Ancient Terror Stirs in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a pulse pounding horror thriller, rolling out October 2025 across major platforms

One bone-chilling unearthly suspense story from writer / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, liberating an timeless fear when newcomers become proxies in a cursed ceremony. Available October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a nerve-wracking chronicle of staying alive and old world terror that will reconstruct scare flicks this ghoul season. Helmed by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and cinematic cinema piece follows five unacquainted souls who wake up isolated in a isolated house under the sinister dominion of Kyra, a central character inhabited by a prehistoric religious nightmare. Anticipate to be drawn in by a visual venture that fuses raw fear with ancestral stories, arriving on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demonic control has been a time-honored pillar in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that structure is turned on its head when the entities no longer come externally, but rather from their psyche. This marks the grimmest corner of the protagonists. The result is a edge-of-seat moral showdown where the conflict becomes a ongoing push-pull between righteousness and malevolence.


In a isolated wilderness, five young people find themselves imprisoned under the malevolent dominion and control of a uncanny being. As the youths becomes unresisting to escape her curse, left alone and tracked by powers impossible to understand, they are obligated to reckon with their deepest fears while the deathwatch mercilessly moves toward their death.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety mounts and alliances shatter, prompting each soul to contemplate their personhood and the nature of freedom of choice itself. The tension accelerate with every passing moment, delivering a terror ride that fuses demonic fright with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to channel instinctual horror, an threat older than civilization itself, filtering through emotional vulnerability, and exposing a darkness that challenges autonomy when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra needed manifesting something rooted in terror. She is blind until the invasion happens, and that metamorphosis is bone-chilling because it is so personal.”

Release & Availability

*Young & Cursed* will be brought for digital release beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—making sure households everywhere can engage with this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just released a new official trailer #2 for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its first trailer, which has racked up over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, taking the terror to horror fans worldwide.


Don’t miss this life-altering journey into fear. Watch *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to face these ghostly lessons about our species.


For featurettes, special features, and announcements from the story's source, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across Instagram and Twitter and visit the film’s website.





Contemporary horror’s watershed moment: calendar year 2025 U.S. lineup braids together primeval-possession lore, art-house nightmares, plus series shake-ups

Moving from life-or-death fear steeped in biblical myth through to franchise returns and sharp indie viewpoints, 2025 is emerging as the richest along with tactically planned year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. studio majors plant stakes across the year through proven series, simultaneously platform operators prime the fall with fresh voices in concert with scriptural shivers. In the indie lane, the independent cohort is carried on the carry from a record 2024 festival run. With Halloween holding the peak, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, and now, strategies include January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are precise, as a result 2025 could be the most carefully plotted year to date.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 deepens the push.

the Universal banner lights the fuse with a big gambit: a contemporary Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, within a sleek contemporary canvas. Led by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. arriving mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Led by Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it reads as gore kissed small town horror with wry bite. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

When summer tapers, Warner’s schedule launches the swan song from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. Though the formula is familiar, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Scott Derrickson returns, and those signature textures resurface: nostalgic menace, trauma driven plotting, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This time, the stakes are raised, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The new chapter enriches the lore, grows the animatronic horror lineup, speaking to teens and older millennials. It bows in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Streaming Offerings: Small budgets, sharp fangs

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A high ambition play arrives with Weapons, a cold file multi story chiller splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a body horror chamber piece including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Confined to a lonely rental when a vacation turns, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it is tracking toward an autumn slot.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story starring Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it suggests There Will Be Blood blended with Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. Shaped and helmed 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 the night settles, her power spikes, an infiltrating force leveraging fears, breaks, and sorrow.

The dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. Turning possession inward syncs Young & Cursed to the trend of character led dramas draped in genre.

Streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home have positioned the film as a Halloween counterweight to theatrical sequels and monster revivals. It is a calculated bet. No bloated mythology. No franchise baggage. Sheer psychological unease, compact and taut, calibrated to digital binge beats. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. They are more runway than museum.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight entries such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You draw buzz for more than titles, namely execution. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. 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. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Heritage Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The returning series menu is stronger and more calculated than before.

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

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, seeking to build out techno horror lore using new characters and AI born frights. The first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

On the slate sits The Long Walk, from one of Stephen King’s stark early titles, Directed by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Dials to Watch

Mythic currents go mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror ascends again
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain bite
The filler era wanes for platform horror. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not shrinking in theaters, but it is becoming more curated.

Near Term Outlook: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

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 upcoming genre season: next chapters, Originals, alongside A Crowded Calendar aimed at jolts

Dek: The incoming scare calendar stacks from the jump with a January glut, then unfolds through peak season, and deep into the holiday stretch, weaving series momentum, novel approaches, and data-minded counter-scheduling. Distributors with platforms are focusing on efficient budgets, big-screen-first runs, and buzz-forward plans that shape these offerings into national conversation.

The landscape of horror in 2026

Horror filmmaking has emerged as the most reliable move in release plans, a category that can surge when it lands and still limit the floor when it stumbles. After 2023 reconfirmed for executives that lean-budget horror vehicles can steer the discourse, 2024 kept energy high with visionary-driven titles and quiet over-performers. The energy pushed into the 2025 frame, where revivals and elevated films confirmed there is a market for multiple flavors, from brand follow-ups to non-IP projects that carry overseas. The aggregate for 2026 is a schedule that reads highly synchronized across the industry, with intentional bunching, a spread of familiar brands and new concepts, and a recommitted focus on exhibition windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium on-demand and subscription services.

Buyers contend the space now works like a versatile piece on the grid. The genre can launch on numerous frames, supply a quick sell for creative and TikTok spots, and exceed norms with demo groups that line up on preview nights and continue through the second weekend if the release pays off. Coming out of a strike-bent pipeline, the 2026 setup signals belief in that logic. The slate opens with a stacked January window, then leans on spring and early summer for contrast, while carving room for a fall cadence that reaches into the Halloween corridor and beyond. The arrangement also reflects the greater integration of specialty distributors and OTT outlets that can nurture a platform play, stoke social talk, and roll out at the inflection point.

An added macro current is brand strategy across linked properties and storied titles. Major shops are not just mounting another next film. They are shaping as story carry-over with a sense of event, whether that is a art treatment that suggests a new vibe or a lead change that links a incoming chapter to a first wave. At the alongside this, the directors behind the most anticipated originals are doubling down on practical craft, real effects and distinct locales. That convergence affords 2026 a healthy mix of recognition and shock, which is what works overseas.

What the big players are lining up

Paramount leads early with two spotlight plays that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the heart, steering it as both a lineage transfer and a origin-leaning character-first story. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the authorial approach telegraphs a throwback-friendly strategy without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. Watch for a push leaning on signature symbols, intro reveals, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm landing toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also reboots 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 on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will emphasize. As a summer contrast play, this one will go after broad awareness through joke-first clips, with the horror spoof format inviting quick switches to whatever shapes the social talk that spring.

Universal has three unique bets. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a connected offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The hook is crisp, grief-rooted, and premise-first: a grieving man adopts an virtual partner that unfolds into a dangerous lover. The date slots it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s campaign likely to replay odd public stunts and short-cut promos that blurs longing and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio dates an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under development 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 reserves space for a final title to become an PR pop closer to the initial tease. The timing offers Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film takes October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele’s releases are set up as must-see filmmaker statements, with a mystery-first teaser and a subsequent trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The pre-Halloween slot allows Universal to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on 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 helms, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has proven that a in-your-face, hands-on effects aesthetic can feel prestige on a middle budget. Position this as a red-band summer horror shot that maximizes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international territories.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio rolls out two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, keeping a evergreen supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch evolves. The studio has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what Sony is describing as a fresh restart 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 directive to serve both fans and first-timers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build promo materials around environmental design, and practical creature work, elements that can boost premium format interest and community activity.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, sets a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film builds on Eggers’ run of period horror defined by careful craft and textual fidelity, this time circling werewolf lore. The label has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a signal of faith in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is robust.

Streaming windows and tactics

Platform windowing in 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s slate window into copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a ladder that boosts both premiere heat and trial spikes in the downstream. Prime Video balances acquired titles with global pickups and short theatrical plays when the data points to it. Max and Hulu work their edges in library pulls, using editorial spots, spooky hubs, and staff picks to increase tail value on overall cume. Netflix keeps optionality about own-slate titles and festival buys, timing horror entries closer to drop and turning into events arrivals with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a tiered of targeted cinema placements and swift platform pivots that translates talk to trials. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a per-project basis. The platform has shown appetite to board select projects with established auteurs this page or celebrity-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still pulls from the 20th Century Studios slate, a major factor for platform stickiness when the genre conversation intensifies.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is curating a 2026 corridor with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is clean: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, refined for modern soundscapes and visuals. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn frame, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has flagged a traditional theatrical plan for the title, an positive signal for fans of the gritty series and for exhibitors hungry for R material in the fall weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, managing the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then turning to the December frame to scale. That positioning has paid off for elevated genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not dated many 2026 horror titles in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can expand if reception allows. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using select theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their community.

Known brands versus new stories

By tilt, the 2026 slate leans toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on household recognition. The watch-out, as ever, is diminishing returns. The operating solution is to sell each entry as a reframed mode. Paramount is emphasizing 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 breakout filmmaker. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment spins fast.

Originals and talent-first projects bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed 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 signature tonal menace. SOULM8TE offers a precise, unnerving tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on a known brand, the team and cast is known enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Comps from the last three years announce the plan. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that held distribution windows did not foreclose a parallel release from thriving when the brand was robust. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror over-performed in large-format rooms. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga reminded the market that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they pivot perspective and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which advances January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters filmed consecutively, enables marketing to cross-link entries through personae and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without long gaps.

Craft and creative trends

The production chatter behind this slate foreshadow a continued turn toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Plan for a push that leans on unease and texture rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and medieval diction, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in long-lead press and craft spotlights before rolling out a mood teaser that withholds plot, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and produces shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta pivot that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will succeed or falter on creature design and production design, which are ideal for convention floor stunts and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel key. Look for trailers that emphasize pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that benefit on big speakers.

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. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a foggy reset amid heavier IP. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is stiff, but the tonal variety opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth stays strong.

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

Summer divides the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 drops blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Back half into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously thrived. Resident Evil lands after September 18, a late-September window that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will absorb cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely amplified by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited plot reveals that center concept over reveals.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as prestige-leaning horror. Focus has done this before, staging carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and gift card usage.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting rolling out as production continues. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s AI companion mutates into something deadly romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

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 grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: fog-and-fear adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her hard-edged boss fight to survive on a rugged island as the hierarchy flips and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal done. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to nightmare, grounded in Cronin’s material craft and oozing 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 chiller that routes the horror through a little one’s uncertain personal vantage. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven paranormal suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A satirical comeback that targets hot-button genre motifs and true-crime manias. Rating: pending. Production: fall 2025 production window. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites detonates, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be confirmed in marketing. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a new clan linked to older hauntings. Rating: to be announced. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: bankable spirit-world IP in a proven lane.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A clean reboot designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-core horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: forthcoming. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: pending. Production: proceeding. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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 primordial menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theatrical-first route ahead of platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three execution-level forces define this lineup. First, production that downshifted or recalendared in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often require limited locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work meme-ready beats from test screenings, select scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Another factor is the scheduling math. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can control a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will stack across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The lampoon benefits from family and action buoyancy, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, 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 sleeper chase continues in Q1, where midrange-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to press those advantages. 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. Count on a vigorous PVOD arc overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers rhythm and variety. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo 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 austere, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can build month to month, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, soundcraft, and framing 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

Frames adjust. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand gravity where needed, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, keep the curtain closed, and let the gasps sell the seats.