Antediluvian Evil Emerges within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding supernatural thriller, launching Oct 2025 on major platforms

This spine-tingling supernatural terror film from cinematographer / visionary Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an forgotten dread when newcomers become proxies in a demonic conflict. Releasing October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving depiction of endurance and primordial malevolence that will resculpt horror this scare season. Helmed by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and cinematic cinema piece follows five figures who are stirred caught in a off-grid dwelling under the dark control of Kyra, a possessed female controlled by a two-thousand-year-old holy text monster. Steel yourself to be immersed by a immersive ride that fuses primitive horror with spiritual backstory, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a time-honored pillar in genre filmmaking. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is inverted when the demons no longer arise from elsewhere, but rather within themselves. This portrays the darkest corner of all involved. The result is a edge-of-seat mental war where the conflict becomes a brutal battle between heaven and hell.


In a bleak wild, five characters find themselves cornered under the ghastly rule and infestation of a haunted person. As the team becomes incapable to fight her grasp, exiled and tormented by beings mind-shattering, they are thrust to wrestle with their deepest fears while the timeline mercilessly strikes toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion escalates and friendships implode, forcing each person to challenge their existence and the philosophy of self-determination itself. The pressure grow with every short lapse, delivering a scare-fueled ride that weaves together demonic fright with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my desire was to awaken ancestral fear, an entity beyond recorded history, feeding on emotional fractures, and dealing with a presence that strips down our being when we lose control.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra was centered on something outside normal anguish. She is ignorant until the control shifts, and that change is shocking because it is so private.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for worldwide release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—offering fans anywhere can watch this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, posted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a companion to its first preview, which has received over a huge fan reaction.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, presenting the nightmare to a worldwide audience.


Do not miss this haunted journey into fear. Watch *Young & Cursed* this launch day to confront these ghostly lessons about the soul.


For film updates, behind-the-scenes content, and promotions from those who lived it, follow @YACMovie across fan hubs and visit our spooky domain.





The horror genre’s tipping point: 2025 domestic schedule melds primeval-possession lore, signature indie scares, alongside returning-series thunder

Running from survivor-centric dread drawn from legendary theology through to brand-name continuations paired with pointed art-house angles, 2025 is lining up as the most variegated combined with calculated campaign year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. studio powerhouses are anchoring the year through proven series, in parallel SVOD players prime the fall with discovery plays as well as ancient terrors. On the independent axis, the art-house flank is catching the kinetic energy from a record 2024 festival run. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are calculated, therefore 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Premium dread reemerges

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 capitalizes.

the Universal camp starts the year with a risk-forward move: a reconceived Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in an immediate now. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. landing in mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Directed by Eli Craig anchored by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

As summer wanes, Warner’s slate unveils the final movement inside its trusty horror universe: 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. Even with a familiar chassis, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Scott Derrickson returns, and the core ingredients of the sleeper original are back: 70s style chill, trauma centered writing, along with eerie supernatural rules. This time, the stakes are raised, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Rounding the tentpole corner is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The second outing goes deeper into backstory, thickens the animatronic pantheon, speaking to teens and older millennials. It arrives in December, locking down the winter tail.

Streaming Firsts: Economy, maximum dread

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

Playing chamber scale is Together, a body horror chamber piece including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. 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. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Ducking the exorcism default of Catholic ritual and Latin text, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. That is a savvy move. No overstuffed canon. No series drag. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

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

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW bowed Clown in a Cornfield while feeding deal chatter for microbudget haunts. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

This cycle, festival strategy pivots from discovery toward branding. The laurel is campaign ignition, not epilogue.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, dated July, revives the 90s franchise with a new lead and throwback tone. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, fake blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives 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.

Also on deck is The Long Walk, from an early, punishing Stephen King work, from 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.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Key Trends

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, creators turn to ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror retakes ground
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
The era of filler horror on streamers is ending. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Drops such as Weapons and Sinners arrive as events, not as catalog.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

The big screen is a trust exercise
Studios save theaters for outperform prospects or IP farmers. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Forward View: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

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. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. As mythic runs hot, a closing creature or exorcism could still arrive.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The forthcoming 2026 scare calendar year ahead: next chapters, universe starters, and also A busy Calendar engineered for goosebumps

Dek: The current scare cycle builds immediately with a January logjam, following that carries through June and July, and well into the winter holidays, fusing name recognition, novel approaches, and tactical alternatives. Studios and streamers are embracing mid-range economics, theatrical exclusivity first, and platform-native promos that pivot these releases into four-quadrant talking points.

Horror’s status entering 2026

This category has solidified as the dependable lever in studio slates, a pillar that can lift when it breaks through and still insulate the drag when it under-delivers. After 2023 signaled to top brass that cost-conscious horror vehicles can steer pop culture, the following year continued the surge with high-profile filmmaker pieces and slow-burn breakouts. The carry pushed into the 2025 frame, where returns and awards-minded projects signaled there is room for diverse approaches, from brand follow-ups to fresh IP that perform internationally. The combined impact for the 2026 slate is a slate that seems notably aligned across the major shops, with planned clusters, a balance of marquee IP and original hooks, and a refocused priority on theater exclusivity that power the aftermarket on premium digital and home streaming.

Executives say the space now slots in as a schedule utility on the programming map. Horror can kick off on virtually any date, yield a tight logline for trailers and shorts, and over-index with patrons that respond on advance nights and stay strong through the second frame if the title pays off. Emerging from a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 pattern signals faith in that logic. The calendar gets underway with a loaded January run, then primes spring and early summer for alternate plays, while making space for a October build that flows toward the Halloween corridor and into early November. The gridline also features the tightening integration of arthouse labels and OTT outlets that can nurture a platform play, ignite recommendations, and widen at the right moment.

A parallel macro theme is brand curation across ongoing universes and established properties. Big banners are not just rolling another entry. They are seeking to position story carry-over with a premium feel, whether that is a title treatment that flags a reframed mood or a star attachment that connects a latest entry to a initial period. At the in tandem, the directors behind the most watched originals are celebrating in-camera technique, makeup and prosthetics and specific settings. That fusion produces 2026 a confident blend of assurance and invention, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount leads early with two big-ticket titles that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, steering it as both a passing of the torch and a heritage-centered character-centered film. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the artistic posture announces a fan-service aware mode without recycling the last two entries’ sibling arc. The studio is likely to mount a drive rooted in iconic art, initial cast looks, and a two-beat trailer plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will play up. As a summer relief option, this one will pursue general-audience talk through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format permitting quick turns to whatever tops trend lines that spring.

Universal has three discrete entries. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is efficient, loss-driven, and big-hook: a grieving man implements an synthetic partner that unfolds into a fatal companion. The date locates it at the front of a front-loaded month, with Universal’s team likely to replay off-kilter promo beats and short-cut promos that blurs attachment and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a proper title to become an earned moment closer to the early tease. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles occupy other frames.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. His projects are sold as marquee events, with a mystery-first teaser and a later creative that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date lets the studio to take 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, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček is at the helm of, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has demonstrated that a gnarly, physical-effects centered treatment can feel elevated on a controlled budget. Look Young & Cursed for a splatter summer horror charge that centers international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio sets two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, extending a reliable supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has moved dates on this title before, but the current plan sticks it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is selling as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both franchise faithful and newcomers. The fall slot allows Sony to build promo materials around lore, and creature builds, elements that can amplify large-format demand and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains Eggers’ run of period horror centered on meticulous craft and language, this time focused on werewolf legend. The company has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a strong signal in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is favorable.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform windowing in 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s releases flow to copyright after a big-screen and PVOD window, a sequence that expands both opening-weekend urgency and sub growth in the after-window. Prime Video continues to mix licensed titles with cross-border buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data supports it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in catalog engagement, using well-timed internal promotions, spooky hubs, and curated strips to prolong the run on aggregate take. Netflix retains agility about own-slate titles and festival buys, securing horror entries closer to launch and framing as events premieres with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a staged of targeted theatrical exposure and prompt platform moves 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 fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps a case-by-case stance on horror on a situational basis. The platform has indicated interest to acquire select projects with established auteurs or headline-cast packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for sustained usage when the genre conversation surges.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 pipeline with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is simple: the same gloomy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, updated for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has suggested a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an encouraging sign for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the autumn stretch.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, managing the title through festival season if the cut is ready, then pressing the Christmas corridor to move out. That positioning has been successful for elevated genre with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines often crystallize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception supports. Do not be surprised by 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 together, using select theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Brands and originals

By number, 2026 tilts in favor of the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage cultural cachet. The potential drawback, as ever, is audience fatigue. The pragmatic answer is to present each entry as a new angle. Paramount is spotlighting character and lineage in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is highlighting a French-flavored turn from a emerging director. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and director-driven titles add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the deal build is comforting enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Three-year comps make sense of the logic. In 2023, a theater-first model that honored streaming windows did not preclude a hybrid test from paying off when the brand was powerful. In 2024, director-craft horror punched above its weight in premium screens. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they angle differently and raise the stakes. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which extends January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The dual-chapter plan, with chapters shot in tandem, lets marketing to thread films through personae and themes and to keep assets alive without dead zones.

Creative tendencies and craft

The craft rooms behind the year’s horror point to a continued move toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that echoes the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is lined up for its April 17, 2026 date. The push will likely that spotlights creep and texture rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and medieval diction, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and department features before rolling out a teaser 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 designed for red-band excess, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and produces shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta recalibration that centers its original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature execution and sets, which play well in convention activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel irresistible. Look for trailers that highlight disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that land in premium houses.

Month-by-month map

January is packed. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid big-brand pushes. The month wraps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival shocker from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the menu of tones lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth holds.

Late Q1 and spring prepare summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with fan warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have moved through premium slots.

Shoulder season into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil follows September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited advance reveals that stress concept over spoilers.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, selective rollout, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and holiday card usage.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting in progress as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative reconnects to the original film’s core. 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 virtual companion mutates into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: algorithmic dread with emotion.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy broadens the canvas beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult emerges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. 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 hard-edged boss battle to survive on a isolated island as the control balance turns and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. 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 not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to chill, grounded in Cronin’s material craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting setup that threads the dread through a youngster’s shifting perspective. Rating: TBD. Production: finished. Positioning: major-studio and star-led paranormal 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 satirical comeback that skewers modern genre fads and true-crime manias. Rating: pending. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: The Further yawns again, with a unlucky family tethered to residual nightmares. Rating: forthcoming. Production: aiming to lens in summer ahead of late-summer bow. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: pending. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an center of gravity in survivalist horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: IP-accurate revival with mainstream runway.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: to be announced. Production: proceeding. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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-accurate language and primal menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in preparation with Christmas frame locked. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

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 theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026, why now

Three practical forces calibrate this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or re-sequenced in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often rely on fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and shorter schedules. 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 outpaced straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on social-ready stingers from test screenings, select scare clips timed to Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

Calendar math also matters. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will cluster across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 midrange-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 leverage those opportunities. 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. Expect a healthy PVOD phase across the board, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, 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 hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, disciplined footprints, 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 tactility, sound field, and visuals 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, Ready To Roar

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand power where it counts, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, craft precise trailers, hold the mystery, and let the chills sell the seats.