Age-old Horror surfaces: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling horror thriller, debuting Oct 2025 across top streaming platforms

One blood-curdling otherworldly horror tale from scriptwriter / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an primordial curse when outsiders become vehicles in a devilish conflict. Premiering this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango’s digital service.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – Brace yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing tale of living through and mythic evil that will redefine fear-driven cinema this harvest season. Guided by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this unpredictable and gothic film follows five figures who come to stuck in a wilderness-bound hideaway under the sinister will of Kyra, a female presence claimed by a time-worn scriptural evil. Steel yourself to be absorbed by a visual event that melds bodily fright with ancestral stories, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a time-honored trope in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is inverted when the demons no longer appear externally, but rather from their psyche. This represents the most terrifying part of the protagonists. The result is a emotionally raw inner struggle where the intensity becomes a soul-crushing tug-of-war between innocence and sin.


In a bleak outland, five characters find themselves cornered under the fiendish grip and possession of a elusive spirit. As the team becomes defenseless to evade her curse, left alone and tracked by powers unimaginable, they are pushed to face their darkest emotions while the final hour unceasingly strikes toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust swells and connections disintegrate, forcing each person to evaluate their being and the philosophy of free will itself. The consequences rise with every beat, delivering a cinematic nightmare that fuses otherworldly suspense with emotional fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my purpose was to explore basic terror, an threat beyond recorded history, manipulating emotional vulnerability, and challenging a presence that dismantles free will when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra demanded embodying something beyond human emotion. She is uninformed until the evil takes hold, and that shift is shocking because it is so personal.”

Streaming Info

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for public screening beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—offering audiences around the globe can witness this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new visual teaser for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its intro video, which has garnered over strong viewer count.


In addition to its US/Canada launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has publicized that *Young & Cursed* will also be shown overseas, exporting the fear to fans of fear everywhere.


Don’t miss this mind-warping trip into the unknown. Explore *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to witness these spiritual awakenings about inner darkness.


For bonus footage, behind-the-scenes content, and updates from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across your socials and visit our film’s homepage.





Today’s horror watershed moment: 2025 for genre fans domestic schedule interlaces biblical-possession ideas, microbudget gut-punches, paired with legacy-brand quakes

Running from pressure-cooker survival tales rooted in ancient scripture all the way to returning series and surgical indie voices, 2025 is tracking to be the most textured paired with deliberate year in years.

The 2025 horror calendar goes beyond packed, it is precision-tuned. major banners lay down anchors with familiar IP, as SVOD players pack the fall with new voices set against ancient terrors. In the indie lane, indie storytellers is propelled by the backdraft from an unprecedented 2024 fest surge. As Halloween stays the prime week, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A fat September–October lane is customary now, though in this cycle, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are intentional, so 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

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

The top end is active. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 compounds the move.

the Universal banner kicks off the frame with a statement play: a refreshed Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in an immediate now. Led by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. set for 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. Steered by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer eases, Warner Bros. sets loose the finale from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves is expected to tune it to a grieving, self reflective color. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson re teams, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: old school creep, trauma centered writing, and eerie supernatural logic. The bar is raised this go, with a deeper exploration into the “grabber” mythology and how grief haunts generations.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The continuation widens the legend, stretches the animatronic parade, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It books December, buttoning the final window.

Digital Originals: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the project unites horror with dramatic charge. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a close quarters body horror study anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Fixed in a remote let as a weekend curdles, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Another headline entry is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

The film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It looks like sharp programming. No bloated canon. No continuity burden. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Long Running Lines: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

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

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Beyond that, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda dot the year, often holding for windows or late pickups.

What to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival ribbons become currency for better windows and top shelves. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Big screen is a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Near Term Outlook: Fall crush plus winter X factor

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 will grind for attention. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December is anchored by Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, but do not rule out a surprise streamer drop in the final weeks. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The approaching terror season: returning titles, universe starters, and also A brimming Calendar optimized for shocks

Dek The upcoming scare cycle stacks early with a January wave, before it flows through the warm months, and well into the holiday stretch, mixing legacy muscle, creative pitches, and smart offsets. Studios and streamers are committing to tight budgets, theatrical leads, and social-driven marketing that convert horror entries into cross-demo moments.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror filmmaking has grown into the dependable play in studio calendars, a space that can surge when it clicks and still mitigate the floor when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year demonstrated to studio brass that disciplined-budget fright engines can lead cultural conversation, 2024 sustained momentum with buzzy auteur projects and unexpected risers. The momentum moved into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and elevated films made clear there is a market for a variety of tones, from legacy continuations to filmmaker-driven originals that play globally. The sum for 2026 is a schedule that presents tight coordination across the field, with clear date clusters, a balance of marquee IP and fresh ideas, and a revived focus on big-screen windows that increase tail monetization on paid VOD and digital services.

Executives say the space now performs as a fill-in ace on the release plan. Horror can arrive on nearly any frame, provide a grabby hook for trailers and platform-native cuts, and outstrip with patrons that show up on opening previews and return through the sophomore frame if the feature hits. Following a work stoppage lag, the 2026 setup shows belief in that logic. The year commences with a thick January band, then taps spring and early summer for contrast, while keeping space for a autumn stretch that extends to the Halloween corridor and beyond. The schedule also includes the increasing integration of arthouse labels and SVOD players that can stage a platform run, create conversation, and move wide at the inflection point.

An added macro current is brand curation across brand ecosystems and veteran brands. The players are not just greenlighting another sequel. They are setting up threaded continuity with a specialness, whether that is a logo package that signals a new vibe or a talent selection that threads a incoming chapter to a early run. At the same time, the writer-directors behind the most anticipated originals are embracing on-set craft, on-set effects and distinct locales. That mix provides the 2026 slate a confident blend of comfort and freshness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount leads early with two big-ticket entries that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the helm and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, marketing it as both a succession moment and a back-to-basics character-forward chapter. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance hints at a legacy-leaning campaign without going over the last two entries’ sisters thread. The studio is likely to mount a drive built on brand visuals, first images of characters, and a staggered trailer plan targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will feature. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will pursue general-audience talk through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format inviting quick updates to whatever dominates the conversation that spring.

Universal has three specific bets. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a technology-driven offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is simple, melancholic, and logline-clear: a grieving man sets up an artificial companion that evolves into a killer companion. The date places it at the front of a thick month, with marketing at Universal likely to revisit eerie street stunts and snackable content that fuses companionship and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a title reveal to become an PR pop closer to the opening teaser. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. The filmmaker’s films are positioned as signature events, with a concept-forward tease and a later creative that signal tone without plot the concept. The late-October frame creates space for Universal to lead pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček steers, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has established that a gnarly, makeup-driven strategy can feel prestige on a tight budget. Frame it as a blood-and-grime summer horror surge that leans into international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio mounts two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, maintaining a consistent supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch continues to develop. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what the studio is marketing as a ground-zero restart 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 diehards and fresh viewers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build materials around lore, and monster design, elements that can accelerate premium screens and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror defined by minute detail and period speech, this time engaging werewolf myth. Focus’s team has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is warm.

Streaming windows and tactics

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on well-known grooves. The studio’s horror films move to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a tiered path that enhances both premiere heat and subscription bumps in the late-window. Prime Video interleaves licensed films with worldwide buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data points to it. Max and Hulu press their advantages in deep cuts, using in-app campaigns, fright rows, and featured rows to sustain interest on overall cume. Netflix stays opportunistic about original films and festival buys, timing horror entries closer to drop and turning into events arrivals with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a one-two of targeted theatrical exposure and accelerated platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has shown a willingness to purchase select projects with name filmmakers or star-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet Oscar thresholds or to show bona fides before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still capitalizes on the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for monthly engagement when the genre conversation builds.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 pipeline with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is clear: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, elevated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has indicated a big-screen first plan for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the late-season weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, curating the rollout through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday dates to expand. That positioning has delivered for elevated genre with wider appeal. 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 safe bet is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception encourages. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using limited runs to fuel evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Brands and originals

By volume, 2026 bends toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all use household recognition. The concern, as ever, is fatigue. The preferred tactic is to frame each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is emphasizing character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a French-accented approach from a fresh helmer. Those choices prove meaningful when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and visionary-led titles keep oxygen in the system. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the deal build is recognizable enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and Thursday previews.

Comparable trends from recent years help explain the method. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that kept clean windows did not prevent a dual release from working when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror hit big in PLF. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they rotate perspective and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters shot in tandem, creates space for marketing to link the films through character arcs and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without lulls.

Production craft signals

The production chatter behind these films forecast a continued shift toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that leans on atmosphere and fear rather than whiz-bang spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting tight cost control.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft features before rolling out a preview that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and generates shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta pivot that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature design and production design, which fit with fan conventions and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel necessary. Look for trailers that underscore surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that sing on PLF.

How the year maps out

January is busy. 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 tonal palate cleanser amid heavier IP. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the tone spread opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure offers clean runway for each if word of mouth endures.

Q1 into Q2 load in summer. Scream 7 opens February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Late Q3 into Q4 leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a transitional slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited disclosures that stress concept over spoilers.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can open up in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift card usage.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production proceeds. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s essence. 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 devastated man’s algorithmic partner shifts into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

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: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. 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 demanding boss push to survive on a cut-off island as the pecking order turns and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. 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 to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to dread, built on Cronin’s material craft and encroaching 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 intimate haunting chiller that interrogates the terror of a child’s mercurial interpretations. Rating: pending. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-crafted and headline-actor led supernatural mood piece.

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 skewers contemporary horror memes and true crime fascinations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites detonates, with an multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further extends again, with a different family anchored to ancient dread. Rating: undetermined. 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: to be announced publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A fresh restart designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival-first horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: source-faithful reboot with four-quadrant path.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: to be announced. Production: underway. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on time-true diction and elemental menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. 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: date variable, fall window probable.

Why 2026 and why now

Three nuts-and-bolts forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that stalled or re-slotted in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more disciplined about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on clippable moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

A fourth factor is programming math. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can control a weekend or act as the older-tilt option. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will stack across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action navigate here in early summer, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. 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 harvest those lanes. January could easily deliver the first unexpected breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pace and range. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reawakens a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a icy, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can sequence upward, using earlier releases to prime the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, smart allocations, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing texture, sonics, and cinematography 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, Lined Up To Scare

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is franchise muscle where it helps, filmmaker vision where it matters, 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the chills sell the seats.