survivor-centric dread rooted in mythic scripture to returning series set beside sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is shaping up as the most textured along with intentionally scheduled year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. the big studios stabilize the year using marquee IP, even as SVOD players crowd the fall with discovery plays as well as ancestral chills. In parallel, the art-house flank is surfing the afterglow of a record-setting 2024 festival season. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, yet in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are exacting, hence 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Premium dread reemerges

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 accelerates.

Universal leads off the quarter with a headline swing: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, in a modern-day environment. Directed by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. landing in mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Guided by Eli Craig featuring turns by 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. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

When summer tapers, Warner’s slate unveils the final movement of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Though the outline is tried, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

After that, The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the tone that worked before is intact: vintage toned fear, trauma as text, plus otherworld rules that chill. The bar is raised this go, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a franchise that brings its own crowd. The return delves further into myth, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, speaking to teens and older millennials. It hits in December, cornering year end horror.

Streamer Exclusives: No Budget, No Problem

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

On the docket is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable led by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith is not summoned by priests, she rises from trauma, muteness, and human fault lines. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It reads as sharp positioning. No overinflated mythology. No legacy baggage. Simply psychological fear, lean and taut, built for the binge then recover rhythm. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

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 premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Legacy Lines: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 hits late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, steered by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Emerging Currents

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror ascends again
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Forward View: Fall pileup, winter curveball

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 scrap for air. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The next chiller slate: installments, non-franchise titles, plus A jammed Calendar designed for shocks

Dek: The emerging terror calendar builds immediately with a January wave, thereafter runs through summer corridors, and running into the festive period, blending series momentum, inventive spins, and smart counterprogramming. The major players are embracing cost discipline, cinema-first plans, and platform-native promos that position horror entries into four-quadrant talking points.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

This space has grown into the surest counterweight in annual schedules, a genre that can surge when it clicks and still hedge the liability when it under-delivers. After 2023 reassured executives that lean-budget scare machines can steer pop culture, 2024 extended the rally with festival-darling auteurs and under-the-radar smashes. The run fed into 2025, where legacy revivals and awards-minded projects underscored there is capacity for multiple flavors, from franchise continuations to one-and-done originals that export nicely. The sum for the 2026 slate is a lineup that looks unusually coordinated across companies, with obvious clusters, a pairing of legacy names and new pitches, and a revived priority on box-office windows that drive downstream revenue on PVOD and streaming.

Marketers add the genre now acts as a schedule utility on the schedule. The genre can kick off on most weekends, yield a sharp concept for creative and short-form placements, and lead with fans that lean in on advance nights and keep coming through the sophomore frame if the movie lands. In the wake of a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 plan telegraphs belief in that logic. The slate begins with a weighty January window, then uses spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while holding room for a late-year stretch that connects to Halloween and into November. The calendar also reflects the increasing integration of specialty distributors and SVOD players that can develop over weeks, spark evangelism, and roll out at the optimal moment.

A companion trend is IP stewardship across linked properties and classic IP. Big banners are not just making another follow-up. They are aiming to frame lineage with a must-see charge, whether that is a graphic identity that flags a reframed mood or a star attachment that connects a latest entry to a early run. At the same time, the auteurs behind the marquee originals are prioritizing practical craft, practical gags and distinct locales. That fusion produces the 2026 slate a solid mix of comfort and unexpected turns, which is how the genre sells abroad.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount opens strong with two spotlight titles that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the front, signaling it as both a lineage transfer and a back-to-basics character study. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the narrative stance indicates a classic-referencing treatment without covering again the last two entries’ core arc for the Carpenter sisters. Plan for a rollout rooted in classic imagery, character previews, and a rollout cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is theatrical via Paramount.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will foreground. As a summer counterprogrammer, this one will pursue wide buzz through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format enabling quick adjustments to whatever tops trend lines that spring.

Universal has three differentiated entries. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tech-forward branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is straightforward, tragic, and high-concept: a grieving man purchases an machine companion that shifts into a harmful mate. The date places it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the marketing arm likely to reprise strange in-person beats and micro spots that mixes love and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under working names in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a public title to become an earned moment closer to the initial tease. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele projects are marketed as auteur events, with a teaser that holds back and a subsequent trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The late-month date opens a lane to dominate 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, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has made clear that a gnarly, prosthetic-heavy aesthetic can feel cinematic on a middle budget. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror shock that leans hard into offshore potential, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio launches two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, continuing a reliable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch advances. Sony has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots 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 devotees and fresh viewers. The fall slot creates runway for Sony to build campaign pieces around narrative world, and monster aesthetics, elements that can stoke premium screens and fan events.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror centered on obsessive craft and archaic language, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus Features has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform wide if early reception is enthusiastic.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform windowing in 2026 run on stable tracks. The Universal horror run transition to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a pacing that maximizes both launch urgency and trial spikes in the later phase. Prime Video combines licensed content with global originals and limited runs in theaters when the data supports it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in archive usage, using curated hubs, horror hubs, and editorial rows to stretch the tail on aggregate take. Netflix keeps options open about first-party entries and festival snaps, locking in horror entries toward the drop and staging as events drops with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a one-two of targeted theatrical exposure and speedy platforming that turns chatter to conversion. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January news 23, 2026, before relying on niche channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has shown a willingness to purchase select projects with award winners or marquee packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation builds.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 slate with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is tight: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, reimagined for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has telegraphed a theatrical rollout for Legacy, an optimistic indicator for fans of the savage series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the September weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, shepherding the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then working the Christmas window to scale. That positioning has helped for director-led genre with audience crossover. 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 likely scenario is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception supports. Expect 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 boutique theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their community.

Balance of brands and originals

By tilt, 2026 leans toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on marquee value. The concern, as ever, is staleness. The operating solution is to position each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is centering character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is floating a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-tinted vision from a fresh helmer. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and talent-first projects supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the configuration is grounded enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Recent comps outline the playbook. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that observed windows did not foreclose a day-and-date experiment from delivering when the brand was strong. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror popped in PLF. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga signaled that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they alter lens and expand the canvas. 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 back-to-back plan, with chapters shot in tandem, builds a path for marketing to connect the chapters through personae and themes and to continue assets in field without long breaks.

Production craft signals

The creative meetings behind 2026 horror indicate a continued turn toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed filming and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that leans on grain and menace rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and era-true language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft coverage before rolling out a mood teaser that withholds plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and sparks shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta-horror reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature craft and set design, which favor fan-con activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel primary. Look for trailers that accent fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that sing get redirected here on PLF.

Release calendar overview

January is stacked. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid big-brand pushes. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the tone spread affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth holds.

Pre-summer months set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 debuts February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s 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 sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

Late summer into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil follows September 18, a bridge slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event takes October 23 and will seize cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited plot reveals that prioritize concept over plot.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, deliberate rollout, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can extend in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift-card spend.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s virtual companion becomes something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked 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 widens the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult coalesces in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively 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 journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: gothic-game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her severe boss claw to survive on a cut-off island as the control balance upends and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: marquee survival piece 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 from-today rework that returns the monster to menace, grounded in Cronin’s practical craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 in-home haunting tale that frames the panic through a minor’s uncertain inner lens. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that teases modern genre fads and true crime fervors. Rating: rating forthcoming. Production: filming slated 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 breaks out, with an international twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further opens again, with a new clan snared by ancient dread. Rating: undetermined. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A reboot designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival-core horror over action fireworks. Rating: to be announced. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: pending. Production: underway. 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 era-faithful speech and primal menace. Rating: TBD. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. 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: timing TBD, fall window eyed.

Why the 2026 timing works

Three nuts-and-bolts forces shape this lineup. First, production that paused or re-sequenced in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more measured 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 landings. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on clippable moments from test screenings, curated scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, making room for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will coexist across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 sleeper chase continues in Q1, where lean-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 use those gaps. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers tempo and variety. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors favor the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing materiality, sound field, 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 Is Well Positioned

Windows change. 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, guard the secrets, and let the frights sell the seats.