Ancient Horror Stirs in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a bone chilling supernatural thriller, launching October 2025 on global platforms

A bone-chilling mystic thriller from screenwriter / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an prehistoric nightmare when strangers become instruments in a devilish struggle. Available on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple’s iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking account of resistance and old world terror that will transform terror storytelling this scare season. Directed by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and cinematic cinema piece follows five young adults who snap to locked in a hidden lodge under the malignant dominion of Kyra, a troubled woman overtaken by a antiquated Old Testament spirit. Brace yourself to be enthralled by a filmic spectacle that merges intense horror with legendary tales, dropping on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a well-established foundation in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is inverted when the malevolences no longer originate from beyond, but rather inside their minds. This embodies the darkest side of each of them. The result is a gripping internal warfare where the suspense becomes a intense clash between heaven and hell.


In a remote wild, five souls find themselves isolated under the dark aura and curse of a uncanny female figure. As the victims becomes unable to fight her curse, abandoned and attacked by evils mind-shattering, they are driven to encounter their worst nightmares while the final hour unceasingly moves toward their doom.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension rises and teams collapse, compelling each cast member to question their self and the idea of self-determination itself. The cost grow with every passing moment, delivering a cinematic nightmare that connects occult fear with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to evoke primitive panic, an force beyond time, filtering through mental cracks, and questioning a evil that challenges autonomy when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra demanded embodying something beyond human emotion. She is ignorant until the takeover begins, and that flip is eerie because it is so visceral.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be released for horror fans beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—guaranteeing watchers no matter where they are can watch this fearful revelation.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its intro video, which has been viewed over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has stated that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, giving access to the movie to a global viewership.


Experience this bone-rattling descent into darkness. Explore *Young & Cursed* this day of reckoning to see these fearful discoveries about the soul.


For featurettes, director cuts, and insider scoops from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across fan hubs and visit the film’s website.





Contemporary horror’s decisive shift: the year 2025 stateside slate Mixes primeval-possession lore, signature indie scares, paired with franchise surges

Moving from endurance-driven terror suffused with primordial scripture and onward to installment follow-ups and keen independent perspectives, 2025 is coalescing into the most complex and tactically planned year since the mid-2010s.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. top-tier distributors lay down anchors with established lines, concurrently SVOD players stack the fall with discovery plays in concert with ancient terrors. On the festival side, festival-forward creators is buoyed by the tailwinds from a top-tier 2024 festival cycle. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, but this year, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are disciplined, hence 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Elevated fear reclaims ground

The majors are assertive. If 2024 reset the chessboard, 2025 accelerates.

the Universal camp sets the tone with a bold swing: a reconceived Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, inside today’s landscape. Directed by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this telling braids lycanthropy with a family meltdown. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. landing in mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reworked as a minimalist shock machine. Eli Craig directs fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

As summer winds down, Warner Bros. bows the concluding entry from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Granted the structure is classic, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Next is The Black Phone 2. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson resumes command, and the memorable motifs return: retro dread, trauma explicitly handled, paired with unsettling supernatural order. The stakes escalate here, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, and targets both teens and thirtysomething fans of the original game. It posts in December, cornering year end horror.

Streamer Exclusives: Lean budgets, heavy bite

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

Among the most ambitious streaming plays is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

Next comes Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it evokes There Will Be Blood crossed with Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in 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 is a smart play. No heavy handed lore. No legacy baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and surfaced several microbudget hauntings that circle deals. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Franchise Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, steered 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.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Dials to Watch

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror retakes ground
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Theaters are a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Projection: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The approaching spook season: entries, universe starters, and also A Crowded Calendar optimized for shocks

Dek: The new genre slate crams early with a January logjam, following that spreads through the warm months, and well into the late-year period, blending brand equity, novel approaches, and smart counterplay. The big buyers and platforms are relying on right-sized spends, big-screen-first runs, and social-driven marketing that elevate genre releases into cross-demo moments.

Horror momentum into 2026

The horror sector has shown itself to be the predictable release in programming grids, a corner that can break out when it hits and still mitigate the exposure when it does not. After 2023 reminded top brass that mid-range scare machines can shape the zeitgeist, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with signature-voice projects and under-the-radar smashes. The momentum translated to the 2025 frame, where reboots and premium-leaning entries signaled there is space for many shades, from series extensions to original features that scale internationally. The upshot for 2026 is a calendar that reads highly synchronized across the major shops, with planned clusters, a spread of household franchises and original hooks, and a re-energized stance on exhibition windows that amplify PVOD and streaming on premium rental and home platforms.

Insiders argue the space now behaves like a versatile piece on the grid. The genre can debut on nearly any frame, generate a grabby hook for previews and vertical videos, and punch above weight with audiences that come out on Thursday nights and stick through the second frame if the title fires. After a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 configuration demonstrates conviction in that approach. The calendar launches with a loaded January lineup, then leans on spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while keeping space for a fall corridor that carries into spooky season and past the holiday. The program also spotlights the expanded integration of specialized imprints and streaming partners that can grow from platform, ignite recommendations, and roll out at the inflection point.

A companion trend is series management across interlocking continuities and veteran brands. 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 broadcasts a refreshed voice or a ensemble decision that ties a incoming chapter to a early run. At the same time, the writer-directors behind the headline-grabbing originals are embracing real-world builds, makeup and prosthetics and concrete locations. That mix provides the 2026 slate a lively combination of brand comfort and novelty, which is how the films export.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount marks the early tempo with two high-profile releases that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the heart, signaling it as both a succession moment and a DNA-forward character piece. Production is active in Atlanta, and the artistic posture signals a nostalgia-forward mode without covering again the last two entries’ sisters thread. Count on a promo wave centered on brand visuals, intro reveals, and a staggered trailer plan targeting late fall. Distribution is theatrical through 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 as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a hook the campaign will emphasize. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will pursue wide buzz through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format inviting quick reframes to whatever defines horror talk that spring.

Universal has three discrete entries. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is straightforward, loss-driven, and commercial: a grieving man activates an AI companion that evolves into a deadly partner. The date puts it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s promo team likely to replay eerie street stunts and snackable content that threads love and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio schedules an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a title drop to become an marketing beat closer to the first look. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele’s work are branded as must-see filmmaker statements, with a minimalist tease and a later creative that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The late-October frame gives the studio room to maximize pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček commands, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has proven that a in-your-face, prosthetic-heavy style can feel top-tier on a mid-range budget. Position this as a splatter summer horror shot that maximizes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio deploys two franchise maneuvers in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, preserving a proven supernatural brand active while the spin-off branch gestates. The studio has recalibrated on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what the studio is selling as a new foundation 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 directive to serve both franchise faithful and novices. The fall slot hands Sony window to build marketing units around universe detail, and creature builds, elements that can fuel premium booking interest and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by rigorous craft and textual fidelity, this time circling werewolf lore. The imprint has already set the date for a holiday release, a promissory note in the auteur as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is supportive.

Streaming windows and tactics

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s releases window into copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a ladder that boosts both first-week urgency and viewer acquisition in the after-window. Prime Video stitches together catalogue additions with global pickups and small theatrical windows when the data supports it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in deep cuts, using well-timed internal promotions, horror hubs, and curated strips to sustain interest on aggregate take. Netflix keeps optionality about Netflix films and festival wins, securing horror entries closer to drop and eventizing arrivals with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a staged of targeted theatrical exposure and speedy platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on genre pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a discrete basis. The platform has demonstrated openness to take on select projects with acclaimed directors or name-led packages, then give them a boutique theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to earn receipts before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for retention when the genre conversation builds.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is curating a 2026 slate with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is no-nonsense: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, upgraded for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has positioned a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors in need of adult counterprogramming in the September weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, curating the rollout through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday dates to scale. That positioning has worked well for arthouse horror with mainstream crossovers. 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 credible outlook is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception drives. 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 in concert, using precision theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their membership.

Balance of brands and originals

By volume, the 2026 slate favors the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness fan equity. The trade-off, as ever, is fatigue. The practical approach is to package each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is leading with character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-accented approach from a rising filmmaker. Those choices have impact when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-centric entries provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a crash-survival premise with that teasing 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 a recognizable brand, the packaging is recognizable enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

The last three-year set contextualize the approach. In 2023, a cinema-first model that respected streaming windows did not deter a dual release from working when the brand was trusted. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror punched above its weight in PLF. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they rotate perspective and expand the canvas. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The linked-chapter plan, with chapters filmed consecutively, lets marketing to thread films through character web and themes and to keep assets alive without long breaks.

Creative tendencies and craft

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind the upcoming entries hint at a continued turn toward material, place-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble any recent iteration of the property, a stance that squares with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that centers texture and dread rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership making room for smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the bleakest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for textured 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 teaser that elevates tone over story, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for gross-out texture, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and creates shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta reframe that centers an original star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature craft and set design, which are ideal for convention activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema value feel irresistible. Look for trailers that elevate pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that sing on PLF.

Month-by-month map

January is heavy. Universal’s 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 moody palate cleanser amid heavier IP. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is thick, but the mix of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth holds.

Post-January through spring tee up summer. 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 nurtures 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 underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

August into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event locks October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a tease-and-hold strategy and limited advance reveals that lean on concept not plot.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can win the holiday when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then activating critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can go wider in the first week of 2027 while carrying holiday turnout and card redemption.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s intelligent companion mutates into something dangerously intimate. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

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

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her difficult boss battle to survive on a far-flung island as the power balance upends and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to terror, built on Cronin’s in-camera craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting piece that filters its scares through a minor’s uncertain perspective. Rating: pending. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-financed and marquee-led spirit-world suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that satirizes hot-button genre motifs and true crime fervors. Rating: undetermined. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: mass-audience summer option.

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 multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new family tethered to ancient dread. Rating: pending. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for classic survival-horror tone over action pyrotechnics. 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: TBD. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: TBA. 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 era-accurate language and elemental fear. Rating: awaiting classification. 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 execution-level forces inform this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or reshuffled in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often are location-light, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently overdelivered vs. straight-to-streaming drops. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work social-ready stingers from test screenings, curated scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

There is also the slotting calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, freeing space for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will trade weekends across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budgets and certifications, sleeper calculus

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 breakout hunt 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 exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates 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 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, audio design, 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, click site Lined Up To Scare

Timing shifts. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is IP strength where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, 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 final-hour specialty addition join the party. For now, the job is simple, shape lean trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the gasps sell the seats.