Primordial Horror Awakens in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding horror thriller, rolling out October 2025 on top digital platforms

A bone-chilling spectral scare-fest from cinematographer / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an prehistoric entity when guests become pawns in a cursed trial. Dropping on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play Movies & TV, iTunes Movies, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful narrative of resistance and ancient evil that will reimagine the horror genre this season. Brought to life by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and tone-heavy thriller follows five strangers who emerge caught in a wooded shack under the aggressive power of Kyra, a female presence inhabited by a legendary ancient fiend. Brace yourself to be enthralled by a filmic venture that combines visceral dread with mythic lore, dropping on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a mainstay narrative in the movies. In *Young & Cursed*, that notion is reversed when the beings no longer manifest outside the characters, but rather within themselves. This illustrates the grimmest shade of the victims. The result is a riveting mind game where the intensity becomes a brutal conflict between purity and corruption.


In a barren no-man's-land, five young people find themselves confined under the fiendish aura and domination of a shadowy female presence. As the group becomes paralyzed to oppose her grasp, left alone and chased by forces beyond reason, they are made to battle their core terrors while the timeline ruthlessly counts down toward their destruction.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust builds and links shatter, requiring each survivor to rethink their self and the idea of conscious will itself. The stakes grow with every instant, delivering a nightmarish journey that intertwines otherworldly panic with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to dig into deep fear, an entity rooted in antiquity, feeding on inner turmoil, and navigating a being that forces self-examination when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra required summoning something far beyond human desperation. She is innocent until the takeover begins, and that pivot is haunting because it is so deep.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for public screening beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—ensuring viewers in all regions can be part of this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its first trailer, which has received over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, delivering the story to thrill-seekers globally.


Don’t miss this unforgettable path of possession. Face *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to survive these fearful discoveries about human nature.


For sneak peeks, on-set glimpses, and reveals directly from production, follow @YACFilm across your socials and visit our film’s homepage.





American horror’s decisive shift: 2025 for genre fans U.S. Slate integrates ancient-possession motifs, independent shockers, plus Franchise Rumbles

Running from grit-forward survival fare infused with near-Eastern lore through to installment follow-ups in concert with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is shaping up as the most variegated plus blueprinted year in the past ten years.

Call it full, but it is also focused. Major studios stabilize the year by way of signature titles, in tandem streamers load up the fall with unboxed visions paired with scriptural shivers. On the independent axis, horror’s indie wing is catching the momentum from a high-water 2024 festival stretch. As Halloween stays the prime week, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, yet in 2025, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are exacting, thus 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

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

The majors are assertive. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s distribution arm lights the fuse with a marquee bet: a refashioned Wolf Man, eschewing a mist-shrouded old-world European town, instead in a current-day frame. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell fronted by Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. targeting mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

As spring rolls in, Clown in a Cornfield bows, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Under Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

By late summer, Warner Bros. Pictures delivers the closing chapter of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Even if the pattern is recognizable, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re boards, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: old school creep, trauma as theme, and eerie supernatural logic. This time, the stakes are raised, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The new chapter enriches the lore, enlarges the animatronic menagerie, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It lands in December, pinning the winter close.

Streaming Originals: Economy, maximum dread

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

An especially bold streamer bet is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. Under Zach Cregger including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a two hander body horror spiral featuring Alison Brie opposite Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Also rising is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable led by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The project looks at American religious trauma under a supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

A handful of other streaming indies hover in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Dropping October 2 across all major streaming platforms, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled 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 unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Rather than another exorcism film centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. The shift to interior possession, not exterior conjuring, flips expectation and aligns Young & Cursed with an expanding wave, intimate character portraits wearing genre.

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 reads as sharp positioning. No bloated mythology. No continuity burden. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festivals as Springboards

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF function as launch beds for the coming year’s horror. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opening night title, is drawing comparisons to both Cronenberg and Herzog. 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. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy IP: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, aiming to expand its techno horror mythology with new characters and new AI generated terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, from Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Dials to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror resurges
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize 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. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

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

The big screen is a trust exercise
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Forecast: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. There may be pivots into early 2026 or across platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The assignment is not to chase the next Get Out, it is to build horror that endures beyond box office.



The coming 2026 spook slate: continuations, Originals, as well as A packed Calendar aimed at jolts

Dek The fresh genre calendar loads from day one with a January cluster, thereafter stretches through the warm months, and carrying into the festive period, weaving franchise firepower, inventive spins, and calculated release strategy. The big buyers and platforms are leaning into tight budgets, box-office-first windows, and social-driven marketing that position genre releases into national conversation.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

Horror has shown itself to be the sturdy move in annual schedules, a segment that can scale when it performs and still cushion the risk when it stumbles. After 2023 reminded top brass that mid-range scare machines can drive the discourse, the following year maintained heat with buzzy auteur projects and word-of-mouth wins. The momentum moved into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and arthouse crossovers signaled there is room for several lanes, from returning installments to director-led originals that perform internationally. The result for the 2026 slate is a calendar that reads highly synchronized across distributors, with defined corridors, a mix of legacy names and new packages, and a sharpened focus on cinema windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium digital rental and OTT platforms.

Executives say the category now behaves like a schedule utility on the grid. The genre can kick off on almost any weekend, furnish a quick sell for marketing and social clips, and outstrip with viewers that arrive on early shows and keep coming through the second frame if the release satisfies. Post a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 plan shows belief in that approach. The calendar commences with a loaded January block, then targets spring into early summer for counterweight, while leaving room for a late-year stretch that connects to the Halloween frame and into the next week. The program also spotlights the stronger partnership of specialty distributors and streamers that can launch in limited release, spark evangelism, and widen at the right moment.

A second macro trend is brand strategy across brand ecosystems and storied titles. Major shops are not just turning out another return. They are looking to package lineage with a headline quality, whether that is a art treatment that telegraphs a reframed mood or a casting pivot that binds a next film to a initial period. At the parallel to that, the auteurs behind the most buzzed-about originals are championing practical craft, physical gags and specific settings. That alloy produces the 2026 slate a smart balance of familiarity and discovery, which is how the films export.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount sets the tone early with two headline plays that bookend the tonal range. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the center, angling it as both a succession moment and a classic-mode character-driven entry. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the artistic posture suggests a throwback-friendly mode without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Count on a promo wave leaning on franchise iconography, first images of characters, 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 paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will play up. As a summer relief option, this one will pursue broad awareness through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format inviting quick pivots to whatever owns the discourse that spring.

Universal has three separate releases. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is efficient, tragic, and logline-clear: a grieving man brings home an virtual partner that mutates into a killer companion. The date places it at the front of a busy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to recreate eerie street stunts and short-cut promos that interlaces intimacy and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a name unveil to become an teaser payoff closer to the debut look. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele’s work are marketed as auteur events, with a concept-forward tease and a second trailer wave that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date gives the studio room to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, aligns with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a tactile, on-set effects led treatment can feel top-tier on a controlled budget. Expect a hard-R summer horror blast that maximizes foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio deploys two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, extending a reliable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is describing as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both diehards and casuals. The fall slot gives Sony time to build campaign creative around narrative world, and creature design, elements that can boost large-format demand and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by careful craft and historical speech, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus has already planted the flag for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is positive.

How the platforms plan to play it

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on predictable routes. The Universal horror run transition to copyright after a theatrical-first then PVOD phase, a ordering that fortifies both debut momentum and viewer acquisition in the after-window. Prime Video interleaves licensed films with international acquisitions and qualifying theatrical engagements when the data supports it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in catalog discovery, using in-app campaigns, genre hubs, and editorial rows to stretch the tail on the annual genre haul. Netflix keeps flexible about first-party entries and festival grabs, locking in horror entries toward the drop and coalescing around arrivals with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a paired of targeted theatrical exposure and fast windowing that translates talk to trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pressing genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a curated basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to pick up select projects with name filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for retention when the genre conversation ramps.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 runway with two recognizable titles. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is clear: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, refined for modern sonics and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has signaled a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the hard-edged series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the autumn stretch.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, guiding the film through festival season if the cut is ready, then leveraging the year-end corridor to open out. That positioning has served the company well for elevated genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception drives. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using select theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their membership.

Brands and originals

By tilt, 2026 skews toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use name recognition. The risk, as ever, is staleness. The practical approach is to position each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is leading with character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a Francophone tone from a ascendant talent. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the deal build is assuring enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and preview-night crowds.

Comps from the last three years frame the logic. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that kept clean windows did not block a parallel release from succeeding when the brand was big. In 2024, art-forward horror punched above its weight in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a revived cycle of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they change perspective and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, allows marketing to connect the chapters through personae and themes and to hold creative in the market without pause points.

Craft and creative trends

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the 2026 slate point to a continued lean toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that elevates unease and texture rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most forbidding 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 spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in deep-dive features and department features before rolling out a tease that elevates tone over story, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and gathers shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta refresh that re-anchors on the original star. 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 mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel must-have. Look for trailers that accent razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that play in premium auditoriums.

Month-by-month map

January is loaded. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a atmospheric change-up amid larger brand plays. 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 endures.

Post-January through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reframes a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges 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 jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Late summer into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a bridge slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited plot reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can thrive over the holidays when packaged as awards-flirting horror. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and holiday gift-card burn.

Film-by-film briefs

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A mourning man’s algorithmic partner mutates into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete 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 expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult rises in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: elevated outbreak saga chapter.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: aura-driven 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 abrasive boss struggle to survive on a uninhabited island as the chain of command reverses and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to terror, rooted in Cronin’s material craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting narrative that leverages the horror of a child’s uncertain point of view. Rating: rating pending. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-scale and name-above-title haunting thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that pokes at contemporary horror memes and true crime preoccupations. 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 ignites, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBA. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a fresh family anchored to ancient dread. Rating: forthcoming. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. 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 reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survivalist horror over action spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: closely held. Rating: forthcoming. Production: proceeding. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on period language and elemental fear. Rating: not yet rated. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige-grade holiday chiller with artisan honors in view.

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 theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three hands-on forces define this lineup. First, production that downshifted or recalendared in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale CGI sequences, and leaner schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently generated more than straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on repeatable beats 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 delivers.

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 jostle across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, 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 dark-horse hunt continues in Q1, where cost-efficient 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 work those windows. January could easily deliver the first dark-horse hit 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

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

2026 Looks Exciting

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand gravity where needed, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is Get More Info simple, edit tight trailers, keep the secrets, and let the chills sell the seats.