Mythic Evil returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising horror feature, landing Oct 2025 across major platforms

This haunting mystic fear-driven tale from narrative craftsman / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an long-buried evil when unrelated individuals become conduits in a hellish maze. Going live this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful account of living through and prehistoric entity that will transform the horror genre this scare season. Guided by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and shadowy fearfest follows five young adults who emerge imprisoned in a hidden shelter under the dark grip of Kyra, a female presence occupied by a antiquated sacrosanct terror. Arm yourself to be seized by a narrative experience that integrates intense horror with mythic lore, unleashing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Malevolent takeover has been a enduring concept in the silver screen. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is challenged when the presences no longer appear outside the characters, but rather within themselves. This represents the most primal part of the cast. The result is a harrowing cognitive warzone where the events becomes a unforgiving battle between purity and corruption.


In a barren woodland, five young people find themselves marooned under the unholy dominion and spiritual invasion of a shadowy entity. As the survivors becomes incapacitated to resist her command, severed and hunted by evils indescribable, they are pushed to wrestle with their inner horrors while the deathwatch coldly edges forward toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, tension intensifies and friendships fracture, pushing each participant to scrutinize their personhood and the idea of independent thought itself. The tension climb with every breath, delivering a scare-fueled ride that combines otherworldly suspense with inner turmoil.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to tap into primal fear, an force rooted in antiquity, feeding on our fears, and navigating a force that questions who we are when agency is lost.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra involved tapping into something beneath mortal despair. She is unaware until the possession kicks in, and that pivot is emotionally raw because it is so intimate.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for audience access beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—making sure audiences across the world can experience this chilling supernatural event.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its first trailer, which has attracted over notable views.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, delivering the story to lovers of terror across nations.


Don’t miss this bone-rattling trip into the unknown. Enter *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to dive into these evil-rooted truths about human nature.


For film updates, making-of footage, and news from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across your socials and visit our horror hub.





Today’s horror sea change: calendar year 2025 U.S. release slate interlaces Mythic Possession, microbudget gut-punches, alongside brand-name tremors

Across pressure-cooker survival tales infused with biblical myth through to brand-name continuations as well as keen independent perspectives, 2025 is tracking to be the richest along with strategic year of the last decade.

Call it full, but it is also focused. top-tier distributors plant stakes across the year via recognizable brands, in tandem digital services pack the fall with emerging auteurs and primordial unease. On the independent axis, festival-forward creators is buoyed by the backdraft of 2024’s record festival wave. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, though in this cycle, the genre is also staking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are targeted, thus 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: The Return of Prestige Fear

The studio class is engaged. If 2024 set the base, 2025 compounds the move.

Universal’s schedule fires the first shot with a big gambit: a refreshed Wolf Man, set not in some misty 19th-century European village, in an immediate now. Led by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this chapter binds the lycanthropy to domestic unraveling. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. Booked into mid January, it fits the new plan to claim winter’s soft window with prestige horror rather than castoffs.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Steered by Eli Craig starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Initial fest notes point to real bite.

When summer fades, Warner’s slate launches the swan song of its most reliable horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Despite a known recipe, Chaves seems to angle for a plaintive, inward final note. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. First targeted at early summer, the move into October reads bullish. Derrickson re boards, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: throwback unease, trauma foregrounded, along with eerie supernatural rules. The bar is raised this go, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a release that travels on brand alone. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, thickens the animatronic pantheon, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It posts in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Digital Originals: Modest spend, serious shock

As theatrical skews franchise first, SVOD players are testing edges, and gains show.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite lacing three time frames tied to a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it looks primed to seed post watch analysis akin to Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a tight space body horror vignette with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Also rising is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Early test screenings have marked it as one of the year’s most talked about streaming debuts.

Additional platform indies hold in reserve: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Written and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the release shadows five strangers waking in a hidden woods cabin, bound to Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this entry turns to something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. It looks like sharp programming. No heavy handed lore. No legacy baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. This year, the launchpad function outruns the showcase role.

Fantastic Fest has a thick horror program this time. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy Horror: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

This year’s legacy entries carry strength and deliberation.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The opener’s social chatter and SVOD hours justify Universal’s deeper play.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, from Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Meanwhile, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda appear through the year, many poised for targeted windows or last minute deals.

Key Trends

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror reemerges
Titles such as Together, Weapons, and Keeper return focus to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation now read as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Pieces like Weapons and Sinners receive event status, not feed stock.

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

Big screen is a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Other titles pivot PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Projection: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Young & Cursed plus The Conjuring: Last Rites plus The Black Phone 2 plus Weapons, all in September and October, makes for a saturated fall. Indies, including Bone Lake and Keeper, will battle for oxygen. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

Horror’s 2025 outcome will be decided not by one title, but by how its variety connects with splintered audiences. The play is not Get Out replication, it is long life horror past theaters.



The approaching terror Year Ahead: Sequels, non-franchise titles, And A jammed Calendar designed for chills

Dek The fresh genre slate clusters from day one with a January bottleneck, thereafter extends through summer corridors, and well into the winter holidays, weaving series momentum, inventive spins, and tactical alternatives. Major distributors and platforms are committing to efficient budgets, cinema-first plans, and buzz-forward plans that frame these films into broad-appeal conversations.

Horror momentum into 2026

The field has shown itself to be the bankable lever in studio slates, a genre that can break out when it clicks and still hedge the downside when it underperforms. After the 2023 year reassured executives that cost-conscious chillers can lead audience talk, the following year sustained momentum with high-profile filmmaker pieces and sleeper breakouts. The head of steam carried into 2025, where revivals and premium-leaning entries highlighted there is capacity for diverse approaches, from franchise continuations to original one-offs that translate worldwide. The end result for the 2026 slate is a roster that feels more orchestrated than usual across distributors, with mapped-out bands, a harmony of known properties and new concepts, and a revived focus on theatrical windows that feed downstream value on premium digital and digital services.

Marketers add the genre now slots in as a wildcard on the grid. The genre can kick off on most weekends, provide a easy sell for spots and vertical videos, and overperform with ticket buyers that turn out on first-look nights and sustain through the second weekend if the feature lands. In the wake of a production delay era, the 2026 rhythm shows assurance in that engine. The slate rolls out with a thick January block, then turns to spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while leaving room for a autumn stretch that pushes into the fright window and past Halloween. The arrangement also shows the continuing integration of specialized labels and subscription services that can platform and widen, fuel WOM, and grow at the optimal moment.

A parallel macro theme is franchise tending across shared universes and legacy franchises. Big banners are not just producing another next film. They are seeking to position connection with a premium feel, whether that is a title presentation that announces a new tone or a ensemble decision that reconnects a next entry to a classic era. At the simultaneously, the filmmakers behind the most anticipated originals are prioritizing tactile craft, physical gags and location-forward worlds. That combination delivers 2026 a smart balance of trust and novelty, which is how the genre sells abroad.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount establishes early momentum with two prominent entries that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director role and Neve Campbell back at the focus, steering it as both a legacy handover and a return-to-roots relationship-driven entry. Production is active in Atlanta, and the directional approach telegraphs a legacy-leaning treatment without going over the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Watch for a push built on legacy iconography, first-look character reveals, and a tease cadence aimed at late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will stress. As a summer relief this website option, this one will drive mainstream recognition through viral-minded bites, with the horror spoof format lending itself to quick switches to whatever dominates the conversation that spring.

Universal has three specific plays. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is simple, somber, and high-concept: a grieving man implements an digital partner that shifts into a deadly partner. The date nudges it to the front of a thick month, with the marketing arm likely to bring back strange in-person beats and quick hits that threads love and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a final title to become an event moment closer to the initial promo. The timing holds ground in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele’s work are positioned as must-see filmmaker statements, with a mystery-first teaser and a second beat that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The pre-Halloween slot lets the studio to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, joins with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has consistently shown that a raw, practical-first mix can feel premium on a middle budget. Expect a viscera-heavy summer horror rush that emphasizes global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio rolls out two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film opens August 21, 2026, holding a trusty supernatural brand in play while the spin-off branch moves forward. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan aims it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is presenting as a ground-zero 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 focus to serve both diehards and fresh viewers. The fall slot lets Sony to build marketing units around universe detail, and creature design, elements that can accelerate PLF interest and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues Eggers’ run of period horror shaped by obsessive craft and textual fidelity, this time set against lycan legends. Focus Features has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is supportive.

Streamers and platform exclusives

Platform plans for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal titles land on copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a ladder that amplifies both premiere heat and subscriber lifts in the post-theatrical. Prime Video pairs licensed content with worldwide entries and select theatrical runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in deep cuts, using prominent placements, genre hubs, and collection rows to stretch the tail on aggregate take. Netflix plays opportunist about in-house releases and festival buys, timing horror entries tight to release and coalescing around rollouts with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a tiered of targeted cinema placements and swift platform pivots that drives paid trials from buzz. That will be material for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a title-by-title basis. The platform has shown a willingness to board select projects with acclaimed directors or star-led packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for sustained usage when the genre conversation ramps.

The specialty lanes and indie surprises

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 lane with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The setup is clear: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, refined for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has signaled a big-screen first plan for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the late-season weeks.

Focus will operate the filmmaker lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through select festivals if the cut is ready, then turning to the holiday frame to scale. That positioning has served the company well for prestige horror with crossover ambitions. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines usually solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A likely scenario is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception justifies. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work jointly, using precision theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their membership.

Franchise entries versus originals

By count, 2026 tips toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit marquee value. The potential drawback, as ever, is staleness. The practical approach is to frame each entry as a new angle. Paramount is underscoring character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a continental coloration from a rising filmmaker. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

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 island survival premise with Raimi’s playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a tight, eerie tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the deal build is steady enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Past-three-year patterns make sense of the model. In 2023, a exclusive theatrical model that kept streaming intact did not stop a simultaneous release test from working when the brand was sticky. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror surged in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga underlined that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they reframe POV and grow scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds 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 in sequence, enables marketing to thread films through character web and themes and to keep assets in-market without dead zones.

Craft and creative trends

The craft rooms behind this year’s genre foreshadow a continued emphasis on real, location-led craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that emphasizes mood and dread rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has characterized Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and historically accurate language, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a wintry, elemental feel on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in feature stories and below-the-line spotlights before rolling out a first look that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that lands overseas in red-band trailers and earns shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 aims for a meta recalibration that centers its original star. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature work and production design, which are ideal for convention floor stunts and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a theatrical sound showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel irresistible. Look for trailers that accent razor sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that land in big rooms.

Annual flow

January is heavy. 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 quiet contrast amid headline IP. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is real, but the range of tones ensures lanes for each, and the five-week structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth persists.

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

Summer clarifies the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is solid. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rolled through premiums.

Late summer into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously landed. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a transitional slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited advance reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can win the holiday when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, platforming carefully, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season 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 continuing to be revealed as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative re-keys to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A sorrowing man’s virtual companion shifts into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal completed 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 enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult organizes in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Twin-shot 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 returns to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. 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 severe boss struggle to survive on a isolated island as the power balance of power flips and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. 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 in the vault in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to dread, grounded in Cronin’s on-set craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked. Positioning: classic monster relaunch with a filmmaker’s stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting tale that plays with the fear of a child’s fragile perspective. Rating: pending. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-grade and A-list fronted ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers returning creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that skewers modern genre fads and true crime preoccupations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites ignites, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: shooting in New Zealand. Positioning: graphic series entry optimized for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBD per campaign. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a new household snared by ancient dread. Rating: TBD. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: TBD. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward pure survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: undetermined. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: pending. Production: ongoing. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on historical diction and primordial menace. 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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026 and why now

Three operational forces inform this lineup. First, production that downshifted or re-sequenced in 2024 called for breathing room in the schedule. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale effects sequences, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more strict 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 placements. Third, social conversation converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will harvest bite-size scare clips from test screenings, curated scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can seize a weekend or function as the older-skew counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will trade weekends across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The search for sleepers continues in Q1, where lean-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to exploit those windows. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April returns a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors respond well to the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, efficient screen counts, 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 materiality, sound field, and image-making 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 Promising 2026

Calendars slide. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand power where it counts, distinct vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios track how and when scares land. 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 closing-window arthouse pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, lock the reveals, and let the frights sell the seats.