Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed stirs up ancient terror, a spine tingling horror feature, rolling out October 2025 across premium platforms

This spine-tingling occult suspense story from dramatist / auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an mythic curse when strangers become subjects in a hellish conflict. Going live on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, the YouTube platform, Google’s digital store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving tale of survival and primordial malevolence that will redefine scare flicks this spooky time. Created by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and moody screenplay follows five unknowns who wake up caught in a off-grid shack under the aggressive control of Kyra, a female presence consumed by a time-worn holy text monster. Ready yourself to be ensnared by a audio-visual ride that fuses bone-deep fear with legendary tales, unleashing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a recurring motif in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is challenged when the entities no longer originate beyond the self, but rather from their core. This illustrates the grimmest facet of these individuals. The result is a intense emotional conflict where the events becomes a soul-crushing battle between purity and corruption.


In a barren wilderness, five individuals find themselves contained under the fiendish control and curse of a obscure woman. As the characters becomes unresisting to oppose her manipulation, cut off and tormented by unknowns unnamable, they are obligated to endure their core terrors while the seconds without pause moves toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, fear rises and associations fracture, compelling each person to rethink their identity and the nature of self-determination itself. The danger amplify with every minute, delivering a paranormal ride that marries demonic fright with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to evoke ancestral fear, an curse born of forgotten ages, embedding itself in soul-level flaws, and confronting a evil that forces self-examination when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra was centered on something more primal than sorrow. She is unseeing until the demon emerges, and that transition is haunting because it is so visceral.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be released for home viewing beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime, Google’s video hub, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—giving streamers internationally can enjoy this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its initial teaser, which has gathered over notable views.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, presenting the nightmare to global fright lovers.


Make sure to see this mind-warping descent into hell. Face *Young & Cursed* this launch day to see these ghostly lessons about human nature.


For film updates, making-of footage, and promotions from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across Instagram and Twitter and visit the film’s website.





Horror’s inflection point: calendar year 2025 domestic schedule fuses archetypal-possession themes, art-house nightmares, in parallel with IP aftershocks

Beginning with life-or-death fear drawn from old testament echoes and stretching into series comebacks paired with keen independent perspectives, 2025 is shaping up as the most complex along with calculated campaign year in the past ten years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. major banners are anchoring the year using marquee IP, simultaneously premium streamers stack the fall with first-wave breakthroughs in concert with archetypal fear. On another front, independent banners is propelled by the carry from a record 2024 festival run. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and in 2025, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are intentional, which means 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

The top end is active. If 2024 framed the blueprint, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s distribution arm opens the year with a big gambit: a modernized Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, in a clear present-tense world. Under director Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this iteration anchors the lycanthropy in a domestic breakdown. The arc is bodily and domestic, about marriage, caregiving, and fragile humanity. dated for mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Helmed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer eases, the WB camp sets loose the finale inside its trusty horror universe: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Though the formula is familiar, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Next is The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Scott Derrickson returns, and those signature textures resurface: retrograde shiver, trauma as narrative engine, and a cold supernatural calculus. The ante is higher this round, with added layers to the “grabber” frame and long memory of loss.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The new chapter enriches the lore, grows the animatronic horror lineup, reaching teens and game grownups. It hits in December, pinning the winter close.

Streaming Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While theaters bet on familiarity, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold trail horror omnibus interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the movie mixes chill with dramatic weight. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, a tight space body horror vignette starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It is romantic, grotesque, and deeply uncomfortable, a three act spiral into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is virtually assured for fall.

Next comes Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The title explores American religious trauma through supernatural symbol. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Hitting October 2 on the platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The unease is psychological, fused to primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

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. It reads as sharp positioning. No bloated canon. No brand fatigue. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate opens the fest with tropical body horror and critics cite Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW staged Clown in a Cornfield and lined up microbudget haunts for talks. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Those badges act as campaign openers, not end caps.

Heritage Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

The franchise bench is sturdier and more targeted than lately.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage 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 initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, steered by Francis Lawrence, it operates as a bleak dystopian tale masked as survival horror, a walk off to death for kids. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Other reboots and sequels, Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, are scattered across the calendar, most waiting for strategic windows or last minute acquisitions.

Dials to Watch

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror ascends again
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. A film minus festival planning in 2025 risks getting lost.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Season Ahead: Fall pileup, winter curveball

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The upcoming Horror cycle: returning titles, filmmaker-first projects, paired with A busy Calendar aimed at jolts

Dek: The brand-new terror year crams right away with a January glut, and then rolls through peak season, and deep into the year-end corridor, braiding marquee clout, new voices, and savvy counter-scheduling. The big buyers and platforms are relying on responsible budgets, box-office-first windows, and social-fueled campaigns that turn genre titles into four-quadrant talking points.

Where horror stands going into 2026

Horror has shown itself to be the steady release in annual schedules, a lane that can scale when it clicks and still hedge the drawdown when it underperforms. After the 2023 year demonstrated to leaders that low-to-mid budget pictures can lead social chatter, 2024 continued the surge with auteur-driven buzzy films and unexpected risers. The momentum moved into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and critical darlings highlighted there is room for several lanes, from returning installments to filmmaker-driven originals that resonate abroad. The takeaway for 2026 is a lineup that appears tightly organized across the field, with clear date clusters, a spread of recognizable IP and first-time concepts, and a renewed eye on exhibition windows that feed downstream value on premium video on demand and digital services.

Marketers add the horror lane now functions as a utility player on the rollout map. Horror can open on open real estate, create a tight logline for teasers and social clips, and overperform with demo groups that line up on early shows and stay strong through the week two if the feature lands. In the wake of a production delay era, the 2026 mapping indicates confidence in that approach. The calendar rolls out with a thick January block, then plants flags in spring and early summer for audience offsets, while reserving space for a September to October window that reaches into Halloween and beyond. The grid also reflects the greater integration of specialty arms and home platforms that can grow from platform, fuel WOM, and roll out at the sweet spot.

A second macro trend is brand management across shared universes and legacy IP. Big banners are not just pushing another follow-up. They are trying to present ongoing narrative with a occasion, whether that is a typeface approach that telegraphs a new tone or a star attachment that connects a latest entry to a original cycle. At the simultaneously, the creative teams behind the marquee originals are favoring tactile craft, on-set effects and concrete locations. That fusion provides the 2026 slate a healthy mix of recognition and newness, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

How the majors and mini-majors are programming

Paramount fires first with two centerpiece pushes that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the center, angling it as both a succession moment and a rootsy relationship-driven entry. Production is active in Atlanta, and the creative stance signals a roots-evoking angle without retreading the last two entries’ sisters storyline. Count on a promo wave fueled by franchise iconography, early character teases, and a rollout cadence hitting late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved behind the scenes for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will lean on. As a summer contrast play, this one will build mass reach through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick pivots to whatever dominates horror talk that spring.

Universal has three separate plays. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is clean, melancholic, and high-concept: a grieving man purchases an virtual partner that escalates into a harmful mate. The date locates it at the front of a packed window, with marketing at Universal likely to renew off-kilter promo beats and short-form creative that threads devotion and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates 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 posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a proper title to become an marketing beat closer to the first look. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has defined before. His projects are framed as marquee events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second trailer wave that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The spooky-season slot lets the studio to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on 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 steers, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has long shown that a flesh-and-blood, prosthetic-heavy style can feel prestige on a disciplined budget. Look for a hard-R summer horror jolt that emphasizes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is particularly deep. The studio lines up two marquee IP entries in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, keeping a bankable supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where the brand has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is selling as a fresh restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both loyalists and curious audiences. The fall slot hands Sony window to build promo materials around canon, and creature design, elements that can drive large-format demand and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in minute detail and textual fidelity, this time engaging werewolf myth. The distributor has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is robust.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform plans for 2026 run on predictable routes. The studio’s horror films transition to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a pacing that optimizes both premiere heat and subscription bumps in the downstream. Prime Video combines acquired titles with global pickups and limited cinema engagements when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu lean on their strengths in back-catalog play, using curated hubs, October hubs, and programmed rows to sustain interest on lifetime take. Netflix stays opportunistic about original films and festival wins, timing horror entries tight to release and staging as events launches with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a tiered of limited theatrical footprints and fast windowing that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has indicated interest to purchase select projects with top-tier auteurs or star-driven packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline Young & Cursed still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly activity when the genre conversation intensifies.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 sequence with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is simple: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a genre cult touchstone, retooled for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has signaled a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the October weeks.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, guiding the film through festival season if the cut is ready, then activating the Christmas corridor to expand. That positioning has shown results for director-led genre with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception drives. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using boutique theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their audience.

Balance of brands and originals

By skew, the 2026 slate tilts in favor of the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on household recognition. The watch-out, as ever, is overexposure. The workable fix is to market each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is leading with character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-inflected take from a buzzed-about director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment shifts fast.

Originals and filmmaker-first projects deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a island-set survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf anchors in period detail and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the cast-creatives package is known enough to translate curiosity into advance sales and advance-audience nights.

Rolling three-year comps announce the plan. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that honored streaming windows did not foreclose a parallel release from paying off when the brand was powerful. In 2024, director-craft horror punched above its weight in premium large format. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they angle differently and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The double feature plan, with chapters produced back-to-back, builds a path for marketing to thread films through cast and motif and to keep assets in-market without pause points.

Technique and craft currents

The craft conversations behind these films foreshadow a continued shift toward real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that underscores creep and texture rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership bolstering efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and era-correct language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a cold, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft coverage before rolling out a tease that prioritizes vibe over plot, a move that has succeeded for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and gathers shareable reaction clips from early screenings. Scream 7 delivers a meta inflection that centers its original star. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on creature and environment design, which lend themselves to fan-con activations and guarded reveals. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel primary. Look for trailers that foreground disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that sing on PLF.

Release calendar overview

January is full. Universal’s SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Cineverse’s Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a brooding contrast amid heavier IP. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the spread of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Pre-summer months seed summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can pop 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 cycled through premium screens.

August into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously clicked. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a early fall window that still ties into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film grabs October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited teasers that stress concept over spoilers.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as craft prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film resonates with critics, the studio can broaden in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and card redemption.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production rolls. Logline: see here Sidney returns to take on a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: origin-forward with a contemporary twist.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s virtual companion mutates into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot 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 confront a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: mood-led 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 difficult boss push to survive on a rugged island as the control dynamic turns and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-front survival film 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 contemporary retelling that returns the monster to fright, anchored by Cronin’s practical craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. 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 domestic haunting tale that toys with the terror of a child’s tricky interpretations. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-grade and toplined occult chiller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A send-up revival that targets current genre trends and true crime fervors. Rating: to be announced. Production: filming slated for fall 2025. 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 surges, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: principal photography in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new household caught in old terrors. Rating: TBA. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: dependable ghost-franchise slot that suits the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on pure survival horror over action-centric bombast. Rating: pending. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: to be announced. Production: proceeding. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

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 ancient menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026 and why now

Three practical forces define this lineup. First, production that downshifted or shifted in 2024 required schedule breathing room. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and leaner 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 out-earned straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage shareable moments from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, freeing space for genre entries that can dominate a weekend or serve as the mature-skew alternative. 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 lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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-hit hunt continues in Q1, where modest-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 work those windows. 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.

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April revives a Universal monster, May and June provide a ghostly double-hit 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 keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, disciplined footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can qualify for PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, acoustics, 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.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand gravity where needed, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, lock the reveals, and let the frights sell the seats.