Antediluvian Terror Rises in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding thriller, landing October 2025 across global platforms

An eerie spectral fright fest from creator / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an archaic horror when unknowns become instruments in a demonic ordeal. Available on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s streaming platform, Google’s YouTube, Google’s digital store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching journey of resilience and age-old darkness that will reconstruct the fear genre this spooky time. Crafted by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and shadowy fearfest follows five teens who wake up imprisoned in a far-off structure under the ominous will of Kyra, a possessed female haunted by a 2,000-year-old sacred-era entity. Ready yourself to be hooked by a narrative venture that intertwines raw fear with timeless legends, debuting on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Spiritual takeover has been a enduring pillar in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is twisted when the dark entities no longer arise outside their bodies, but rather within themselves. This symbolizes the most primal part of these individuals. The result is a riveting mental war where the narrative becomes a constant struggle between right and wrong.


In a desolate wild, five teens find themselves imprisoned under the ghastly control and domination of a uncanny character. As the youths becomes incapacitated to withstand her dominion, detached and tormented by entities unfathomable, they are made to endure their greatest panics while the seconds brutally runs out toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust amplifies and associations collapse, prompting each survivor to contemplate their self and the structure of free will itself. The hazard rise with every heartbeat, delivering a frightening tale that fuses otherworldly suspense with human fragility.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my aim was to uncover pure dread, an darkness that existed before mankind, manifesting in psychological breaks, and testing a being that peels away humanity when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra asked for exploring something beyond human emotion. She is clueless until the entity awakens, and that pivot is eerie because it is so intimate.”

Rollout & Launch

*Young & Cursed* will be launched for public screening beginning this October 2, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—so that subscribers in all regions can face this haunted release.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new extended look for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its original clip, which has been viewed over 100,000 views.


In addition to its first availability, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, making the film to international horror buffs.


Tune in for this life-altering trip into the unknown. Explore *Young & Cursed* this All Hallows’ kickoff to face these terrifying truths about the soul.


For bonus footage, on-set glimpses, and alerts from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across Instagram and Twitter and visit the official digital haunt.





Modern horror’s sea change: 2025 for genre fans U.S. calendar braids together legend-infused possession, independent shockers, stacked beside IP aftershocks

Spanning pressure-cooker survival tales saturated with mythic scripture as well as canon extensions plus focused festival visions, 2025 is lining up as the most textured paired with strategic year since the mid-2010s.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. leading studios hold down the year with established lines, at the same time subscription platforms load up the fall with new perspectives plus scriptural shivers. At the same time, festival-forward creators is propelled by the carry of a peak 2024 circuit. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the off-peak lanes are managed with purpose. A fat September–October lane is customary now, notably this year, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are methodical, which means 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Premium dread reemerges

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 primed the reset, 2025 capitalizes.

Universal’s pipeline starts the year with a big gambit: a refreshed Wolf Man, stepping away from the classic old-country village, but a sharp contemporary setting. Under director Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this take locates the lycanthropy inside home disintegration. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. targeting mid January, it aligns with turning the winter slack into a premium lane, not a dumping lane.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Eli Craig directs fronted by Katie Douglas with Kevin Durand, it functions as blood smeared American gothic with snark. Beneath the mask, it picks at rural paranoia, age cohort splits, and lynch mob logic. Initial heat flags it as potent.

When summer tapers, the Warner lot rolls out the capstone of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson again portray Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. While the template is known, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson re boards, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: period tinged dread, trauma explicitly handled, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This time, the stakes are raised, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The follow up digs further into canon, broadens the animatronic terror cast, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It posts in December, pinning the winter close.

Streaming Firsts: Slim budgets, major punch

With theaters prioritizing brand safety, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

One standout ambitious title is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the title blends fear with dramatic gravity. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a body horror duet starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is a lock for fall streaming.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s set vampire folk tale starring Michael B. Jordan. Visualized in sepia palette with scriptural metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Arriving October 2 across major platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Scripted and led by Andrew Chiaramonte, the film follows five strangers who wake in a remote wilderness cabin under the thrall of Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith ignores rite, she wells up from trauma, quietude, and human weakness. Making possession internal threads Young & Cursed into the current of intimate character studies in genre skin.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. It is a calculated bet. No bloated canon. No legacy baggage. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. 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.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

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

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Legacy Lines: Returns, Restarts, and Fresh Angles

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Imagine tiaras, smeared red, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 arrives late June, targeting a broadened techno horror canon with new characters and AI spawned nightmares. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, led by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

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

What to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror resurges
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

SVOD originals harden up
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Badges are functional, they buy theatrical access, prime placement, and cycles. Without festivals in 2025, a horror film can evaporate.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios release horror theatrically only when they believe in overperformance or sequel trees. All others choose PVOD or hybrid. Horror persists theatrically, in curated lanes.

Season Ahead: Fall stack and winter swing card

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The coming 2026 fear Year Ahead: Sequels, fresh concepts, plus A loaded Calendar optimized for jolts

Dek The incoming horror season stacks in short order with a January pile-up, thereafter unfolds through summer corridors, and far into the holiday frame, weaving brand equity, novel approaches, and smart counterplay. The major players are leaning into smart costs, theater-first strategies, and buzz-forward plans that position genre titles into cross-demo moments.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

The genre has grown into the bankable counterweight in studio slates, a category that can expand when it lands and still cushion the drag when it doesn’t. After 2023 reminded decision-makers that mid-range entries can drive the discourse, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with director-led heat and slow-burn breakouts. The momentum rolled into the 2025 frame, where revived properties and awards-minded projects proved there is space for several lanes, from continued chapters to original features that resonate abroad. The sum for 2026 is a roster that presents tight coordination across players, with intentional bunching, a equilibrium of familiar brands and new pitches, and a reinvigorated attention on cinema windows that increase tail monetization on premium video on demand and streaming.

Marketers add the genre now acts as a fill-in ace on the rollout map. The genre can launch on virtually any date, furnish a quick sell for trailers and social clips, and outstrip with moviegoers that come out on opening previews and continue through the second weekend if the film delivers. On the heels of a work stoppage lag, the 2026 layout underscores trust in that model. The slate commences with a thick January stretch, then turns to spring and early summer for alternate plays, while saving space for a late-year stretch that extends to the fright window and into the next week. The schedule also highlights the tightening integration of specialized imprints and OTT outlets that can platform a title, generate chatter, and roll out at the right moment.

A reinforcing pattern is IP stewardship across brand ecosystems and veteran brands. Major shops are not just greenlighting another chapter. They are seeking to position brand continuity with a must-see charge, whether that is a typeface approach that suggests a refreshed voice or a cast configuration that anchors a incoming chapter to a foundational era. At the concurrently, the filmmakers behind the eagerly awaited originals are leaning into in-camera technique, practical effects and specific settings. That combination offers the 2026 slate a strong blend of known notes and surprise, which is how the films export.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount leads early with two big-ticket projects that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, framing it as both a passing of the torch and a origin-leaning relationship-driven entry. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the creative posture points to a nostalgia-forward approach without recycling the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run centered on legacy iconography, early character teases, and a trailer cadence timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

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 creatively for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will play up. As a counterweight in summer, this one will build mass reach through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format enabling Young & Cursed quick adjustments to whatever drives the discourse that spring.

Universal has three unique lanes. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is crisp, somber, and logline-clear: a grieving man adopts an intelligent companion that grows into a perilous partner. The date slots it at the front of a heavy month, with the studio’s marketing likely to replay creepy live activations and short-form creative that fuses longing and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio lines up an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely interpreted as the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public release grid currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which creates space for a name unveil to become an event moment closer to the first trailer. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles concentrate elsewhere.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s releases are branded as auteur events, with a teaser that reveals little and a subsequent trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The late-October frame creates space for Universal 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, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has repeatedly shown that a gritty, physical-effects centered execution can feel deluxe on a lean spend. Expect a red-band summer horror surge that spotlights global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio deploys two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film lands August 21, 2026, maintaining a reliable supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where Insidious has done well historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is marketing as a new foundation for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a pillar part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both diehards and new audiences. The fall slot allows Sony to build marketing units around lore, and creature work, elements that can lift format premiums and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, pins a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film continues the filmmaker’s run of period horror built on minute detail and period language, this time set against lycan legends. Focus’s team has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is strong.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform windowing in 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s horror titles window into copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a sequence that enhances both opening-weekend urgency and trial spikes in the later window. Prime Video blends licensed titles with cross-border buys and select theatrical runs when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu play their strengths in archive usage, using editorial spots, genre hubs, and editorial rows to sustain interest on aggregate take. Netflix keeps options open about originals and festival buys, locking in horror entries near launch and framing as events debuts with burst campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a dual-phase of precision theatrical plays and rapid platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a curated basis. The platform has proven amenable to acquire select projects with prestige directors or marquee packages, then give them a limited theatrical run in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for subscriber stickiness when the genre conversation peaks.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 runway with two label plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is straightforward: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, refined for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall corridor, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has suggested a standard theatrical run for Legacy, an constructive signal for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the late stretch.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through fall festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the Christmas corridor to scale. That positioning has delivered for filmmaker-first horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a run of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception drives. Anticipate 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 as a pair, using mini theatrical to kindle evangelism that fuels their user base.

IP versus fresh ideas

By tilt, the 2026 slate favors the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all leverage marquee value. The watch-out, as ever, is staleness. The near-term solution is to frame each entry as a new angle. Paramount is spotlighting character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is floating a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-tinted vision from a hot helmer. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Non-franchise titles and director-driven titles deliver oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be treated as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival chiller premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the packaging is anchored enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Recent-year comps frame the logic. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that respected streaming windows did not prevent a day-date try from succeeding when the brand was powerful. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror rose in premium large format. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga proved again that global horror franchises can still feel new when they change perspective and expand the canvas. 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 two-film strategy, with chapters produced back-to-back, permits marketing to relate entries through character web and themes and to hold creative in the market without dead zones.

Technique and craft currents

The creative meetings behind the upcoming entries point to a continued tilt toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not play like any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that emphasizes tone and tension rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership enabling financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in long-lead features and craft spotlights before rolling out a teaser that trades on atmosphere over plot, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is aimed at rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and gathers shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta refresh that refocuses on the original lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature work and production design, which match well with convention activations and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel definitive. Look for trailers that spotlight precise sound design, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that shine in top rooms.

Month-by-month map

January is full. 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 gloomy counterbalance amid headline IP. The month winds down with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the tone spread creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure permits a clean run for each if word of mouth persists.

Late winter and spring set up the summer. Scream 7 bows February 27 with fan warmth. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now supports big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 hands off to summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings no-compromise intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Shoulder season into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film takes October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a peekaboo tease plan and limited disclosures that put concept first.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film hits check over here with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday momentum and gift-card redemption.

Project briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting to be detailed as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to face a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy-forward with modern snap.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s digital partner unfolds into something romantically lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech thriller with grief spine.

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 ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished and theatrical on deck. Positioning: gothic-game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her abrasive boss claw to survive on a uninhabited island as the power balance upends and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. 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 confidential in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to nightmare, rooted in Cronin’s material craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting story that toys with the horror of a child’s fragile point of view. Rating: to be announced. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven haunted-house suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers involved creatively again. Logline: {A send-up revival that teases present-day genre chatter and true crime fixations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fall 2025 production window. 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 breaks out, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: on location in New Zealand. Positioning: R-forward continuation crafted for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further reopens, with a unlucky family bound to residual nightmares. Rating: TBA. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on survival-driven horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: TBD. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: TBD. Production: moving forward. 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 antique diction and bone-deep menace. Rating: forthcoming. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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 More about the author a standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date in flux, fall expected.

Why 2026 and why now

Three operational forces inform this lineup. First, production that eased or shifted in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently surpassed straight-to-streaming releases. Third, online chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on social-ready stingers from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

There is also the slotting calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can command a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will stack 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 benefit from a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will land under the $40–$50 million mark, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 surprise-hit pursuit 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 capitalize on those pockets. 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. Predict a resilient PVOD phase industry-wide, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

How the viewing year plays

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 one-two spectral pairing for date nights and group outings, July goes for the throat, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, soundcraft, and cinematography that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026, Lined Up To Scare

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is brand heft where it matters, creative ambition where it counts, 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 near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, protect the mystery, and let the frights sell the seats.